If "free travel" sounds too good to be true you have never tried home exchange.
This winter we are going on vacation for more than two weeks. We will have the use of a three-bedroom house right on the ocean in California wine country and a late-model sedan. Our only fixed cost is airfare, and right now that's pretty inexpensive. And, as in the case of our own home exchange vacation, optional.
When the kids have a school break I'm the one who takes time off from work to hang out with them. If I have to use vacation time, then by golly I am going somewhere interesting. The nice thing about home exchange is that I can choose to go on an amazing vacation without spending more money than I do at home.
There are lots of great areas to visit within a few hours' drive of our home. If we want to escape the winter weather we can do so if we're willing to do two consecutive five-hour driving days or hop a cheap shuttle flight. This winter, however, we are going all out. We will fly across the country to spend over two weeks on the ocean in a coastal vineyard region several hours' drive north of Los Angeles.
We had hoped to do a swap this August, when our kids' day camp session ended. The hilarious folks at the New York Department of Education torpedoed that plan by declining to confirm school placements until just 11 days before school starts. Yes, we will find out at the end of August where our youngest is to start school the first week in September.
Time for vacation plan B. To avoid a winter of discontent we have arranged a December swap to someplace warm(er). Even though it is a peak travel time, we got tickets to Los Angeles for $179 per person, each way.
We are spending $1600 to fly our family of four round trip and pay for the gas to get to and from the airport. The beauty of home exchange is that our budget for the entire 16-day trip can be as little as the $1600 we are paying for transportation.
THE HOME EXCHANGE BUDGET
Here is how much we are paying for 16 nights of lodging: $0
Our rental car cost: $0. We will use the exchange couple's 2005 V6 sedan in exchange for providing them with unlimited transit passes.
Food: we plan to cook most meals at the swap home since it is located in a small town. We will have dinner out if we can find places that interest us.
Entertainment: the nearby monarch butterfly preserve costs nothing. Elephant seal habitat is free to visit. Watching the migrating whales from the ocean-side deck of the exchange home: also free. There is a famous local attraction we have always wanted to visit. Including its exorbitant admission cost in our budget, plus incidentals and dinners out will still let us keep our total vacation costs well under $50 per person, per day.
STAYCATION: ANOTHER WAY TO SAY NO-VACATION
No matter where you live in the US or Europe there are other home exchangers within a day's journey by public transportation or private car. By far the biggest chunk of our California home exchange budget is the airfare. No matter how tight your travel budget, if you have a tidy home and a transit pass you can go on vacation. A real vacation. It's called home exchange.
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