How we afford to travel – Home Exchange

We get a lot of comments and questions on how we afford to travel as a family for an extended amount of time, and how we keep our sanity living out of a suitcase.  
We have one simple answer to that question, home exchanging. 

When you think about travelling most of the expenses come from flights and accommodations.  We love staying in 5 star hotels, but maintaining that lifestyle for an extended length of time can get very expensive. Before we set off on our travels, we asked ourselves how we would be able to stretch our budget further and afford traveling.  That is when we came across a HomeExchange.com and it has been a game changer for us as travellers.  It is honestly the most genius program that we wish we came up with the idea ourselves.   Let us just ad that in no way is this blog paid or sponsored.

Let us tell you all about it, how it works and what we love about it.  

How it works:

For only a $150 membership fee you have access to unlimited exchanges worldwide.  It is operates on a points based system. For every member you host you get paid in points by that guest, which you then accumulate for one of your own stays.   You can either swap accommodations directly with a member and therefore do not require utilizing guest points, or you can simply utilize your points as a means of paying for accommodations at another members home.  When you sign up for the membership, you set up your account with pictures of your home and provide details on locations, near by shops, transportation etc.  HomeExchange.com will then suggest a point per night rate for your home.  Accommodations are arranged directly by each member.  It is a very trust worth community.  Every guest and host is rated after each stay. Because it is a community and because every member is rated we have found members to be very respectful and careful with your home and belongings, but if there is ever any issues it is comforting to know that HomeExchange has property damage coverage.  If you want to become a member please register using the link here, it will earn you 100 Guest Points from the start and give us points as well.

What we love about it:

Budget Friendly:

We love that it saves us a lot of money, and that it is a worldwide community giving you accommodation anywhere your heart desires to travel to.  It allows us to save on accommodations and utilize that money on flights or excursions.

Full control on arrangements:

We love that all accommodations are arranged by us the members.  This allows us to have as much communication with other members, it allows us to set a preset on which members we want to host i.e. families, solo travellers for example.  It allows us to make arrangements that we feel comfortable with, with members we feel most comfortable with. We also love that you can set up a calendar to block out days and or open days that your home is available for exchange. 

Beautiful Accommodations:

The homes are absolutely beautiful.  We bet if you go on their site and search a destination you will find many that are so dreamy that you will want to stay at in a heartbeat.  Some of these homes look like they belong on a design show, or the homes of the rich and famous, and more luxurious than any hotel you can imagine and you don’t have to pay? WHAT??

Live like a local:

We love that arranging these stays we get the sense of what it is like living as a local.  Each host member has always been reachable via text or phone to answer any questions we may have and give suggestions on where to eat, what to do and provide answers to any questions we may have.  It is always nice getting recommendations on places to go that are not touristic and only a well-kept secret by the locals.  

Home cooked meals:

As much eating out and trying traditional meals is important when traveling we also love the option of having a home cooked meal.  We love going to local markets to pick up some fresh groceries and cooking as a family and being able to sit at the dining table, as we would do at home. 

Great with kids: 

Home exchanging has been a game changer for us traveling with a young energy filled child.  Let’s face it, sometimes your kids just need a rest, they need space to run around, play in a garden, swim in a private pool, go biking, play with toys and just be a kid and be loud.  Let’s face it most kids don’t like being cooped up in a hotel room, when you have an entire space that goes well beyond a hotel room your kid will be so happy to be able to roam around. Home exchanging has been a lifesaver for us in that sense.  Many of the accommodations we arranged where with families, so they allowed us free use of their children’s toys, bikes, scooters etc. They are equipped with anything and everything you may need to make your stay confortable with a kid, and that you may not need to stress about lugging around with you in your suitcase, things like highchairs as an example. 

Relationships you build:

We have built some incredible friendships with members after our stay through all our communications prior to and during out stay.  You can have as little or as much contact with members as you choose.  Us being social butterflies we are always up to meeting new friends around the globe.   

Want to join?

Have we convinced you enough?  If this sounds like something you want to sign up for please click here and it will automatically input our code. Registering with our code will earn 100 Guest Points from the start; it will also give us guest points as well. 

If you have more questions, you can go the Home Exchange website to read more about our experiences.