One of the keys to surviving life in the 21st century is to take regular breaks from it. As the demands of modern living stack-up, so do our holiday funds for weekends away and trips abroad to take our minds off the daily grind. Affordable airfares have revolutionised our aspirations and travellers of all generations constantly crave new, more exciting destinations. A round-the-world-trip is part of the syllabus for many students and retirees spend their golden years clocking up more air miles than executive businessmen. So many places, so little time to see them in; there is just one other obstacle to our insatiable appetite for overseas experiences though, and that’s cash. Whilst we hunger for the jungle or dream of scaling distant peaks, the combined cost of travel and accommodation means that most of us are limited to European destinations. Yet if we broaden our horizons that little bit further, there is a superb, globally available form of accommodation that’s absolutely free - the home.
Foreign Exchange
House-swapping has become a very popular way for people to enjoy holidays all over the world at a fraction of the normal cost. The basic concept is very simple: you swap your home with another person for the duration of your holiday. You stay in their home while they stay in yours and neither party pays rent to the other.
The practice began in America, where friends and relatives would use each others’ houses to hop from East to West coast and holiday in the comforts of a home from home. The first official programme was set-up 50 years ago by David Ostroff, a New York High School teacher, who knew the benefits of exchange and wanted to take them to a wider circle. Today, there are about 30 Home Exchange agencies around the world, which facilitate approximately 250,000 house-swaps a year. Agencies will often have thousands of registered exchangers, whose house and availability details can be viewed online and in brochures or books. Those interested in taking part in the scheme pay an annual membership fee to the agency to access the information and enter their own details, but otherwise the exchange is free. Accommodation is not limited to bricks and mortar either: it’s possible to find yachts, camper-vans and other unconventional places available for occupation too. Nor should the fact that you don’t live in a show-home deter you from considering the scheme, as it’s the destination that interests potential exchangers most. Many welcome the opportunity to experience life abroad as a native in a local neighbourhood, rather than through the artificial eye of a hotel.
