Holiday exchange for the down and out..

me in Ireland in 1998, possibly again in the future?

Somewhere in Italy some idiot person is complaining about their boring old view of those "stupid vineyards" or the Atlantic.  What he or she has forgotten to appreciate, I am all too eager to take a crack at.  Did you ever think about doing a "home exchange?"  For me I'm thinking it's the only way to go.

If you don't know what I am talking about then you you have never seen the movie The Holiday with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black.  Kate and Cameron (not their movie names) swap houses for Christmas vacation and their lives change dramatically because of it (I'll stop there, I don't want to reveal too much :P)

So although I am not Cameron Diaz, I do from time to time dream of an amazing holiday on limited funds where I can relax and unwind without shelling out half a million dollars for hotels.  Enter "home exchange."  There is this web site that can help you find another person/family in a part of the world you would like to visit, for instance, Italy, and hook you up with their house for a week or two- in exchange for- wait for it- yours.  Amazing, right?    Of course you might want to hide your panties and your good silver (yeah, as if I have good silver) (or good panties for that matter) but mostly you can rest easy knowing that although they are in your house touching your stuff, you are in their house touching their stuff and that is where the mutual respect is supposed to come into play.

So, this is the web site.  http://www.homeexchange.com/ Just punch in what your looking for and who your traveling with, and bingo boingo, your hooked up.  You can choose kids, no kids, pets, no pets, you can choose to share your car or not.  You get to make all the choices.. Location, amenities, smoking or non smoking, (you can even have the other person take care of your pets while your gone), plants or no plants (same for plants).  I am sure people talk online and decide if the other family is the type of family they are comfortable with etc. first.  Why didn't people think of this sooner? (I love the internet)  I think it is an amazing idea!

 One problem..   all of these people have MANSIONS.  (So even the rich need cheap vacations?  It really is a recession!)  Look at some of these places.  MY GOD!  Some come with SERVANTS!  Look at this: http://www.homeexchange.com/show.php?id=99133  My house is far from a mansion.  Somebody would walk in the door and laugh and say "I got the short end of the stick."    But still, it is still a fun goal to get your house all fixed up for an exchange.  It is a better investment than a vacation the old way because when you come back, you still get to enjoy your investment.

Imagine me on the beach, all for the price of a plane ticket and food I can prepare in "my own" kitchen.  I think I have to do more research on this subject, but it's definitely in the back of my mind for future exploration.  I'll let you know when I find someone who wants to exchange for this.. it might be awhile:

view from my front door, yes that is my rocking baby blue Ford Taurus wagon you'll be trading your Mercedes for... what of it?