It's rare, though, to find a general summary of the home exchange basics that is funny and has something new to add to the discussion.
HAVE YOU SEEN THE SAME ARTICLE ABOUT HOME EXCHANGE 100 TIMES?
The standard "intro" article about home exchange, whether on a blog or in a magazine, reads like this:
"Would you let foreigners bathe in your tub? What if you could save millions of dollars by bathing in their oddly-shaped foreign tubs in return? Yes, there are some bizarre people out there who let other weirdos into their homes when they are on vacation. It's called 'house exchanging'.
Local nutcases Pat and Terry Smith gave their house keys to the Gustavsondottir Family while they settled into the Gustavsondottirs' cozy digs in Hveragerdi, Iceland.
The Smiths enjoyed the beautifully-wrapped hunk of reindeer lard the home-owners left for them: 'We tried to cook with it, but it turns out they use it as laundry soap' reports Terry. Amazingly, aside from that little mishap, and the untimely death of the Icelandic family's pet puffin bird when it fell into a hot pan of reindeer lard, nothing went wrong with this freaky travel scheme." Etc.
OBSERVATIONS FROM A NEW SWAPPER
I came across a blog called "Crazy Dad's Guide to Family Travel" (http://dadmustbestopped.blogspot.com). Crazy Dad makes a good point I had not considered:
"One of the most stressful parts of traveling is deciding where to go. Online, Crazy Dad sees nothing but panicky people begging for some sort of guidance as to where to spend their valuable vacation time.
With home exchange, Crazy Dad didn't have to seek out ideas. The ideas came to him.
By being open to a home exchange, the offers came to him from families around the world. The Crazy family had never considered Denmark before, but the exchange seemed just right. And, of course, the Crazy family had a great time."
GUY HAS TOO MUCH TIME ON HIS HANDS
As I read the rest of this amusing summary of the home swap experience I was saddened to learn exactly what had driven this Dad Crazy. It was reading this very blog:
"There's one great source online for home exchange info - it's Nicole Feist's home exchanger blog. When Crazy Dad was nervous before his first exchange, he read that entire home exchanger blog - every post from beginning to end.
Any question you can think of? That blog has discussed it, analyzed it, and answered it."
Check out Crazy Dad's blog. It has lots of good tips for families on the go. And
Crazy Dad, if you're reading this, I apologize to you and your family for inducing madness. But I'm glad this blog helped you get bitten by the home exchange bug.
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