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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We travel the world [b]doing home exchanges, house sits, farm stays[/b] and budget flights.

My 5yo has been to 7 countries, 2yo has been to 4 countries, but no luxury resorts here despite a $300k HHI.[/quote]

Tell me more about this. What sites do you use? I want to do this with our rowhouse in DC, but afraid no one will want to trade with a house cluttered with kid crap! (oldest is 3.5, youngest is an infant)

The vibe I get on home sharing sites is that everyone is an empty nester or a DINK.[/quote]

We use HomeExchange and PeopleLikeUs. You have to target other families and it's GREAT. Aside from my family, it's my favorite part of my life. We've had so many wonderful experiences. We aim to swap or sit for families with kids the same age as ours and it makes travel a breeze to arrive at a house with toys, bikes, stroller, high chair, crib, etc. My kids LOVE rolling up to a house of new toys and it even makes the down time of travel enjoyable when DH and I can have coffee or a glass of wine together because the kids are happy exploring the house/yard. We've swapped cars and car seats. We've swapped childcare! My 5yo literally asks all the time "Mom, when can we go live in another kid's house again?". We've made dear friends all over the world. Cannot recommend it enough, truly.[/quote]

DP here.  Are you okay with people being in your "stuff" - or how do you hide your personal stuff?[/quote]

If you're doing a simultaneous with a family then you are both in each other's stuff technically so there's mutual trust there. We keep our office locked with our personal documents and such. I've never rifled through someone's stuff and no evidence of people rifling through ours. Some families clear a section of their closer or drawer in their dresser. Pretty much everyone clears bathroom and kitchen countertops, but bathroom drawers are still full of their stuff. Our kid woke up in the middle of the night in Spain with a fever and I texted the other family and they let me know which kids meds were in the medicine cabinet and translated the dosing for me. Everyone knows they are heading to someone's main home. No one is expecting airbnb or rental quality. Both sites have reviews too so you can see reviews of people as both hosts and guests. In general, people who are up for home swapping are warm, welcoming, adventurous, and it works out. Knock on wood we haven't had a bad experience. Everyone makes a home manual and outlines where things are and how to use them and will note anything that may be off limits. It's really just a community built on trust, mutual respect, and love of travel. We always bring a small gift from our city and we've arrived to fresh bread or desserts, local wine or coffee, cards made my the kids, we had one host tell me to send over my grocery list, I pay paled her for it, and all of our groceries were waiting for us in the fridge/pantry. [/quote]

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