BALONEY!

There are a lot of travel scams out there. When I tried finding a home swap on Craig's List recently I ran into pretty much all of them.


The worst travel scam, in my opinion, is the one that involves self-deception.


That would be the idiotic "stay-cation" which requires you to pretend that staying home and not going on a vacation is actually...a vacation.


Right. I stay home the other 50 weeks of the year. For me, travel is about seeing new things and meeting new people.


The sad thing is that this bogus pseudo-vacation is so unnecessary. If you can afford a tank of gas you can do a home exchange vacation for about the same cost as staying home.


Don't believe it? Our pals at the American Automobile Association do an annual survey of vacation costs. People are actually paying less today for food and lodging than in 2007 before the recession began.


On average an American family of four spends $244 per day on food and a place to sleep. In pricey tourist destinations like London and Manhattan the average for meals and hotel is over $600 per day.


On a home exchange vacation that same family of four can easily save $2000 to $5000 per week.


Forget this "stay-cation" nonsense. Home exchange is the way to travel for the same cost as being stuck at home.