• Italian Palazzo Living (almost too good to be true: home exchange in a real palace)
• Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver
• Motivational Thoughts about Travel and Life (meet one of our members who lives in Dharamsala, India - home of the Dalai Lama)

Choose one or several clubs that feel right to you.

Home Exchange clubs that ask you for a small membership fee usually are established sites. Their members are committed home exchangers, often returning year after year. This gives you a much greater chance of finding your own home exchange.

Consider how much you pay for a simple hotel room in any metropolitan area. Just one night at you first home exchange destination will already cover the costs of your membership with an established home exchange agency.

In addition, if you don’t find a home exchange in your first year, JewettStreet, for instance, offers you an additional free six months of membership and develops a personal home exchange success strategy with you.

So, in case you still wonder if you should join a free or a fee-based home exchange club, remember, you get what you pay for!

Your home exchange guests make great house sitters and they can take care of your animal(s) and plants, too. What a fantastic deal!

JewettStreet August Newsletter

A member of Home Base Holiday had been diagnosed with leukemia and she was also pregnant. She was looking for home exchange accommodation near Cedars Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills during the course of her cancer treatment immediately after her baby was born late July.
In a joined effort, several home exchange clubs among them JewettStreet, contacted their members in LA in order to help Leslie, the pregnant cancer patient, to find suitable accommodation. In the process Leslie and I developed an interesting and profound email correspondence. Needless to say the contact faded as the estimated due date was nearing.

I have been thinking ever since what happended to Leslie and her baby. This week I got mail from her:

“Thanks for checking in on me.  I am doing very well.  My baby, Merceda, just turned 1 on the 15th and both she and I are healthy.  I had chemo in Sept. and went into remission in October.  I feel entirely normal except the way I look at life is very different now.  I am extremely grateful and try very hard to live in the present moment.  I understand what a gift is each moment that I am healthy and alive.”

Leslie has written about her unusual journey in her own blog. 

In her own words:

“I plan to visit Amalfi Coast, then go to the wonderful land of the Tuscan sun, hoping to stop at Assisi, Siena and Florence… I have a girlfriend in Siena and we get out to all the museums, etc., but the perfect place would be in Siena and from there it is easy to travel to outlying areas.”
 
Jeanne founded and was the Director for a Sunday School in New York City with the Dominicans for a number of years, while teaching, writing and performing.  

“I feel a great desire to “give back” and volunteer my services… so I would like to do nonprofit or mission work, while in Italy.   Recently served in a mission in the Philippines, teaching English, directing Christmas plays for the children, teaching catechism, working with our mission benefactress in getting scholarships and gearing the university students to work in the “western” marketplace, doing some marketing for a retreat mission in the rice fields, giving conferences on the differences in Filipino and American culture, etc.”

Jeanne is interested in hospitality in exchange for her offer in Washington, DC, at a later date. She is also interested in a “sabbatical” exchange for longer term in Italy.  

More about Jeanne’s hospitality exchange offer, listing # 2464

You can contact Jeanne via her listing or write to ursula@jewettstreet.com.

If you are new to home exchange, but resist the idea because of the thought of having strangers in your house, you might be a candidate for a hospitality exchange. 

Instead of exchanging homes, hospitality exchangers stay with you as your guests and then, at an arranged date, you stay at their home as their guests. It is a great first step to becoming familiar with home exchanging without leaving your possessions to strangers. As a second step after you have gotten to know your house guests better - you might like to exchange homes with them.

Why not start out with a hospitality swap in your own region for a weekend? A short stay works well, too, if your home has limited guest capacity.

Of course, there are the inveterate hospitality exchangers as well. They prefer to be hosts. It gives them the opportunity to socialize and meet interesting people from all walks of life and from all over the world. You can’t beat that!

Some Interesting Facts about Hospitality Exchangers

37 % of all JewettStreet members who like hospitality exchanges are entrepreneurs/ business owners

31 % are academics

30 % are retired/ semi-retired

25 % have kids

72 % have a home with 2 or more bedrooms

26 % have a home with 3 or more bedrooms

Here is a list of hospitality offers in your area. Use the Advanced Search and select specific criteria such as geographical region, type of residence, amenities, activities, access and much more to find your dream swap.

“It was all a bit hectic and to coordinate activities that were both enjoyable for my son and me posed a challenge at times”, she reflected.  “I was shocked to meet travelers who spent their time exclusively at the luxury resort in Koh Samui we stayed at. Not even the pristine beach - just steps away from the hotel complex - could lure them away.”

My friend who owns her own PR-agency had come to Thailand to discover the country and people and share the experience with her son. Instead, they met mostly foreign travelers with a different mindset.

I couldn’t help but praising the advantages of home exchange even though I risked telling her the same old story again.

Would her experiences and those of her son in Thailand been different had she chosen a home exchange vacation instead?

I am very certain!

• She would have been in contact with local people even before the trip began – giving the vacation that special dimension.
• Her home exchange partner could have helped her set up a vacation activity program for her son and maybe even to get him in touch with children of his age during his stay.
• With some planning, there would have been age-appropriate games and toys available in the exchange partner’s home.
• Even though not all home exchange accommodations are luxurious, in most cases, they offer more space than hotel rooms. A fact that is especially important if more than one generation travels together.
• Her trip would have cost much less.

As I look over to my neighbor’s garden where her fresh laundry is drying in the warm summer wind, I find yet another advantage of home exchange: no laundry after a trip ever again!

QUESTION: 

“Hello from Philadelphia, PA in the United States. I’m new to home exchange programs. My husband and I are looking to exchange our home for the month of July (ideally in Italy). After reading up more on how it works, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s unrealistic in the time frame. Could you shed your thoughts?”

ANSWER:

“Hi Amanda,

 Welcome to Home Exchange and JewettStreet!

As you have already noticed, home exchange is a vacation alternative that takes some preparation time. A good lead time is at least six months up to a year. Even though your chances of finding an interesting home exchange match do decrease the closer your vacation dates near, I wouldn’t say it is impossible for you to still find a swap in Italy this summer. (For one thing, I noticed that Italians generally plan their vacations later than Americans or North Europeans. So, at least from that viewpoint your plan might be slightly favored.)

JewettStreet Listing - Medieval House in Umbria

How to Increase Your Chances of Finding a Home Exchange Within a Short Time Frame:

 

• Choose several home exchange clubs which you like most and which have attractive listings in the desired vacation area.
  Knowyourtrade.com is a good source to find an independent view about the 60+ home exchange clubs worldwide.
  Some clubs are free, but be aware that members of a fee-based club are often more committed and experienced in home exchanging. Therefore, it might be a good investment to pay a small membership fee to increase your chances of arranging a swap in due time. Try it out!
• Create an attractive listing with pictures and plenty of information about you, your home and very important, your local tourist attractions. Travelers from afar might not be aware of the attractive sights near you that you take for granted. Also, check out your local tourist office for ideas.
• Get proactive and start sending home exchange requests to possible swap partners right away.
  But no more than 10 a day, and then wait a day or two for responses.
• Be open to different regions or even countries.
  Does it always have to be Tuscany? Why not look in the neighboring provinces such as Lazio, Umbria or Marche which are just as beautiful, but less crowded?
• If your efforts don’t lead to a positive response within a short time, try considering alternative home exchange destinations.
  Maybe you could consider a swap in your own country? Not to have to rush to get airline tickets at the last minute might be a plus of such an exchange. Also, this way, you could familiarize yourself with the home exchange process and you would be well prepared for your dream home exchange in Italy - next year.  

Home exchanging is a big adventure. Try to be open and flexible and you will be rewarded in many unexpected ways.

Dear readers, how much time do you give yourselves for planning your next home exchange?