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It is very, very unusual, but what can you do if an emergency comes up that prevents you from completing your home exchange?
It may even be worth planning ahead for this very unlikely event - in fact, you can require that you and your partner both have a back-up plan if this were to occur. This would be included in your home exchange agreement.
Regardless, if you and your home swap partner have agreed to a home exchange and airline tickets have been purchased, and some emergency occurs which would prevent you from completing the home swap, home exchange etiquette dictates that you will be responsible for finding alternative accomodations for your home swap partner. You could stay with a friend or family and allow your home to be used by the partner, or you could rent a home or pay for a hotel for your home exchange partner.
Sidenote: a novel was just published based on this scenario: the main character can't go on a home exchange, but rents a home for herself while the home swap partner stays in her home. The book is called "Return From Africa".
The owners of a Parisian flat located in the heart of the city are looking to do trade homes with an Intervac member in San Francisco.
The flat features 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and a terrace. It is within walking distance to many attractions, like the Pere-Lachaise cemetary: home to Jim Morrison and Chopin's final resting places (somewhere someone is gnashing their teeth that I mentioned these two musicians in the same sentence), among other famous one-time denizens of Paris.
If you are interested in this listing, it can be found on the hotlist, among with others looking for a last-minute home swap.
Hawaii is a very popular destination for our members within the US - for Europeans looking for sun and surf, it is a good option as well. In fact, one of our Hawaiian members is doing a swap with a couple in Scotland. The Hawaiian member, who owns the home on the left, has previously traded his home two times.
This summer he will be swapping his home with the owners of the Edinburgh flat at right for a
month. The Scottish home swappers have done one home exchange before and were looking to go to the US. The flat is very central, walking distance to the center of town. The flat is even within walking distance of Edinburgh Castle, which on July 16th is hosting an event of worldwide significance: JK Rowling, an Edinburgh citizen, will be there to launch her long-awaited book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince".
A number of prospective Intervac members lately have been asking whether they can list their vacation home instead of their primary residence.
The answer is yes. In fact, many of our members list their vacation homes, like this vacation home located in the Hamptons.
The advantages of swapping a vacation home are:
1. Flexibility: you don't live in your vacation home most of the year, so you can do non-simaltaneous exchanges, giving you a greater chance to find your dream swap.
2. Vacation homes are often in highly desirable areas, so that will also increase your chances of getting offers where you want to go.
3. Your home is put to good use, instead of standing empty.
4. You can also list your vacation home for rent, if so desired.
Our home swap in Dublin, which we arranged through Intervac, is less than a month away.
We have been in touch with our home exchange family since we set up the exchange in March, speaking with them numerous times. We really feel like we know our family and are excited about meeting them.
What have we done to prepare for the home exchange?
1. We have made arrangements to meet our home exchange family for dinner at our home the night before we leave. We will give them the "grand tour" and exchange keys.
2. Our home exchange family has arranged for friends to pick us up from the airport shuttle in Dublin and take us to the home.
3. I have begun preparing the list of important phone numbers and instructions on how to use our stove, washer/dryer, TV and computer.
4. Both the Irish family and I have spoken to our repsective car insurance agents to set up insurance while each use the other's cars.
5. My in-laws will offer to host a dinner for the family and will be on-call throughout the vacation if the family needs anything.
Soon to come: clearing out room in closets and drawers for the family to use, preparing clean sheets and towels, putting away any breakables.
Aside: At top, we spent a lot of time in Galway on our last trip to Ireland, particularly
enjoying our trip to Fat Freddy's. When I first met my husband I was highly amused by a beat-up T-shirt he loved to wear. It had a crazy racoon on it advertizing "Fat Freddy's", a restaurant in Galway that Josh had gone to in 1993 (yes, 12 years ago). When we went to Galway in 2002, he was super pleased that Fat Freddy's was still going strong. I bought him a new T-shirt there - but he still prefers to wear the old holey one.
Cork is the European City of Culture for 2005. What does this mean? It means that there will be a number of special events (concerts, exhibits, festivals) in Cork throughout the year. I will be going to Cork this summer as part of my home exchange as well. The family who own the home on the left live in Cork are Intervac members who were looking to trade their home in the sought-after location of Cork for somewhere near the sea.
Enter the Massachusetts family who own the home at right, near Boston and the seashore, who were looking to go to Ireland this summer. Both families have small children, so can share toys and will have kids rooms instead of hotel cots. The home exchange will be a month in duration.
Intervac customer Patti Brown, who wrote an illuminating article about home swapping for Travel and Leisure, will be on KRON-TV tomorrow (Monday, June 13 on Channel 4) at 8:45 AM. She will explain how trading homes works and talk about her experience swapping homes with a family in London.
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, try to tune in!
The Intervac members who own this home, located in the Lahn Valley of Germany - known for its beautiful castle, vineyards and hiking - are looking to do a home exchange in the US Northeast or Northwest in August. The home overlooks a beautiful valley and the Barock Castle and is within easy distance to Frankfurt and other cities.
Check out last minute airfares to Frankfurt here.
Here's an example of a home exchange that was just solidified - it will take place the first week of July this year, so a bit last minute!
The owners of this flat right in the heart of the city of Funchal on Madeira Island (in Portugal) were looking to go to NYC. The holiday flat is situated on a cobblestone street said to be the oldest of Madeira Island... it dates back to 1430.
Luckily they were able to arrange a home swap with an Intervac member located in Manhattan. The apartment features a terrace overlooking Central Park, and is in a fabulous location. 
