Home exchange

[Freyja]

Has anyone here ever done a home exchange during vacation? I just signed up last night on www.homeexchange.com and have already recieved two e-mails from people interested. I´m really excited about this. It will definately make travelling a lot more affordable for us if we can get away with just paying for flights and spending money (which usually is about the same or less than we spend on food here) and don´t have to pay for accomodation or car rentals.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well I would image being in Iceland you are going to get alot of interest.

While it sounds crazy, I would do it if I were in your shoes.

 

[wall*e2008]

There is no way I would turn over my home (I am guessing cars too from your not needing a rental car comment) to somebody who emailed me. I would have too much to lose for the $$ I would save. They could destroy stuff in my home, leave it filty, have a car accident or even leave the home open and a theft occurs.

Maybe I am just too cautious to do this.

 

[Freyja]

There is no way I would turn over my home (I am guessing cars too from your not needing a rental car comment) to somebody who emailed me. I would have too much to lose for the $$ I would save. They could destroy stuff in my home, leave it filty, have a car accident or even leave the home open and a theft occurs.

Maybe I am just too cautious to do this.

I guess so

Considering that on this website alone there are 25000 listings and most of them from people who have done this before it doesn´t seem to be too much of a risk. I know several people who have done numerous exchanges and always been very happy with them.
This is a trust issue that goes both ways. Furthermore there is usually a lot of correspondance that goes on before a contract is made so by the time the exchange is done the partners involved aren´t exactly strangers anymore.

 

[Freyja]

Just thought I´d add for clarification. We often go on 3-4 week long holidays at a time. Since we have 5 children we do not fit into any standard hotel rooms and therefore accomodation is usually very expensive for us. The same goes for cars. A 3 week car rental for a 7 seater car in Europe runs around $5000!!!!!!!

 

[momuv8im]

Your home is lovely. There is also the option to do a homestay where people have flats attached to their home and make that available to traveling families so everyone meets and then can later arrange swaps. The possibilities are endless.
We are near California (Lake Tahoe is about an hour from us) so we would love to host you. We have five children still living at home. I don't know that we would travel to Iceland though.