holiday swaps

artichoke

hi all

has anyone ever tried one of those holiday swap schemes you swap homes with a similar sized family and live in their houses for a week?

I live in a very touristy area and so i am guessing people might want to swap with me - but how easy is it to just let someone else live in your home?

questions i have are - do you just leave all your clothes etc out? if so there is nowhere for the holiday people to put their clothes...

i am guessing that my leaving all the kids toys in their rooms is an benefit of the holiday if you swap with people with similar age kids as they kids get "new" toys to play with for a week...

I have no problem with other kids playing with my kids stuff - but i am not sure about another couple looking through all my stuff?

also do you just have to trust people? and leave nothing off too much value around that could be broken or worse?

anyone got any experience of swapping homes?

art

kb36

I always make sure there is some space in a free drawer and a bit of hanging space in the wardrobe especially if the stay is for a couple of weeks or so! A black bag in the loft or a hanging rail out of the way would do the trick. A lot of house swapping is based on trust but if there is anything of sentimental or monetary value you could always store it safely for the duration of the stay. When the kids were younger even in rented accommodation I would put breakables out ff reach in our holiday home.

I can honestly say I have no interest in rifling through people's property whilst staying at their place... I also feel that most house swappers are there to make the most of affordable stays in an equipped environment rather than wasting precious time checking out the contents of your cupboards!

I have lots of experience house swapping so if you have any other questions feel free to ask. My one piece of advice would be to take the plunge and you will never look back.

artichoke

hi

i do basically trust people which is why i am thinking this would work for me...

but i suddenly had an image of some stranger looking through my underwear :eek: not that they would find much to excite them:o

my other concern is the computer - do you let others use your internet connection? and i think DH would be worried about strangers accidentally deleting stuff of the computer (he works from home as web diesigner so his computers and precious to him...

but i am interested in exploring this further..

there is loads to do around here so i am sure the holidaymakers would have no interest in looking at my knickers or DH's graphics on the computer...

Do you go through a company to swap homes?

also what about pets? I began to think about this as we have a dog, cat and chickens and i was wanting someone to house sit whilst we were away - but then began to think about house swapping...

art

kb36

The idea of a stranger looking through your drawers is off putting but I do wonder who really does that. I find the contents of others peoeples drawers of no interest whatsoever and feel that there is little to interest others if they feel the need to browse through mine.

For the computer it is easy enough to put a password protection on our accounts and create a guest account for them to use - I always find it a plus to have access to the Internet to explore local attractions etc.

I do go through a website to organise my house swaps and chose the agency based on the country I wish to visit (France) and who had the most listings. The agency I use is also free to join.

For impartail info on agencies go to www.knowyourtrade.com who rate and review agencies. You can select an agency by criteria such as number of listings, cost etc.

I would also suggest creating your own listing rather than just contacting properties on a particular site as people will then approach you. Detail your pets and what would be involved in terms of daily care. It is always a benefit for us to take care of pets as we don't own any and my kids love it!

artichoke

hi

wow i spent hours last night looking through those websites of houseswappers...

as we are in a touristy walking area i am sure we would find someone who wanted to stay here...

thanks, this is something we will do for future holidays..

art