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As I have written before, the most popular destination for home exchanging in the world right now is Tuscany. It seems everyone (and their mother) wants to go there. So here's one for y'all.
The Intervac members who own this villa, located in Tuscany near the town of Lucca, are looking to go to San Francisco, among other places. The villa sleeps four and overlooks the typical Tuscan countryside. The members are looking to travel between now and December.
Ciao bella.
The Intervac members who own this home, near Galway - one of the best cities in Ireland to visit and home to arguably the best traditional Irish music - are looking to do a home swap in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are looking to exchange for 3-6 weeks in May and June of this year.
The home sleeps four and has three bedrooms and three baths. To see more Intervac listings available for home exchange in 2006 in the Ireland area, click here.
The Intervac members who own this beautiful Hawaiian property on Oahu say: "The Pacific Ocean is your backyard!" As the photo demonstrates (left), the sea is just steps away from your accomodations. The property, which offers three bedrooms and two baths, also has snorkeling and jet ski equipment available for your use.
The Hawaiian members are looking to do a home swap anytime between now and December and are open to all destinations.
To preview more Intervac listings, go here and click on the area of the world map you want to go.
Aloha!
Here's another example of someone looking for a specific home exchange and getting it. The Intervac members who own this home in Tampa, Florida wanted to spend their vacation in Drogheda, a small city in Ireland. Drogheda is near New Grange, an ancient burial site that is really something to see (just bring your umbrella and expect to stand around outside for hours waiting for your turn inside). Drogheda is also home to Evanna Lynch, the lucky girl who beat out 15,000 others to play Luna Lovegood in the next Harry Potter movie. In fact, Drogheda sounds like a city JK Rowling would use in her books.
Anyway, the US members DID find a home exchange in Drogheda for this summer. They will be
trading homes with the Irish Intervac members who own this home. They signed a very thorogh agreement. The only advice I have is don't go to the Drogheda restaurant we did - it was awful!
Daniel Johnson, of London's Evening Standard, wrote an article about how hard it is to live in one of the world's most costly cities, even if you are making $US175,000 a year. I used to live in London, and it was crazy expensive. Want an example? When my now-husband and I went to Pizza Express, a cheap chain restaurant, the total bill was $US50 for a large cheese pizza and two glasses of wine (and tip). Insane.
Daniel offers tips on how to save money:
"Foreign holidays are the next major item - not a necessity, of course, but given the stresses of city life we can hardly be surprised that London families want to spend some time together in the sun.
My family never spends as much as £5,000 a year, but then we don't usually go abroad. If we do, we negotiate a home exchange. Other families, however, report that a week in a midranking resort for a family of four in summer can cost £5,000 - and more in winter. More than £10,000 a year on holidays is not uncommon."
But the costs of living are high too in the US, and we personally would not have been able to go to Europe at all if we didn't exchange through Intervac. Because we didn't stay in hotels, cooked some meals ourselves and didn't rent a car during our 2 week trip to Ireland, we saved at least $6,000.
The Intervac members who own this home, near Disneyland in Anaheim, were looking for a very specific exchange. I often recommend against this. The more flexible you are about destinations and time periods, the greater your chances of finding a home swap. Nevertheless, the Anaheim members only wanted to go to the Cotswolds in August. And they got what they wanted.
The Anaheim family are trading their home with the Intervac members who own this rather
grand 5 bedroom cottage in the Cotswolds. Interestingly, the Cotswolds family did not even list the US as a destination where they wanted to go to. Guess the Anaheim family was able to convince them otherwise.
Both families signed a home exchange agreement. Within the terms of the agreement: neither party can drive either's car more than 250 miles.
A Year in Provence is Peter Mayle's delightful and often imitated memoir of moving to the South of France and restoring a 200-year old farmhouse. Now you can have the Maylesque experience of living like a Provence native (minus the heavy lifting). The Intervac members who own this beautiful five bedroom estate near Avignon are looking to trade their home in July for two weeks. The members are experienced, having done 10 exchanges in the past.
Staying in this home would allow you to visit the famous Avignon festival, which means you would be able to see the best of contemporary theater in the French-speaking world. My husband and I had a wonderful time in Avignon (that's me near the Festival at right). We particularly enjoyed a surreal but fun puppet show called "Madame Ka". Full disclosure: Provence is my favorite place in the world to home exchange. 
I spoke with an Intervac member yesterday who had a unique experience with a home exchange. Carol had long dreamed of seeing the famous Iditarod dog sled race. The Iditarod race is a unique event which happens in Alaska every winter, and pits teams of sled dogs and their human leaders (called "mushers") against each other. The teams race 1,150 miles in sub zero conditions and tundra to Nome.
This year Carol was able to arrange a home exchange in Anchorage, where she caught the beginning of the race events and the race kick-off. She said she had a wonderful time. Carol also told me the worst thing about home exchanging is that she just doesn't have enough vacation time to do all the exchanges she wants to.
Carol's not the only member to use home exchanging to catch a big event - during the Summer Olympics one of our USA Intervac members, whose daughter was on the USA women's team, did a home exchange in Athens.
