THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE

Mark my words, the big travel story for Summer, 2009 is going to be home exchange. The way the economy is going, more and more people are going to be motivated to give home swapping a try.

I looked at taking a cruise this coming April. I am a parent of young children. The wonderful kids' camps, all-inclusive lodging, meals and activities and variety of destinations one experiences on a cruise is a great treat for our family.

When we look into a cruise we go to CruiseCompete.com. We note the ship and sail date that interest us. Travel agencies then bid for our business.

I crunched the numbers and found that the even the best rate for our family, $1000 per week per person, could pay for the five of us to swap for three weeks this winter.

For the cost of one week on a ship we can fly across the US round trip, have lunches and dinners out, rent a car and take our kids to Disney Land.

That may give you a clue as to the location of our next exchange. More on that to follow.