If you’re a traveler, looking to save on your accommodation while experiencing local culture, you might want to swap your house, house sit someone else’s, or stay (often for free) at a local resident’s home. Within the last years, various global social networking sites have sprung up that match travelers with local hosts.
To ensure the success of this cultural exchange, most of these websites require you to become a member for a yearly fee ($50-120). Once you’re in the system and have set up your profile, you can specify your wishes as to age, nationality, occupation and interests of the individual or host family. You can read about your potential host’s hobbies and life style, view photos, and check reviews on how they have treated fellow travelers in the past. Most of these sites boast over a million members, so your chances of finding the perfect exchange partner are fairly good.
Here’s a brief overview of your choices:
1. Homeswapping
If you want a cheap home base abroad from which you can explore the surrounding area and don’t mind letting those homeowners stay in your home, then you might want to check:
Graigslist.org: This is a no-fee based option is good old. Look under “housing,” and choose “housing swap.” You will then have to create a profile of your home and post photos along with descriptions of amenities and which are available for your guest(s) to use.
2. Housesitting
If you like to stay in someone’s home, but don’t want or can’t offer your own to swap, your best option might be to house sit in exchange for a free stay. You might even get paid. Websites to try are:
3. Couchsurfing
If you’re interested in really rubbing cultural shoulders with the locals, learning a new language and witnessing a different life, couchsurfing sites are volunteer-based global networks that help travelers connect with members of local communities, offering free accommodation. Most are free to join. Once you’re a member and create a profile, you can specify the dates you’re traveling and then view offers for places to stay. After confirming your hosts, book your tickets and off you go on your cultural adventure. Sites to try are:
Comments
It is great to hear vacation home renters talking about considering a vacation home exchange as an alternative when faced with unrented weeks. Many of the members in our vacation home exchange network do just that — trade an unused week in their home for a vacation at one of our 1,500 properties in the US and internationally.
Our home exchange program has been in business for 13 years, and we have arranged thousands of home swaps. We are finding that this economy is inspiring home owners to use their properties in savvy ways, and home swaps are one great example of this — using their own vacation homes to enable them to vacation around the world for a fraction of the cost of traditional travel.
We’d love for you to check out The Vacation Exchange Network. You’ll find a unique home exchange program, where membership is free for the first year, we arrange the exchange for you if you’d like, and you can stay in someone else’s home even if they do not want to stay in your home.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Jill
http://www.thevacationexchange.com
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!