NO PLACE LIKE
(someone else's)
HOME 
by Elizabeth Badenhorst

No, this isn't fiction. Paying that overseas air ticket is heartache enough, but the combination of the ticket, accommodation and spending pounds ends up being a tad too much for our wrecked rand. But the good news is that there's a way around all this - and it definitely precludes any place cheap and nasty.
It's called The Home Exchange Holidays, and this is how it works. You send a description and a photograph of your home (or holiday home or time-share) to International Home Exchange in Cape Town. It is placed in an International Home Exchange Holiday Directory that's printed in more than 40 countries worldwide. The details of the exchange are left up to you, which ensures that the whole arrangement stays personal and flexible.

You secure a copy of The Home Exchange Holidaydirectory through the Cape Town office, look up your favourite destination - say New Orleans, Miami Beach, New York, Sydney or Rio - choose a home that sounds up your alley, contact the people and propose an exchange: your home for theirs. For example, someone with an apartment in the ski Mecca of Vail, Colorado, might well be delighted with the idea of a beach holiday in sub-tropical Umhlanga or hot-spot Clifton.
Which means you can zip over to the States, whiz down the slopes and get sozzled on gluhwein while someone is lounging on your balcony back home.
And not a cent changes hands. It's a case of your key for my key (in some instances people even swap cars), and that's that. The mansion is yours. The trick is to find like-minded people who live abroad. The motivation is there for them to treat your place with respect, as you'll be doing the same to theirs.

An added advantage of home swapping is the fact that your home won't stand empty - and ready for unwelcome 'visitors' while you're exploring abroad.
In South Africa, International Home Exchange - run by Connie Booth - is affiliated to Homelink International. International Home Exchange opened a South African branch in 1985 which has been growing steadily despite our political ups and downs. German, English, Italian, French, Australian and American homeowners are enthusiastic supporters of our local offerings.
As Booth says, 'All it takes is a spirit of mutual trust and a bit of planning and you can suddenly have the holiday you always dreamed of but never thought you could afford.'

One local couple even did a triple swap - their Plettenberg Bay home, Llandudno property and trout farm near the Kruger Park for a stay at a home in Tuscany, a wine estate near Padua and an apartment in Paris.
If you're still feeling hesitant, ask the local International Home Exchange office to provide you with names to contact for testimonials. People abroad who have second homes are definitely in the upper income groups, so you can be fairly sure of the quality of residence (and people) you're dealing with.
'But it sounds like such a hassle,' a friend commented. The first time might take a bit of legwork, but thereafter you know the ropes and the recipe can be adjusted according to your visitors.