Have you heard about it? Home exchanges have been around for decades, but they’ve really gotten easier to arrange with the internet. They’ve become popular with families, seniors and boomers.

You basically arrange to trade your house for someone else’s house from another city, state, or country during your vacation. You get to spend a week or two in… say London… while that London family gets a beach vacation in, oh, San Diego. With hotel rates in popular areas so high, swapping houses can be a great way to save money, plus you will have a kitchen, multiple bedrooms, and you’ll probably get to know the neighbors and see some things that you wouldn’t have seen from a hotel room. It can not only help your travel budget; home trades can be rewarding from a cultural standpoint as well.

Several organizations maintain lists of interested exchangers. You pay a small fee and get to look at their lists as well as listing your own house. Then you can directly contact the people you might want to exchange with and set up the details.

There are also many helpful web pages to advise you what to check on, things to settle in advance, etc. Are you going to have to feed the cats? You won’t want that if you’re allergic to cats! If you decide on a cute French farmhouse, does that come with having to feed the chickens and ducks? Do you get the use of the car? Is there a limit to how far you can drive it? Is this going to be an exchange just between adults? Families will be more willing to exchange with families… so choose your home exchange site according to their list.

We don’t advocate any sites. A few sites you can check are Know Your Trade, Home Exchange, and Home Base Holidays. Find exchange clubs on the internet, read the reviews by users, and decide which one might work best for you. Some specialize, so check to see if they are more interested in families or seniors or whatever.

Home exchanges are not for everyone. If you think you will be overly worried about someone stealing something or not taking care of your house just the way you would, maybe you should forgo the house swap and stay in a hotel. If you’re the type of traveler who wants to move around every night and not stay in one place for a couple of weeks… forget it.

If you decide to list your home for a swap, you need to be honest about what your home is like…, and you need to hope the exchangers on the other end are honest about theirs. If both of you just say “near the beach”, both of you need to find out if “near” means 5 blocks or 5 miles so there are no misconceptions. You should exchange many e-mails, maybe a few phone calls.

If you do this right, you will probably feel like you’re friends before you start this house trading adventure. Yes, friends, we didn’t want to leave you with negative thoughts about vacation house trades…. just wanted to warn you.

If you browse through the house swapping sites, you will see testimonials that most people who have tried it LOVE it. House exchangers on both sides of the deal usually think THEY’VE gotten the better end of the exchange.

Give it some consideration. If you want to save money and still have a great holiday, a home exchange might be for you.

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You want to be trusting, but you also need to protect yourself. The first thing you need to consider is which exchange club to use. You need to see what they specialize in, because most do specialize. Do you need a club that caters to families, or seniors, or people with pets?

Home Exchange clubs are based in countries all over the world; they may list houses mostly their own country, but most have international listings as well. If you have a specific country in mind to visit, try to get an idea of how many listings they have in your country of choice before you plunk down your money. Try to look for an exchange club that allows many pictures on their site, or even videos. You want to know what you’re getting into.

Once you have decided on a club and listed your home, an exchange can happen in a couple of ways…. potential house trading partners may contact you, or you may contact them. What if someone from Swakupmund, Namibia contacts you…. do you want to go there? It’s a great choice, in fact. It could be the chance of a lifetime, or it may be someplace you would never want to visit.

If they contact you, and you don’t want the exchange, politely decline. Don’t burn any bridges here. It’s polite to respond, and you never know, you might change your mind in the future if you really like this home exchange way to travel. If your request for a home exchange is declined, don’t take it personally. Both of you are in a bargaining process to find the vacation house swap that suits you best.

Start well in advance of your vacation time, and allow plenty of time to arrange the swap. Once you have found a house you like and arranged in principle to swap, you still need to make sure you are both comfortable with the home exchange details. This may take several e-mails to decide who feeds the dog or waters the house plants.

You have to decide in advance if your exchange partners can use your ski gear or snorkel equipment. Can they drive one or both of your cars and how far? Check all of your insurance policies. And seriously, if you’re leaving the dog in their care… is that OK with them?

You may feel like a burglar when you first enter someone’s home, and they’re not there. To make this as comfortable as possible, both of you should agree to leave the names of your neighbors or family to contact and instructions for appliances. It’s a good idea to leave a letter stating that they are welcome guests in your house even though you aren’t there… and they should do the same for you. Leave important contact numbers and emergency phone numbers.

Remember, exchangers use each others kitchens. They sleep in your bed. Make sure everyone agrees on what should be available in those kitchens. You need to make sure sheets and towels will be available and come to some sort of agreement on cleaning.

Both parties should have valuables locked away just to be on the safe side. You’ve both agreed to trust each other, and you’ve hammered out the details, but there is no reason to leave the diamonds and pearls lying around.

If you choose your house swapping club with care and see to the home exchange details with your trading partners, this could be the best vacation ever.

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Some of these things will be running in the background of your head when you’re choosing your destination, but just so you don’t make any mistakes, let’s list some of the major concerns.

You have some vacation time. Is that a set time of year that you can’t change? The time of year will play a role in choosing your destination. Do you want to go some place where it’s hot so you can sit on the beach? ….Or cold so you can ski? Are you planning it around a festival or trying to avoid crowds? Do you want to take a cruise?

Do you want to be active… skiing or hiking? …Or do you just want to sit and relax? Go sightseeing, explore museums or shop? Or do you want to have the options to go either way. Do you have kids or other family members to consider? It’s always good to make this a family decision.

And speaking of others… do you want to travel on your own or join a tour group where everything is planned for you?

How long is the vacation time? If you only have a week, that will limit what you can do. If you have two or three weeks or even more, you have far more options when choosing your destination. You can go further, plan for more activities… or more relaxing time. Some people say it takes a week to unwind… so even if you just want to relax for a few days, you may need more than a week to get into that relaxed zone.

Choosing a destination that offers a relaxing venue will help… a beach, a spa, a cabin on a nice quiet lake. For some people, shopping is relaxing… it wouldn’t be for me.

Another factor we all have to take into account is money. If you’re rolling in it, the sky is the limit when choosing your destination… you can go to Europe and stay in castles; go to Africa and fly from safari camp to safari camp; go to Asia or Australia or Antarctica! You can go to all of those places on a budget too, but it takes more planning and legwork on your part.

You can economize and go camping… or even (if they’ll invite you) stay with friends or relatives. Do you want to go by car, train or plane? I have a friend that will not fly and will not float… that definitely limits your options.

So where will it be? I know I haven’t given you any destinations to choose from. That would take some of the fun out of it. Where would you like to go? What would you like to do?

Part of the fun of any vacation adventure is dreaming about your options, so give all these factors some thought, and get closer to choosing your destination. This is the dreaming part of trip planning… next we’ll get to how you find information to flesh out these dreams.

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You may have to plan your time around when the kids are out of school. If you’re an American, you might only have two weeks of vacation. No matter what limiting factors you might have to work with, it’s good to think about the best time to go to enjoy the activities or sites for your destination. If your vacation time is short, this is especially important!

Sometimes it’s pretty obvious when you should go. If you want a ski vacation, you want to schedule it in the winter… Of course you COULD schedule it in the northern hemisphere summer and head south to Argentina or Chile.

Beaches? Beach vacations can be almost anytime. Summer would be best on both east and west U.S. coasts, but you can be a beach bum in the winter by heading for Hawaii, Mexico or any of the Caribbean Islands. Shoulder seasons in the Caribbean can be nice, a little cheaper and sometimes less crowded, but you do take a chance with hurricanes.

Shoulder season in other areas can be a great time to go. Shoulder season in Europe gives you a pretty good chance for nice weather, and you can avoid the crowds that stream there in the summer.

If you’re planning a little more exotic vacation, you have to start taking into account different weather patterns around the world. In India, you might want to avoid the monsoon. In Africa, it’s best to plan your trip during the dry season… and Africa is a big continent, so dry season can vary from one coast to the other.

Rainy season can do more than make you uncomfortable. In many countries roads become impassible in the wet season. Hiking trails are slippery and treacherous. And leeches LOVE the wet season!

If you’re after wildlife, you want to make sure that they have migrated TO the National Park you’re planning to visit. If all the herds have moved to the other end of their migratory route, you won’t see them, and you may not see many predators either.

There’s a great website called, go figure, “Best Time To Go” that will tell you the best time of year to go, rainfall and temperature, approximately how much it will cost you per day, when the holidays are, and it even gives you some hotels.

So decide where you want to go, then before you start making your reservations, check the best time to go so you won’t be disappointed.

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Independent travel is a great way to go. There are several ways to approach it. You can rent a villa for a week or a month… or make hotel reservations for every day. You can just arrive and find accommodations as you go… or you can make reservations for the first night or two then start finding your accommodations for the rest of the trip.

It takes less advance trip planning if you decide to find accommodations as you go, but some people don’t like the stress of finding a hotel every night. Part of the process is deciding what works best for you.

As an independent traveler, you can stay in small economical places that groups won’t fit into. It may cost more to stay in larger hotels… group tour operators tend to get good breaks on those rooms. But you’ll probably rub elbows with more locals in that small local place than you would in that big hotel. (Though sometimes that big hotel isolation can give you a little respite if you’re traveling in a rugged or third world area.)

You can use the internet to make reservations at museums and popular spots before you leave on your trip. This means you’ll be sure to get into those museums or other venues, but it also locks you in to a timetable. If you’re feeling a bit more independent, consider making phone calls or using the internet to make those reservations on the road.

You’ll get English speakers on the phone; you’ll probably still get the reservations you want and still have the flexibility of changing your timetable as you travel. (Getting those reservations can help you avoid lines just like the tour groups do.)

Independent travel allows for more adventure and spontaneity. If you end up in a village that looked charming in the pictures… but there really isn’t anything there for you… you can just move on. On the other hand, if you stumble on a great local festival, you can linger and enjoy it. You’ll miss what a tour guide might teach you, but if you feel you need it, you can always hire a local guide… or talk to a friendly local…. You never know what you might find out, and you could end up with a new friend!

If you decide you’d like to rent a car, it will be expensive if you’re traveling all by yourself…. It’s easier for a couple and better still if you travel with friends to share the expense. But traveling with friends and family takes some planning of it’s own!

So weigh you options, tour group or independent travel. Make all your reservations ahead or wing it? A large part of the joy of travel is the trip planning and anticipation.

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