Holiday in Your Home Away From Home

John and Caroline Hirst, a couple in their 50s had their hearts set on visiting New Zealand. There was only one hitch: Caroline did not like the idea of having to live out of a suitcase and being herded around visiting tourist hotspots. That’s when they came to know of house swaps. Once they registered onto one of the many house swap sites, it was only a matter of time before they found the perfect home and hosts for their vacation. Soon, they were winging their way down to sunny New Zealand, even as their hosts settled down in the Hirst family home back in UK

Are you planning to go on holiday? Imagine if instead of the regular hotel room, and touristy places to visit, you could actually get the feel of the place you visit. Or, as the saying goes, how would you like to live as a Roman when in Rome?  And best of all, have a comfortable, well appointed and authentic local home to call your own throughout your stay.

Whatever your means, it's a dream that's well within reach, as long as you can stretch to the price of getting there. Home exchange is a wonderfully simple idea that works to the mutual benefit of both parties, who simply swap homes in order to enjoy a comfortable, novel and cost-effective holiday far from home, from California to Tuscany and everywhere in between.

Put simply, house-swapping works on the principle that if you are on holiday, your own home is empty. While it is, someone else may as well use it. And that someone might as well be from a place that you want to go — whose own house will be empty for you to use. The biggest advantage of this kind of holiday is financial. The savings can be phenomenal – booking at a Tuscan holiday resort could easily cost you a few thousand pounds, while a home in the same region could come for nothing if you opt to swap houses. Your only outlay would be the fee you pay the house swap agency.

If you swap cars, too, as many home- exchangers do, your holiday can cost less than a quarter of the price of the same trip with a rented property and vehicle. Simply put, house swapping allows you to take more holidays. And exotic ones too. Once you mark your entry 'open to offers', in a home exchange directory, you’ll be surprised at the kinds of holidays you can take in places you never ever dreamed of. A home exchange manages to take you off the beaten tourist track and gives you the chance to live life like a local rather than a tourist.

It isn’t all fun though. While your house doesn’t need to look like a hotel room, it still needs to be clean. Remember, you don't have to clear away everything. The last thing people want is a house that looks like a hotel room. Just ensure that your guests have plenty of wardrobe space and drawers. And while not a rule, it is the usual practice to leave the makings of a first meal in the fridge, along with some milk and perhaps even a welcome bottle of wine. All this allows you to walk in from a long journey and make yourself at home right away. And just as you are taking care of your temporary home from home, your own home is being kept warm, and your plants watered and pets fed if necessary.

You might even be able to borrow the friends and relatives of your counterparts. When you swap houses, you are parachuted straight into a community. Neighbours and friends of the family you’ve swapped with show you around. You can avoid the tourist traps, and have a much more fulfilling holiday than if you are staying in anonymous hotels.”

If you are excited about this idea and would like to try it, here’s a list of things you need to keep in mind: 

1.      Sign up with a reputable home-exchange agency. In the UK, the most established are Intervac (www.intervac.co.uk), HomeLink (www.homelink.org.uk) and Home Base Holidays (www.homebase-hols.com). Avoid agencies that make no charge. You may not want to entrust your home to people who aren’t prepared to make even a minimal financial commitment at the outset.

2.      Be Honest. Describe your home honestly in your listing and in all correspondence. You want your exchange partners to be pleasantly surprised when they arrive, not disappointed. Be sure to mention if you have any pets.

3.      Use the site’s search engines to find suitable properties to swap with. Once you get a reasonable number of prospective homes, start making offers by e-mail and phone. You could also wait for offers to come to you – but this method will work well only if you live in any of the popular tourist hot spots like London, Bath, Edinburgh, Dublin and Oxford. 

4.      Once you find the right people for a house swap, you should draw up a pre-swap agreement. The agreement should contain details of what to do if something gets broken, who pays the bills, whether cars are included in the swap and whether you are expected to look after any pets.

5.      Contact your insurance companies and let them know your plans. Take out any extra insurance if necessary.

6.      Be ready: Lock particularly valuable items away and put together a welcome pack of information about the house and the area. Before departing for your holiday, leave keys with a neighbour who can greet your visitors. Even better, arrange to overlap with your swapping partners so that you can meet face to face.

7.      Clean up: Leave your home clean. While standards of cleanliness may vary, ensure that your floors are cleaned, refrigerator emptied, oven and hob grease-free, bath and shower free of mould and grime, windows see-through, and surfaces dust-free. Also ensure that you leave at least two sets of clean sheets per bed and two sets of towels per person.

8.      Guide them on. The people who come to stay in your home could do with some help from you. A ‘guide’ with information on local tourist information, instructions for household and electrical appliances, pet and plant care, details of rubbish collection, etc will help them considerably. Phone numbers of a recommended doctor, dentist, good restaurants, and helpful friends are always welcome too.

9.      Though you are not required to, it is a good idea to leave the makings of a first meal. It need not be anything fancy. Just something that will fill the bellies of your tired and hungry guests who will not to have to go out for dinner the day they arrive. A welcome touch would be a small gift like a bottle of wine or champagne, or a local speciality.