Ever dreamed of a Mexican villa vacation for four? Now’s your chance to win one! Paradise Hunter, a TV show that showcases the vacation home life around the world, is giving away a week in a villa in Akumal on the Mayan Riviera. To enter the contest, you just have to sign up for the [...]

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Are you intrigued by the idea of home swapping–where you stay in someone’s digs in Singapore or Sydney, while they stay in yours–but a bit concerned that your fellow swappers’ sense of style might be somewhat, um, lacking? In other words, are you reluctant to give up your carefully decorated pad to spend two weeks [...]

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Way back in July, I blush to admit, fellow blogger Edie Jarolim very kindly invited me to participate in a blogosphere event called My 7 Links. Edie writes the wonderful pet-lovers’ blog Will My Dog Hate Me?, which is by turns hilarious, informative and heartbreaking, depending on the day. And My 7 Links is sponsored [...]

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Arranging a short-term rental of an apartment, house or cottage in a residential neighbourhood is one of my favourite ways to “feel like a local.” (Above is the apartment we rented for a week in Buenos Aires.) But the prospect can be a bit intimidating. Unlike booking a room at an international chain hotel through [...]

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Ever wanted to run your own home exchange site? Do you have an artistic bent? Montreal-based ArtStudioExchanges.com is for sale (along with its French-language version, TrocAtelier.com). Aimed at artists and art teachers who need somewhere to stay for a vacation or sabbatical, the home-swap site is for sale because the owner–a full-time artist and picture [...]

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Well, I’m not sure if it’s everything you wanted to know about home swaps, but I’ve done my best to include lots of useful information in my recent article on home exchanging for SlowEurope.com. You’ll find interviews with home exchangers, an annotated list of some of the leading sites with European listings, and more. And [...]

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Every time the economy hits a roadblock, a whole new generation of media and travelers seems to rediscover home swapping as though it had just been invented. The truth is, though, that this fun and frugal way of seeing the world has been around since the 1950s. Back in the day, swapping clubs published huge [...]

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A while ago, I wrote a blog post about the Caribbean island of Montserrat, where I spent a great vacation with my sisters and our husbands. I’ve just found out that our rental villa, Surf Sighed, has its own website. It’s a lovely, affordable tropical rental with a pretty pool deck and great views. If [...]

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CNN first aired this video on home swapping in 2005, but the tips and insights on are pretty timeless. And even though the woman profiled has a flat in Manhattan, don’t think you have to have a home in a hot tourist area to swap! With a little work, you can probably find someone somewhere [...]

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Joyce Copeland‘s love affair with vacation rentals started about a decade ago, when she was planning a vacation for her extended family and spotted a newspaper ad for short-term rentals in Lake Tahoe. “I was astounded by how little money we’d have to spend, and we could bring the dogs,” she says. Joyce often travels [...]

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