I cannot believe that I am so late to this game of home exchange which has existed for over half a century! If you love traveling and want to travel more economically especially if you have kids or a large group, home exchange might be the perfect solution for you! What is home exchange? Wikipedia has summarized it well: “Home exchange, also known as house swapping, is a form of lodging in which two parties agree to offer each other homestays for a set period of time. Since no monetary exchange takes place, it is a form of barter, collaborative consumption, and sharing. Home exchange can cover any type of residence including apartments, houses, holiday cottages, boats, or recreational vehicles. It can include an exchange of the entire home or just a room. The length of the swap can vary from a weekend to over a year. The swap can be simultaneous or non simultaneous. Home exchanges are usually arranged via specific types of social networking services, most of which charge a fee.” The fee is usually an annual membership fee which is right now around USD 100, nothing to compare with the hefty fee charged by Airbnb or VRBO for each transaction. Some networks offer the ability to collect a security deposit which will be released if no loss happens. The two oldest and dominant home exchange networks are Home Link and Home Exchange. In 1953 a group of European teachers looking to travel internationally economically during their summer breaks. That same year, teacher David Ostroff created a home exchange network called "Vacation Exchange Club" (now HomeLink) in New York City. In 1992, Ed Kushins started what is now HomeExchange.com after a home exchange experience in Washington D.C. In 1995, he moved the business to the internet. But I got into this business because of a new network called People Like Us which was started in 2018 by an Australian couple who wanted to travel overseas for three to six months at a time to improve their language skills and live the local life. It is claimed to be “the friendliest home exchange community in the world” and has a very supportive and active Facebook group where the founder is available for questions almost any time. I am a member on both People Like Us (PLU) and Home Exchange (HE), and I would like to share a beginner’s view about these two networks. However zealous me and thousands of others feel about home exchange, it is not for every one. I couldn’t believe that I had paid $400 per night on Airbnb over the years while we could have basically stayed at others’ homes for free. But not really for free, because rule No.1: in order to stay at others’ homes, you need to first or at the same time offer your home to others. It took me two years talking my husband into this home exchanging idea, which is, as I learnt later talking to other people, quite normal. I got it. Home is a private place, your sanctuary, full of your personal collections and treasures. Ask yourself or your partner hard about what really bothers you if opening up your home to strangers. It really boils down to the question of trust and a very valid question. All the networks have been trying hard to assure their users that they are covered if anything happens. There are tons of tips as how to select your exchange partners, but the key word is always communication: email, or video chats. Read through their profiles, look through the home pictures. Do your work, lots of work. So yes, home exchanging requires lots of time to do research, sending inquires and following up before finalizing. It’s not rare that you have to send 50 inquires before getting any positive response. If you need something within a week for sure, go for the hotel or Airbnb, because finalizing a home exchange can take months. HE has a much larger network, with homes almost everywhere. We found a house there at a beach town in Alicante area in Spain for a week, after trying fruitlessly at PLU, but I got valuable recommendations about places to go in Alicante from a local PLU member and we actually met up together with another local PLU member for a short afternoon. So for our family: HE=more useful; PLU=more friendly. But if you are empty-nesters and are not bound by time or destination, PLU would probably be enough. HE is much easier to get you started in the home exchanging game. When you sign up and complete the profile of your home, you will get loads of Guest Points (GP) from HE which you can use to “pay” to stay at someone else’s home without having someone else staying at your home at the same time. GP is the core of the concept for HE. Every home is assigned a value of GP based on many factors and the amount of GP you would “pay” to stay at a home is the nightly GP multiplied by the number of nights, unless it’s a simultaneous swap where no GP would be involved. You can purchase a limited amount of GP if your GP is not enough to stay at a home. I personally think GP is very convenient, but PLU wants to stay away from any kind of monetary-like system, so it introduces the concept of “globes”. Globes were rewarded to the first group of paid members only so the definite number of “globes” is very limited and does not change unless the founder decides to release more globes to the network. If you want to host someone but does not go to their home, you could earn a globe from them instead - if they have a globe and are willing to offer it. Reality is that not many people have globes, and because they are so rare, people only want to offer their globes to more exotic places instead of within the country. So PLU introduced another two concepts to address that problem:
HE works in a much similar way as Airbnb regarding booking and reviewing. Most people update their availability regularly and it’s easy to book. Video chats are usually not involved but they are pretty common on PLU. In the case of cancellation, HE team would offer help to find you a home within 50 miles (pretty large radius) or offer you $200 per night. Though usually not satisfactory for many users, it’s much better than PLU in my personal opinion where no systematic help would be offered except for the super friendly community of the PLU Facebook group who would offer their homes if available. But again, it’s hard to match the requirements of the original seekers of home exchange. But PLU is still so young and it has achieved acknowledgment in a stunning way. I know some people who have downsized their home exchange networks to just PLU.
I don’t have experience with Home Link and I think two networks are enough for our family. Airbnb also has a Facebook group dedicated to users who would like to swap their Airbnbs, and the Facebook group of world schooling families offers some house swap opportunities too, usually for a longer period and very family-friendly. So definitely join those groups if you are interested in home exchange. There are dozens of small questions to get informed before your first home exchange of course, feel free to ask me in the comments or answers are usually easy to find on the websites of the networks or their Facebook groups. Friendly warning: once you start it, there’s probably no way back to hotels or Airbnbs. Bonus: if you decide to sign up at HE, use my referral code to get both you and me some extra points! pingping-e7133 Home exchange veterans: as I mentioned above, I am a beginner. If there's anything that needs to be corrected, please kindly let me know in the comments, or simply share your opinions and experiences!
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Lund in the south of Sweden is my husband’s hometown where he grew up. It’s just a bridge away from Copenhagen where we fly in and out every time we visit Lund. It’s not rare that people commute by train to work in Copenhagen which takes about 50 minutes. It sits in the area called Skåne where the accent is different from Stockholm and the weather is not typically Swedish in the dark and cold sense. It is more temperate, pretty close to the weather in the Northwest Pacific. It is a university city with one of the oldest universities in Europe: Lund University, so it’s full of young people on bikes. It is a very bike and walk-friendly city where some of our friends there have sold their cars and can get around just fine with bikes (cargo bike if having kids to carry) and trains. I have been to Lund four or five times and I have liked it from the beginning, but I couldn’t really imagine living there with two little kids until this time when we spent 3 weeks there staying at my father-in-law’s house. Lund might not be on your list when visiting Sweden or Denmark, but it’s perfect to spend a few days with little kids because of its manageable size and family-friendly activities. Here are some of our favorites, free ones first:
Not free ones:
The building rule in Lund is that a playground and public green space must be provided for any residential community. So actually there are cool no-name playgrounds everywhere. Also check Vattenhallen Science Center and Skissernas Museum. You can find the events calendar of Lund here. And don’t forget that Malmö is only half an hour away and Copenhagen 50 minutes by train or car! If you have always been wanting to move to Sweden where education and health care are free and maternity/paternity leave are almost 2 years long, you might want to check this book: I’m moving to Sweden!: Everything you need for your NEW Swedish life. And it always opens new doors when you learn the language: Complete Swedish by Teach Yourself.
This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase something. But don’t worry, this will not result in any extra costs to you. The commission is really insignificant but your action of acknowledgment is the greatest support for the life-long passion of this stay at home mother. Thank you! Spain has always been on my list, and probably on most people’s list. We spent one week in Alicante area in late April. The reason to choose a lesser know area for our first time visit as a family is because of HomeExchange. Spain has lots of vacation homes actually, but the only house available for hosting us during that time and meeting our requirements is at a small beach town called El Campello. Our requirements were:
So we ended up in this cute two-story vacation house just one street away from a quiet sandy beach in the laid back town of El Campello, 20 minutes drive from Alicante airport. Everything seems to be perfect except for the lack of a proper dining table and chairs. There is only one high table with very high bar stools, so that you can see the beach from the balcony while dining. But my 2-year-old couldn’t even climb onto that bar stool and my 5-year-old looks like being in a circus sitting up there. So, hard lessons learnt from our first home exchange experience. Nevertheless, we are quiet happy about the location and our Spain trip in general. Here is the itinerary and I highly recommend to families with little kids. Day 1: 4 hours flight from Copenhagen to Alicante. Picked up the rental car at the airport and drove to El Campello. Lesson 1: most restaurants don’t open for dinner until about 8pm! A diligent Chinese one said it would open from 7pm, but we found a more diligent Kebab restaurant that was open all the time! Grateful. Day 2: enjoyed the beach at El Campello. Quiet, sandy, with an almost car-free promenade lined with shops and restaurants, the beach is perfect for families with little kids. Had lunch at an Indian restaurant called something like Curry House. At La Lonja by the beach, every evening around 6pm there is a fish auction that sells freshly caught fish. It was fun to see what was on offer and to hear the nonstop talking of the auctioneer even though we didn’t understand a word. Lesson 2: the town doesn't really wake up until 9 or 10am, and restaurants serve lunch from 1pm! Lunch menu is really a good deal with appetizer, salad, main course and dessert/coffee. Day 3: day trip to Alicante city. Climbed the Santa Barbara Castle which was free entry and had an amazing view from the top. It was a pity that there was no explanation signs about any part of the castle. There were free tours in English, but with two little kids it was better to explore at our own pace. The beach in Alicante is right by the main roads so very loud. I didn’t feel as relaxed as at the beach in El Campello. Lesson 3: it is almost impossible to find street parking in Alicante or El Campello. Streets are very narrow and packed with cars. Always safer to look for a paid garage in advance. Day 4: day trip to Altea and Dénia. There was no flyer about Altea in the tourist information binder in the house, but a friend from Dénia recommended it and it was my favorite spot of the whole trip. I fell in love with the old town of Altea at first sight. It satisfied all my imagination about a classical Spanish old town: cobblestone alleys winding up a hill, vibrant flowers and cactus against dazzling white walls, houses drenched in the color of the sun, bells toll from a magnificent cathedral on top of the hill, and the Mediterranean Sea shimmering in dozens of shades of blue underneath. Along the beach there are restaurants and the tourist information office. We didn’t get much time for Dénia, because we arrived in the late afternoon. It was so windy by the beach that there were mini sand storms. It seemed to be a lively beach town with much more options of entertainment than the sleepy El Campello. Lesson 4: if you want an early lunch before 1pm, look for cafés which serve pastry and coffee all day long. During a week there, I had so many croissants and empanadas and drank coffee thrice of my usual daily intake. I didn’t want any in the following two weeks. Lesson 5: some shops and museums are closed 1-5pm for lunch and siesta, and reopen till 9pm. Day 5: half day trip to the mountain village Guadalest. The castle (ruined) and the bell tower on top of the hill were really impressive! The village is surrounded by mountains and at the foot of it lies, instead of the sea, a cobalt blue lake! We were thinking about a change of scenery from beach towns but Guadalest didn’t feel so different even though surrounded by mountains. It was still so beautiful but lots of tourists. Day 6: day trip to the tiny island Tabarca, about 20 minutes boat ride from Santa Pola. A few hundred meters before they arrive at the island, passengers can get down to see fish from some windows. Just three streets but great views. No sandy beach but the water is shallow and crystal clear that we can easily see the fish. The Dénia friend told me that it was fantastic to dive there in summer to see the sea life. I bet. Tabarca is very pretty! It feels just like out of a film where teenagers and young people, full of hormone and lack of things to do, dive and swim all day long with budding romance. Had lunch at a restaurant with one of the best views in the world and the local dish Caldero was delicious, better than Paella I would say. Day 7: half day trip to Elche, the city of palm trees. I was pleasantly surprised by how cosy this little city is. It doesn’t lie by the coast and maybe that makes it a bit less visited than those beach towns and cities. The palm tree garden is very peaceful during the siesta hours. Kids had a nice time at the play ground. Visited the Archeology Museum and Basilica de Santa Maria. Then just before we were about to leave, the mini amusement park on way back to the parking was open, so the kids had their first time ever rides with dazzling lights and sounds. Had dinner at Restaurant Quintin close to El Campello on our way back. We arrived at 7:45pm and was told that the kitchen didn’t open until 8pm. Fine we could sit and wait. But when we were ready to order at 8pm we were told that the kitchen actually would open at 8:30pm. Well, our poor Spanish to blame I guess. We were too tired to look for another one so we sat down for some cold tapas and by the time we finished the three cold tapas it was 8:30pm so we ordered more hot tapas. We finished around 9:10pm and kids were so ready for bed. I really don’t know how local kids handle the Spanish time. The restaurant was good though! Lesson 6: brush up your Spanish before heading to Spain! Even though they speak Catalan, Valentian Spanish, Basque or whatever dialect that they are proud of, the Spanish Spanish that you learn from the books could still help. I highly recommend Complete Spanish by Teach Yourself, actually, all the books by Teach Yourself are great for self-learners. Day 8: a side trip to Las Selinas by Santa Pola before heading to the airport. There was supposed to be wild flamingos. We did see a couple, not as bright pink as those at the zoo. Lots of other birds with long beaks and long legs, and lots of mosquitoes! I was grateful that we didn’t come to Spain in summer. I’d be eaten live by mosquitoes. We didn’t go to Benidorm or Murcia, both are pretty close to Alicante. Benidorm looks like a mirage from the highway with its skyscrapers. We are more into little classic Spanish towns. Weather in April in Alicante is considered cold to the local Spanish people, but the temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius is perfect for me. Not sweaty but breezy. Mostly sunny, but can be rainy sometimes. And when it rains, it’s a bit cold. You have to be extra braze to swim in the sea in April. Roads are well connected and convenient to drive between cities, but it’s not easy to drive within the city with many narrow and one way streets. Trains are also very developed. Personal opinion:
We visited Spain from Sweden, almost the opposite of each other in every possible way. Compared to Spain, I appreciate the quietness and emptiness of Sweden, the forests and pastures, the wide and not busy streets, the bikes and pedestrians everywhere, buildings of minimalistic colors and designs, wide spread out parks with few people, chewy and healthy down to earth bread, drinkable tap water and the most delicious milk in my experience. Ok, let’s forget about the dark cold long winter for now. If I was younger and without kids, my preference might be different. Spain feels more like a holiday heaven while Sweden a family-life destination. My impressions about Spain came from Pedro Almodóvar and Woody Allen. Romance, tapas and flamenco dance have nothing to do with kids. But it could also be just because I’m not a water or beach person. Costa Blanca reminds me a lot of California where I never feel so interested in living. But maybe my impressions will change if I actually live there instead of just visiting for a week. If I could even grow attached to Seattle where the rainy winter lasts 6 months, Spain would be definitely easier to fall in love with! This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase something. But don’t worry, this will not result in any extra costs to you. The commission is really insignificant but your action of acknowledgment is the greatest support for the passion of this stay at home mother. Thank you! We just came back from one month in Europe, and would like to share the experiences and tips about the flights. I wrote an article "Flying Solo with Baby" about four years ago, and most of the tips there still apply, but just a couple of more tips! We flew from Seattle to Copenhagen, and the shortest route is with Icelandair. It is a very kid-friendly airline. Kids get free meals and a welcome bag on EACH flight (there are four flights in total). And At Reykjavik Airport, kids under 4 years old do not need to wait in line to go through passport check, at least on our way to Europe. The way back was a bit chaotic. Flight to Europe is tougher than flight back to Seattle. It leaves in the late afternoon from Seattle, about 3 hours just when kids fell asleep for their bed time, it lands in Reykjavik. After 1.5 hours stop over and a couple of more hours on the plane, when they finally slept again, it was time to wake them up in Copenhagen. So it was a mess. And harder with the jet lag. But coming back is so much easier. It leaves in the early afternoon from Copenhagen, just the right amount of time for the kid's afternoon nap, and then we landed in Reykjavik. Time to run and snack. Onboard again, and soon time for bed. Both kids slept about 3-4 hours out of the 7.5 hours flight from Reykjavik to Seattle. The key to kids' sleep on the airplane is: carseat for the little one, and foot rest for the older one! We now bring our light travel car seats on every plane. Make sure that you have a car seat travel cart, so 1) it frees your hands and doesn't break your back, and 2) if the little one falls asleep in the car on the way to the airport, you can easily strap the car seat and him on the travel cart, and go through luggage drop off in peace, or 3)if the little one is still asleep after the plane has landed, just roll the sleeping angel in the carseat peacefully through customs and pick up your luggage! The car seat and its travel cart were the best things ever for our flights. For the older one and maybe even yourself if you are lucky to get some empty seats by you, buy one or two inflatable foot rests and you do not have to worry for the older kid to roll down the seats. Of course, if there's no empty seat next to you, the older one just has to sleep on you probably. Bring headphones for everyone. Icelandair does give out free headphones for the kids, even if they are not great quality and the ear buds keep falling out of kids' ears. I bought this for my older kid but I used it the most during the flights while they were sleeping. It's much more comfortable. For screaming, crying or kicking kids, I wrote four years ago: "If you are afraid that your baby might disturb the neighbors on the plane, it might be a good idea to warn them beforehand or prepare some small gift bags to distribute, like chocolates and a little note." Now I would simply say: stay calm and don't be afraid of anything or anyone. Others can be bothered or might even give you questioning looks, ignore them or stare back. Everyone was a kid before, including that silver-haired 60-year-old man who's trying to read a book elegantly in front of you but keeps looking back with raised eyebrows.
Last but not least, never forget: extra clothes , diapers, wipes, plastic bags and snacks for the kids. Now enjoy your flight! If you are lucky, you might even get to watch a couple of films on the plane while the kids sleep. I never got the luxury to watch a film ever since my first kid was born, but first time in almost 6 years, I watched three films and highly recommend them: Cruella, The Joker, and The Greatest Showman. |