Great "Travel Swapping" Hunt

Never done it, but always thought about swapping homes with someone down under - worth the risk I think

OK, so not really a "swap" service but I can highly recommend CS having used it a huge amount across Europe and Australia. I know people who've had no problem finding accommodation in NZ, Singapore, the US and other countries, too.

The premise is simple - you crash on someone's sofa. And someone else's. In return, you let other people crash on yours when you're at home. You don't have to swap with the people you stayed with - it's more a karma thing. I have made many friends, been on many nights out and learned a huge amount about the places I've visited by staying with CSers.

Part of the ethos is that you don't just use people as an accommodation service. In return, hosts will generally put effort into making you acquainted with the area. Some may take you places, others simply have a pile of tourist literature and a great knowledge of the area. I've been driven around half of Victoria by one family, taken to a very posh spa in Koln by a guy who wasn't even hosting me, fed traditional food by the bucketload across northern France, forced (ha) to drink chilli vodka in Dusseldorf, shown around Turin by one of the most knowledgeable local historians you could ever hope to meet (and given a hiking map when I left so I wouldn't get lost in the hills), helped set up a LAN party in Luxembourg...

The system is completely free to join and use. The only charge is voluntary - a small one-off fee can be used to "verify" you. I think it was $15 when I did it. In return you're sent (by post) a code which you enter into the site. This proves that you live at the registered location. Otherwise, the site's inbuilt system of references, friends, experiences and so on will verify who you are over time.

As an example, fee free to peruse my profile. It'll certainly give you an idea of how quick and easy it is to meet people across the globe!

My husband and I did two successful swaps London - California with www.homeexchange.com. One of them let us stay in his flat while he was on holiday elsewhere, he said that he would maybe come to London some time in the future. Swapping was not necessary to him, he was just a really friendly guy who wanted to show us a good time while in LA. He even picked us up at the airport, and took us to a baseball game for our last night.

I think this is an attitude that will lead to successful swaps, I can understand that people feel anxious about letting a stranger into their homes, but if you do it with an attitude of goodwill instead of seeing it as a giant freebie, hopefully you will also receive the same hospitality in return.

It might be good using a site where you pay a membership fee. If someone can't be asked to pay maybe $50 a year for a successful swap, then how can you be sure that they will go to any lengths at all to look after your home?

Another good idea is probably to look for similar swaps. I.e. if your place is a run down studio flat in the outskirts of a small faraway town, you can't expect to stay in a luxury penthouse in Manhattan. But if your little place is in the centre of a metropolis, and properly cleaned, you might be able to find a nice biggish house in the countryside somewhere. You get the point. And don't assume that nobody would want to go to your area, there might be people who have relatives there who they want to visit, or other connections that take them there.

Good luck with swapping!!!