house swaps for vacations

Manhattan Home Exchange

Home exchange in New York  Manhattan, New York City boroughs and across NY State.

Home Exchange in New Jersey - several homes within an easy commute from Manhattan

Manhattan seems to be a very popular and sought after destination. Often, with any home exchange club, there are more members wanting to come to New York and specifically Manhattan then there are members listed from NYC.

There are several fabulous alternatives to enjoying a home exchange near Manahattan without having an exchange there. One can take a subway or train into Manhattan from many of the conveniently located areas around Manhattan, other areas of New York City, just across the Hudson River in New Jersey or nearby Connecticut are all within a short time frame from Manahttan and by contacting members just outside Manhattan one can increase their opportunities of finding an exchange.

We wanted a vacation and wanted to save money through exchanging homes. So in late April we started responding to home exchange listings in New York City.

After we e-mailed 40 Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx and Long Island home exchange listings in New York City we soon discovered that April was rather late to start looking for summer home exchange partners. Most New York home exchangers wrote back stating that they had already found an exchange and several shared they received 100's of exchange offers each year from around the world. Manhattan home swappers literally had a pick of any destination they wanted.

That's when we started looking at alternatives. We wanted a home exchange to New York City, but because of our late start we didn't think our opportunities of finding a swap to Manhattan was overly great.

That is when we started looking at nearby areas, within easy commuting range of New York City. We wouldn't have all the conveniences of being in Manhattan but would be near enough to enjoy New York City. After going through the Connecticut and New Jersey home exchange listings on Global and it's partner clubs we spotted several possibilities. At 3 pm on a Sunday afternoon we sent off our first inquiry to a community just 12 miles from Manhattan, Montclair New Jersey. We had several other inquiries that we would send out later that evening.

Within 19 minutes of sending the inquiry, Judy and Ken responded that they were interested in a home exchange. The next day, after exchanging several emails, photos, discussing travel dates and what to do with pets an exchange was arranged. Their home was 2 blocks from a commuter train to Manhattans Penn Station. We would have easy access to New York City and the effort to finding this exchange was rather minimal.

Over the next two months we exchanged emails, letters, brochures and pictures. We agreed to buy our plane tickets together on the same day, and with both Judy, our exchange partner and I looking, we found a terrific airfare on a non stop flight using Cathay Pacific Airlines. We also agreed to swap cars. They offered a Volvo and Honda CRV - we had a Honda Accord. We had planned to take a train and subways to see Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island and the Bronx areas of New York City, We would use the car to visit the Hudson Valley in New York State, the New Jersey Shore and Amish Country in Pennsylvania.

In early August we flew from Vancouver BC to JFK airport in New York City. Ken, our exchange partner met us at the airport and transported us to their home in Montclair. On the way we drove through Manhattan and viewed the many sights in their colorful night lights. The next day Judy, Ken and their two University kids flew off to our home.

The exchange home had three stories, several bedrooms and was located in a quiet tree lined neighbourhood.

With being near to Manhattan but not in it, we had the freedom to choose to take a nearby train to visit the city or take the car and drive to areas outside the city. This was really great for us. The home exchange saved us 100's of dollars a day just on free accommodation. We ate most of our meals out, but enjoyed stretching out in the large home, with free access to TV, internet, phone calls, printer and computer.

It seems like every home exchange we go on we forget something. In our past home swaps we left behind maps, sunglasses and luggage keys. Not to be out done, on this exchange I left my hearing aids at home, and on our way back we discovered that we left behind luggage at Judy and Kens home. The luggage contained our camera, money and car keys.

What a great way to vacation. We enjoyed free accommodations, a free vehicle to drive, and our total vacation costs were minimal.

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Another New York Experience

New York Home Exchange

This was our first home exchange experience. We wanted a family vacation and wanted to save money through exchanging homes. So in late March we started responding to home exchange listings across the USA and Canada.

After we e-mailed 20 home exchange listings in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California, Texas, New Mexico, Hawaii and Ontario and we soon found out that March was rather late to start looking for summer home exchange partners.

To our surprise, we had replies that evening, all informing us they had already arranged a home exchange for the summer but to please try them again for next year.

The next day we received two more replies, the first from Texas explaining that they had plans this year but were open to arranging a home exchange another summer, the other from a couple in up state New York near Albany indicating they were interested in a home exchange from July

From their very first email we could tell that Anita and Jim were warm, genuine down to earth people. There wasn't a doubt in our mind, this is where we wanted to go and these were the people we wanted to have a home exchange.

We were open to going anywhere and Chatham New York hadn't even crossed our minds as a destination. Now, it would be our new home for two weeks.

A few days and several e-mails later we had the exchange arranged.

At first, I wondered why anyone from New York would want to come here. We learned from others that this is a common thought. Anita and Jim asked us the same question, "Are you sure you want to come to small community in New York?"

Over the next two months we exchanged emails, letters, brochures and pictures. We had planned to see Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island and the Bronx areas of New York City, Albany and the Hudson Valley in New York State. We also planned to see the nearby Berkshire area of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

I want to add this point, we didn't have any photos of the inside of the New York exchange home, so the first time we saw the interior was when we opened the door. Neither of us made a phone call and really there was no need as Anita and Jim, our New York home exchange partners emailed several times a week with the most entertaining notes.

On July 1 we flew from Edmonton Alberta to Montreal Quebec where we rented a car. The next day we drove the short distance to our home exchange house in a beautiful rural village south of Albany New York.

The exchange home was massive, with a large yard over looking a lake, swimming pool and screened porch. We soon found that we ate our meals in the porch. Anita's and Jims kitchen had two large windows that swung open so one could easily transfer meals from the stove to the picnic table in the screened porch area.

Anita left us a wonderful casserole and plenty of other food and drinks in the fridge and cupboard. A wonderful thought.

With a three year old, we decided to use the exchange house as our hub, doing day journeys to the Hudson Valley, Albany, the magnificent Berkshires area in Massachusetts (20 minutes away) . We also got away for an overnight trip to the Connecticut coast(2 hours) where we saw the tall ships in New London and went to a fabulous beach in Rhode Island.

We had wished we had visited New York City and Manhattan. Perhaps next time we will work on arranging a home exchange to Manhattan, Long Island or Brooklyn.

We also learned that a three year old isn't always interested in seeing the historic and cultural aspects of any region. Actually his only experience with culture was eating yogurt.

We saved 12 nights accommodation cost, by traveling on a home exchange. A hotel for 12 nights in New York would have been over $1500. Our cost with for our New York home exchange, 12 nights was $ 0.

Our home exchange partners got to see Alberta's Rocky Mountains and Mountain Parks, along with the many exciting things in and around Edmonton, Calgary, Jasper and Banff. Both families had a terrific time. As members, Anita and Jim got to choose which exchange request they wanted to accept. As we didn't list our home, we had to respond to listings and hope that we could find someone who was interested in an exchange. We are very happy to have gone to New York on a home exchange and we highly recommend house swaps.

HOME EXCHANGE You are in each other's homes simultaneously
NON-SIMULTANEOUS EXCHANGE : You stay in each other's homes at different times.

WEEKEND HOME EXCHANGE : A short-break option, ideal to for a short stay vacation

LONG TERM EXCHANGE : Typically in excess of a month

LUXURY HOME EXCHANGE Swap a luxury home for other upscale and luxury properties

EXCHANGE HOSPITALITY : They stay with you; later you stay with them