How To Take Vacations for FREE!

It's simple. All you do is swap a home with somebody else. Join a respected site like Homeexchange.com and enjoy yourself browsing through the wonderful homes and locations on offer.

The site is extremely user-friendly and the locations and homes will make your mouth water! Choose whether to search by geographical location, dates or look for people who would like to stay in your part of the world.

You'll need to pay a small amount to become a member, but that's a tiny fraction of the money you'll save on your holiday.

Once you're a member, you are free to contact any other member with a view to exchanging. Or, add your own details, photographs and available dates, sit back and wait to see who'll contact you. You'll be surprised!

When we lived in England, we discovered Home Exchange. A bit nervous at first, we put up our details, stated we'd like to visit the USA in the summer, and waited to see who might like to exchange houses with us. We weren't hopeful. But nearly every day someone contacted us from all corners of America, wanting to exchange homes.

We considered our little house comfortable but not particularly attractive. It didn't matter one bit. Because we lived in West Sussex, we were a ferry trip away from France, near London, surrounded by ancient castles and beautiful countryside.

Plenty of people wanted to exchange with us!

It was difficult, but we finally chose to swap with a retired couple from South Carolina. They were excited about exploring England, and we couldn't wait to stay in their beautiful home on a private island.

It had to be too good to be true, hadn't it?

We had an amazing holiday! The South Carolina home was beautiful; their walk-in closets were bigger than our kitchen, there was a pool-room and lovely verandah.

The island was a Nature Reserve and we travelled around in their golf cart as cars were banned. Every day we passed wild deer on our way to the beach.

Not only did we have miles of golden sand to enjoy, the island had a very nice swimming pool, too. We were in heaven!

We explored the area, Savannah, Charleston and countless other places in their Mercedes car.

After a month, we were reluctant to return to grey England, but we knew that this would not be our last Home Exchange!

Soon after that holiday, Joe and I left England, and relocated to Spain.

Again, we decided to exchange homes, if we could.

My book, 'Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools', describes how this came about. Here is an excerpt:-

This time we had a quirky house in a tiny, remote mountain village to offer. Would anyone want to sample Spanish village life? We needn't have worried. As before, plenty of people contacted us, but it was Ken and Glennys' email that stood out...

From: G&KFlagstaff@gotalk.net.au
Subject: Possible Exchange
1 attachment: home.jpg
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G'day!
Wondered if you'd be interested in exchanging with us sometime around Sep/Oct/Nov? We have a large house overlooking the golf course with private swimming pool. Close to shopping, beaches and hinterland. Pleasant 4 hr drive to Barrier Reef. We'd love the opportunity to improve our Spanish and experience real village life.
Hope to hear from you,
Cheers,
Ken and Glennys Flagstaff.

Queensland, Australia? Private swimming pool? Of course we were interested! We replied immediately and so began our cyber friendship. Over the next few months we corresponded, the level of excitement in our emails rising as the exchange date drew closer.
Paco and Carmen-Bethina were totally bewildered by the concept.
"¡Madre mia!" said Carmen-Bethina. "And you have never met these people? How do you know they will not ruin your house? They could steal everything!"
"We've been writing to each other for ages. We've seen their photos, we know about their two grown-up children, Rob and Amy. They don't seem like strangers."
"Pah!" said Paco, setting the wine bottle down with a thump. "What is wrong with El Hoyo? El Hoyo is the best place in the world! Carmen and I have never been out of Andalucía," he leaned forward, eyes bulging, "and we don't want to!"
"¡Claro!" Carmen-Bethina nodded her head in agreement.
After a frenzy of lists and preparation, the day came to collect Ken and Glennys from the airport. I recognised them easily from the photographs; it was like meeting old friends. We managed to squeeze their luggage into the jeep and set off back to the village. We had 24 hours together before they would take us back to the airport to catch a plane to Australia.
There was a lot to show and tell. We had just enough time to point out the quirks of the house and car, and introduce the chickens. Then Joe and I were in the sky, looking down on Andalucía, heading to Australia. From now on, the only contact we'd have with our Spanish life was via email...

The next chapter of the book describes our exchange and poor Glennys's dreadful mishap in our village...

Ken and Glennys' home was wonderful! Large and airy, it overlooked the golf course and we spent many a happy hour in the swimming pool and on the verandah.

We were enchanted by the birds which were so exotic and tame. Little rainbow lorikeets, noisy cockatoos and the comical kookaburras visited us daily.

We went whale watching and snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef.

Joe and I are both mad about animals and wildlife, so seeing kangaroos, wallabies and koala bears was a real treat!

We stayed two months in Ken and Glennys's lovely house and had the holiday of a lifetime. And thanks to Home Exchange, our accommodation and use of the car was completely free of charge!

Q. How do you know the people who contact you are genuine?
A. It often takes months to arrange a home exchange. During that time, you'll be emailing, writing and telephoning each other. You'll get to know each other really well, even before you physically meet.

Q. What if they wreck your house, or steal all your valuables?
A. I've never heard of that happening. You are staying and caring for their home, and they are doing the same for you.

Q. What about pets?
A. Many home exchangers swap their pets, too. Ken and Glennys kindly looked after our chickens. Some people look after each others horses, dogs, cats, whatever. You just arrange all that sort of thing before the holiday.

Q. How do you know how everything works?
A. Experienced home exchangers often leave a pack with instructions for the household goods, days when the trash is taken away, emergency phone numbers, recommended restaurants, maps and all kinds of useful information.

Q. What about children? Do families home exchange?
A. Of course! And the children have the added benefit of playing with each others toys.

FOR MUCH MORE INFORMATION AND A CHOICE OF THOUSANDS OF HOMES YOU COULD EXCHANGE WITH, VISIT Homeexchange.com.