Home Exchange
The response from most people when I describe home exchange to them is, “Oh, like Airbnb,” but it isn’t really like Airbnb because there is no money exchanged except for an occasional cleaning fee, and additionally, one must own an asset to barter for one. So first and foremost, you must have your own asset to trade for another asset, though sometimes people do use their rentals. The whole concept and where to stay when people are in your home gets both tricky and creative because there are choices to be had in the stay options: their home while they stay in yours (simultaneous), their home or your home at some time in the future (non-simultaneous), or for points, meaning when someone stays at your home, instead of swapping directly for theirs, you receive points. These points operate like money, because you can then use them to rent your own place, wherever or whenever you want, all procured from listings on the home exchange site. These options also depend upon what type of home you have—a home where you are the only one who lives there and leave when someone stays, use of a spare room and shared common areas, a second home like an Airbnb rental, or a dedicated vacation home. So many creative possibilities.
Home Exchange Healing
Wandering around someone else’s home and in their space is far different from wandering around a hotel room where there is rarely anything worth contemplating, deeply or superficially. But in someone’s personal home, it is as if you come to channel them because by the time you get there, you have a good sense for them with back-and-forth communication…Once you arrive, all these small vibes continue to flood in and reverberate through the home. Things that really tell you who they are and by now you are curious as heck, all demarcated by the art on the walls, spices in the pantry, coffee selection (Illy or Folgers?), coffee makers (stove top espresso or elite Nespresso machine?), even the wine and other alcohol they drink, or don’t drink. Books on the bookshelves and the authors (poetry, fiction, memoir, and in what languages). Even the bric-a-brac around the house, usually acquired on their travels, will unravel stories about who they are in sometimes fascinating and always interesting detail by screaming stories at you. I am always intrigued by this aspect of home exchange travel and this was no exception. Here is what I discovered about the owners of the home where I would spend the next 10 days.