During our travels in France this month, we’re staying in French homes that I was able to book using HomeExchange.com. We tried our first two home exchanges three years ago, and each time we have so appreciated this option for family travel! The surprising part of home exchange is that you don’t need to have a beautiful, large home in a tourist-friendly location for this to work. Having a lovely space in a desirable area is helpful of course, but you don’t necessarily even need to own a home in order to book a home through HomeExchange. I’ll explain the options in a minute, but first here’s a quick summary of the ways we’ve used HomeExchange in the past.

Our first exchange was a true home exchange with an Icelandic family with three boys. On the HomeExchange website they had indicated that they would be in Oregon during the same summer that we would be stopping in Iceland on our way to Paris. (Icelandair allows for a free stopover in Iceland, meaning that you can stop and stay there for up to a few weeks before continuing your second flight to your final destination.) I messaged this family through the HomeExchange website and offered them a non-simultaneous exchange, meaning that they would stay in our home when we were away but those dates wouldn’t line up exactly with the dates when we would stay in their home. This family liked the idea of spending several days in Oregon after their California trip just before they flew back to Iceland. We also agreed to share a car with each other. Initially I was a little concerned about having three preteen boys staying in our small home, but the family left it in fantastic condition. (You can agree on the details beforehand, like whether you want your guests to replace disposable items such as TP and paper towels, whether you expect them to wash their sheets and towels when leaving, or if the food in the pantry or fridge should be replaced if used).

*Waterfalls in Thingvellir National Park, Iceland, near where two continents meet*

What I loved about our first exchange was that we got to meet the family beforehand since they were driving through our area before their homestay. I was able to give them a tour of our home and even provide them a set of house keys before we left for Iceland. (I remember that they were impressed with our American-sized washing machine and dryer!) Our Iceland stay was a lot of fun. I learned that Icelandic tap water smells like sulfur (ie, rotten eggs) and that the window coverings don’t shut out as much of the nighttime summer sunlight as I had hoped. No worries---we still had a delightful stay and we were grateful to use the family’s car (as we had prearranged) to discover some great hikes (like Thingvellir National Park) , visit the local geothermal pool, and explore child-friendly parks like Laugardalur with its zoo, child-sized cars, and multiple playgrounds to explore.

The cave house in the Loire Valley (also available on Airbnb) — *The cave house in the Loire Valley (also* *available on Airbnb*)

Homestay #2 was a cave house in the Loire Valley overlooking the Cher River. Our kids thought this cave stay was the coolest experience, and it truly was fascinating! This was a rental home lent to us as part of another non-simultaneous exchange. The French owners have a relative near us, so they plan to come to Oregon someday to see this relative. Three years have passed and they haven’t yet completed their stay in our home, but they’re welcome anytime. The cave house was carved out of the hillside above the Cher River because the chalky white limestone there is soft and good for building—and that’s what was used to build the beautiful chateaux there in the Loire! The cave house was small but adequate for our family with a bedroom, hide-a-bed, loft, small kitchen, and a bathroom. The owners keep a dehumidifier running there so that mushrooms won’t grow out of the walls! During this homestay we went for walks along the Cher River, toured a mushroom-growing business that has existed for a century in the hollowed-out limestone caves, and visited the chateaux of Villandry and Chenonceau. It was a feat to get our manual transmission car up the narrow, zigzagging hillside of the cave house, but my husband and I still chuckle at the memories of this unique experience!

Unlike our previous homestays which were based on direct home exchange, our homestays in France this month (August 2021) are all GuestPoint exchanges, meaning that we used points from HomeExchange.com to stay in these homes. (We chose this non-reciprocal homestay option because we already have friends staying in our home and also because in general the USA is not currently letting non-US citizens enter due to Covid restrictions.) There are multiple ways to earn GuestPoints from HomeExchange.com: you can complete your profile, add photos of your home/apartment, renew an annual membership (roughly $150/year), or invite friends to join the HomeExchange community. You can also earn a lot of points by hosting HomeExchange members in your home. You can even buy points if you don’t have enough points to complete an exchange. We purchased points for our final home exchange this month and it still proved to be a great value and more affordable than Airbnb, it seems.

Our Paris patio—merci à HomeExchange! — *Our Paris patio—*merci à *HomeExchange!*

You might have caught that I just mentioned a HomeExchange annual membership. This is not technically required, but paying for a yearly membership (currently $150/year) offers some legal coverage if something negative were to happen to your home or belongings. That said, you can search through home listings and communicate with members all before paying for a membership. When we know we will be using HomeExchange for travel, we have always found that the membership is an incredible value. We’ve also found members to be very trustworthy--not only providing their home for use, but also leaving hospitality gifts (such as wine, kitchen towels, or homemade jam) along with information about their favorite local market, restaurants, and other sites. What I appreciate about HomeExchange is that it encourages local and global sharing, it’s economical and practical, and not only does it give you a taste of what it’s like to live like a local, but it can result in new friendships. Our latest home exchange has led to a pen pal relationship between our children at their own request.

Is there a downside to home exchange? Well, it’s good to know that arranging a home exchange can sometimes require sending a short message to 15 or more different homeowners until you find a match, but the website makes it easy to copy and paste your messages and to save your favorite home options—or to view families who have saved your home to their favorites. All it takes is for one family to accept your request, and then your efforts absolutely pay off. You can make exchange requests several years in advance if you’d like. If you’re interested in using HomeExchange, signing up with my referral link (michele-f2052) can earn you up to 250 additional GuestPoints (and I get an equal amount of points thanks to you--merci)! I mentioned in a previous post that this is typically enough points for a free night. I hope you love home exchange as much as we have!

All opinions are my own and have not been solicited by HomeExchange.