A UK family home exchanging to California spent so much time emailing and talking to their exchange-family, before leaving for their trip, that they felt like they’d known them forever! Five or six weeks after sending out a request on HomeExchange.com for a Californian home swap, a suitable family was found and arrangements made.
“As time got closer we both organised to have somebody come in and leave enough fresh milk, bread, cheese, and ham to make a light meal, instead of having to shop before arriving at the house,” says HomeExchange.com member Adrienne. “We also organised to swap our cars with a full tank of petrol, for the other person’s arrival, and also a half tank of petrol when leaving. We left an information pack and map as well, highlighted with all our favourite restaurants and coffee bars for our exchange family.”
With no hotel bills and the benefit of free accommodation, HomeExchange.com has quickly become the best way to experience the world like a local and to stay for free. It means that except for getting there, a holiday nearly anywhere in the world doesn’t have to cost any more than staying at home.
“Our first HomeExchange was a fantastic experience,” says Adrienne. “We actually met our exchange family for lunch on the day we were flying back home, and it was as though we had known them forever. We’ve made a connection with this family, that we all feel will continue, and we intend to stay in touch and visit each other (and exchange again maybe!) in the future.”
“As well as feeling like we were one of the locals, having a home rather than a rental property as our base saved us in the region of $3,500 to $4,000,” says Adrienne. “Because we saved on car-hire and on accommodation, we were then able to spend extra on visiting theme parks with the kids.”
Members simply log onto HomeExchange.com, create a listing, choose a location they want to visit, and begin coordinating an exchange for only $9.95 a month, with no additional fees. HomeExchange.com even guarantees that if you don’t make an exchange in the first year, the second year is FREE. http://www.HomeExchange.com is the global leader in home exchange with 40,000 listings in 152 countries.
