With the downfall of the economy and the dollar at an all time low, travel abroad is becoming less and less affordable. A great way to still get out and see the world is through a home exchange. I have done exchanges a few times, most recently on a fabulous trip this spring to Holland. I stayed for 2 weeks for free in a wonderful apartment in Delft, and took day trips to Amsterdam, the Hague, the North Sea, the tulip gardens and Belgium. It was a fantastic experience that was relatively inexpensive as there were no nightly hotel charges.

Sometimes exchanges are done simultaneously, you go stay at their place and they stay at your home during the same time period. Other times, people with second homes are willing to have you come and stay whenever it is convenient for you, and they plan to visit your home at a future date. The home exchange process is simple, you just put pictures of your home up on a site such as homeexchange.com, along with the places you would like to visit. Through e-mail correspondence you then narrow down locations and dates and then pack your bags and you are off to a new adventure. I have found that as a general rule those that participate in home exchanges are adventurous travelers that love to see the world from a local environment as opposed to a hotel. And save money while doing it! You can travel around the world or just to the next town, whatever suits your fancy.