Atlantica - 01.09.2007, Qupperneq 26

24 a t l a n t i c a
on the fly
In the sappy 2006 movie The Holiday, the lives of
two women, played by Cameron Diaz and Kate
Winslet, change forever after they decide to swap
homes one holiday season. Winslet gets a taste of the
good life at Diaz’s modern LA mansion, while the latter
jets off to a quaint, old-world cottage in an English
village with that light dusting of snow only ever seen
in the movies.
Such is the feel-good result of home swapping à la
Hollywood. With a few clicks of the mouse, two people
find the perfect vacation—and attractive romantic
interests—by trading homes. There is no hotel bill,
probably access to a car, and the chance to experience
that travel cliché: living life as a local.
However, home exchange isn’t just a holiday option
for movie-land. It seems the voyeuristic attraction of
getting a glimpse into someone else’s life is becoming
increasingly popular elsewhere.
“It’s more of an adventure than a normal holiday,”
says Magnús Valur Pálsson, an Icelandic graphic
designer who has taken his family on one home
exchange vacation—to Stockholm—and hopes to do
so again.
Organizations that help to facilitate home
exchanges have been in operation for several decades,
but the advent of the Internet has simplified the
process. Two of the biggest sites are United States-
based Home Exchange (homeexchange.com) and
Intervac (intervac.org), which has a stronger following
in Europe. Each site boasts thousands of listings from
Hawaii to Hong Kong, Buenos Aires to Bratislava, the
most popular of which are located in the US, France,
UK, Spain and Italy.
Potential users pay an annual fee of about USD
100 to list their home and destination of choice on a
website. Any browser can access the Internet-posted
home listings for free, but the membership fee must
be paid in order to contact someone about a potential
trade.
Then the fun begins. “You begin this courtship
by e-mail,” explains UK-based marketing consultant
Pippa Wells, whose family has completed three home
exchanges in the US, France and Switzerland. “You
suss out the area and the house. Eventually you start
talking on the phone. You flirt a bit with various home
exchangers to tout your wares. You get to know
each other a bit more and then finally come to an
arrangement.”
That arrangement involves agreeing on a time
when people will stay at each other’s homes and
whether the use of personal cars or other “extras” like
access to a cottage or special sporting equipment are
included.
The different types of exchanges available
are as varied as those interested in the concept.
Ólafur Tryggvi Magnússon and his partner Björg
Vilhjálmsdóttir have taken their three children on five
home exchanges since 2001. While various European
families have enjoyed their 140-square-meter house
near downtown Reykjavík, they have traveled to the
Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, France, and Austria.
Families with young children are some of the most
ardent supporters of this vacation style—they save
on hotels and the expense of regularly dining out.
Retirees and those who have more time to spend in
a particular location also like the service. Those who
participate say they do it both to save money and
to get a glimpse into how others live. Many use their
adopted home as a base for a longer trip and move
around from there, especially if the family car has been
included in the exchange.
The thought of granting total strangers full access
to one’s private home is arguably what makes people
who have never tried home exchange most nervous.
“I wasn’t worried, but everyone around me was,”
explains Pálsson. “There was a TV movie on a couple
of weeks before we left about a British family who had
a house exchange that went wrong and it seemed like
everyone had watched it.”
“You can’t be precious about your home,” says
Wells. “You have to have faith that people will behave
the way you will.” The Wells family’s only additional
protection was asking some neighbors to stop by and
introduce themselves.
Once a deal has been brokered and any nerves
about the home settled, the vast majority of holidays
seem to work out well. Alda Sigmundsdóttir traveled
Home AwAy From Home
Why are vacations trading homes and lives with complete strangers
becoming so appealing? Eliza Reid investigates.
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