| Home exchange has to be the best kept secret to | | | | discussed and agreed and we know each other pretty |
| budget vacationing in these current economic times. | | | | well. In fact, we probably know the families we |
| Everywhere, people are examining their bank balance | | | | exchange with better than we know some of our |
| and priorities and drawing a line through any vacation | | | | neighbors. |
| or travel plans. But it doesn't have to be that way. Join | | | | Also, once a family or individual has taken part in a |
| the hundreds of thousands who have discovered | | | | home exchange, you will be encouraged to contact |
| home exchange vacationing. | | | | their previous exchange partners for a reference. |
| Your immediate reaction is probably-have complete | | | | These references are nuggets of gold and will tell you |
| strangers living in my home? Never! Well, maybe you | | | | everything you need to know about people you are |
| should pause and rethink that statement. There are | | | | considering an exchange with. |
| many, long-established home swapping organizations | | | | A lot of couples and families still manage to home |
| with members who have done forty, fifty, seventy, | | | | exchange abroad, but equally as many are now |
| some even more than a hundred very successful | | | | vacationing much closer to home. If you live in a city a |
| exchanges. | | | | trip to the mountains, beach, lake or forest will provide |
| At the time of writing this article, my family and I have | | | | you with a great change of scenery. If you live in a |
| just returned from our fifty-second exchange and | | | | rural area, why not vacation in the city where you can |
| we're already planning our next, hopefully to Mexico | | | | visit museums and galleries, go to the theater, shop at |
| this coming winter. Our home has never been robbed | | | | some outlet stores? |
| or vandalized; our exchange partners have always | | | | We had a wonderful exchange a few years ago with |
| treated us and our home with the utmost respect. | | | | a family from Oneonta, a beautiful little community with |
| Do we have a secret? You bet we do! We allow a | | | | a population of just under 14,000 and located in the |
| substantial amount of time to find and communicate | | | | Central Leatherstocking Region of upstate New York. |
| with likely home swap partners and reach a "comfort | | | | My husband wanted to go there to visit the official US |
| level." Dozens of emails, instant messages, | | | | Soccer Hall of Fame and I thoroughly enjoyed |
| photographs, videos and phone calls are exchanged, | | | | browsing the farmers' market and delightful stores and |
| and by the time our vacation rolls around, we are | | | | specialty shops in the red bricked main street. The |
| already good friends. Every potential issue has been | | | | surrounding countryside was also wonderful. |