Caribbean home

Ingrida Kurlinkute,

Editor (Travel)

 

Have you ever caught yourself dreaming of a splendid home for free in a place such as the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Miami or Australia, with the only condition being is that you would allow a stranger to stay at your own home.

The idea of strangers sitting on your coach, laying in your bed and talking to your neighbours while you are not at home may not be for everyone. However, this is what house-swapping is about; a rapidly growing movement where a person, or sometimes even the whole family, move into a stranger’s home without paying a single penny.

The idea emerged from tourists who were willing to feel more like locals rather than tourists flocking to hotels. Moreover, it is also cheaper than staying at hotels. The willingness to live like a resident led to the establishment of organisations such as Couchsurfing, HosptalityClub or BeWelcome, where you stay together with an owner of the house. However, home-swapping is more extreme because you are stay on your own in a resident’s house.

The swap can last a week or a year and can take place anywhere in the world, from a village nearby to Rio de Janeiro. It all depends on the mutual agreement of the home-swappers. The best websites to start browsing through your dream houses are Swap My City Pad (), Home Base Holidays (homebase-hols.com), Green Theme International (gti-home-exchange.com). Each company has its own annual fee for members; it may be £25, but can also reach more than £100. After you register, you can communicate with other members and organise your home-swap.

Do not fall quickly for a hotel-like villa with a vast azure swimming pool. Firstly, such houses will very likely already be booked for the exchange ten years in advance. Secondly, be realistic — the owners of a house such as this tends to seek equivalent houses. Try to find a house which, in one way or another, would match your own house.

Almost all of the time home-swapping is a success. In a few rare cases, some problems occur due to not enough research before arriving at the new house. For example, if you travel with children, look for a family house which has a garden and enough space to play, as well as children’s furniture and entertainment. Or if you have a pet at home whom you do not take on holiday, make an agreement that the new residents of your house would take care of it (in return, you may look after their own pet).

Remember that it is your own responsibility to investigate the potential house in every possible way because the home-swap agencies do not check the properties before registering them. Therefore, analyse a photo of every single corner in a house to make sure that your expectations will be satisfied. Also, communicate a lot and discuss such things as the payment of utility bills. You might also want to swap your cars. In such case, let your insurer know about the situation. To sum up, discuss every little thing that worries you, as miscommunication can lead to a dramatic disappointment when you arrive to your new house and realise it is not what you were expecting.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (Olmos64)

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Ingrida Kurlinkute

Ingrida is currently a student at the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, United Kingdom. She is very curious about the world around her and is keen on sharing her opinion and knowledge with others. One of the biggest passions of Ingrida is travelling and therefore she heads the Travel Section on the website.