It is customary, though not mandatory, to leave a gift behind when you finish your vacation at an exchange home. Typically I bring something unique from my home town. The ideal gift serves as a memento of the exchangers' visit to my home. Past examples include a coffee table book of gorgeous photos of 80+ years of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (for swappers who used our home just for that event), and a hand-made print of the Chrysler Building (the view from our bedroom windows) that we picked up at one of the many art galleries in our neighborhood. There's a better gift available to every swapper, and best of all it's free.
YOUR HOME, THROUGH OTHERS' EYES
Home exchange encourages us to see our own home dispassionately. How can we show each room in its best light to make our swap listing enticing? What needs to be fixed so our home is safe and comfortable for the swap family? Perhaps it is time to replace those worn-out towels, touch up the baseboard paint or de-clutter the garage.
The pay-off for making our house or apartment ready for its home exchange debut is enjoying a gleaming residence ourselves. We can open our home to swappers with confidence that they will enjoy their stay. The flip side to this is "coming home" to our temporary digs in a real neighborhood, and living like the locals.
When we enter that exchange home, we see it with fresh eyes. And this is the basis for a wonderful home exchange gift: a photo "album" of the home and area for its daily residents.
THE HOME'S VACATION PHOTOS
If you have a digital camera, you can thank your swap partners by showing them their home in a new way. What catches your interest about the house or apartment you are using? Perhaps the view from the living room is a dazzling vista lacking in your own home area, such as mountains or a cityscape. You might capture dramatic weather or a particularly beautiful sunset. These are moments in the home's "vacation" from its owners that they miss by being away. Your photos capture the experience of living in that house when the daily residents are not there. They are like the home's own vacation snapshots to show the swap family how the house spent its vacation from them.
WHO TO SHOOT
When capturing your vacation memories as a photo, you probably want to include your family members in the frame. If you have young children, you may be especially interested in commemorating an all-too-brief phase of their lives. Pictures you record for the swappers, however, should feature your family only on a limited basis.
A shot of your family waving goodbye to the exchangers, or showing your appreciation for a special feature of the home could be a nice reminder of your swap. But a better choice of subject for the exchangers is a family pet. We had a particularly playful cat who one exchanger captured in a dozen funny situations. We were not aware that he liked to lie in the cool of the bathroom sink, but this swapper found him there and preserved the evidence in an artistic photo shot in black and white. The exchanger also showed our cat sniffing a flower in a vase and surveying his domain from the living room window.
WHAT TO SHOOT
People who visit a new town flock to standard attractions. However, your exchange partners may never have played tourist in their own town. Pictures of famous local landmarks can add interest to their swap listing. You can show the exchangers something they may not know: which sights in their local area are of most interest to visitors.
WHEN TO SHOOT
Perhaps you visited the area to attend a special festival or event. Your swap partners may have tired of this yearly shindig, or they may not be aware of it. You might be a fan of a nearby event that is famous with others who share your interests, like a marathon or music festival, but under the radar of the exchangers. Providing pictures of that fun event can help the swappers attract others to swap with them.
PRESERVING THE MEMORIES
The easiest way to make photos of the swap home available to your exchange partners is on a web-based photo sharing site. There are dozens of these, such as Snapfish, and it is generally free to post the pictures. The reason for this is that the websites hope those viewing the shots will pay (an often tiny fee) to print one or more of the photos.
The same websites offer personalized merchandise, such as coffee mugs, emblazoned with the photo of your choice. Sending one of these items to the exchangers can be a nice "thank you". Another option is using the site to layout a photo album, including captions and special effects, which you can have sent to the swappers.
For a lower-cost approach, bring your laptop to the exchange house and burn a disc containing the pictures. The swappers can print the ones they like or even upload your work to their swap listing (let them know if your do not want your work reproduced for non-personal use).
The exchangers may give you access to their printer, which you can load with glossy photo paper. Remember, however, that reproducing photos uses lots of expensive printer ink. It is thoughtful to provide a new ink cartridge if you do more than a few print jobs with their printer.
In the United States, many pharmacies have self-service photo kiosks or counters where you can bring film or a memory card and have photos printed for the swappers. These same departments sell "brag books" which are portable files with clear windows for displaying your pictures. Larger albums are also available at these locations.
COMBINE A PHOTO WITH A GIFT
Snapshots of the swap home can be used to enhance other home exchange gifts. A guest book for future swappers to sign, with a flattering photo of the home on the cover, can become a treasured memento.
A blank photo album for the exchangers' own photos, with a nice shot of the swappers' home to start the collection, is another thoughtful gift. You could begin an album for "Our Home Exchanges" by providing the swappers with a picture of your own home -- that they just visited.
NOTHING MORE UNIQUE
Personalizing a gift with photos of the swappers' home is a unique and considerate gesture. Whether you pay nothing to upload some shots to a web-based album, or design a customized scrap book for the swappers, your gracious gift is sure to be appreciated. When it comes to home exchange, a picture may be worth a thousand words of thanks.
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