If you are tired of traveling through travel agencies, you are not able to book hotels and hotels via the Internet, or you just want to save on accommodation, then in this case you can become a couchsurfer, i.e. exchange travel. Couchsurfing - exchange vacation. First of all, this will allow you to see the country through the eyes of its inhabitants, gain invaluable experience independent travel and most importantly, you will be able to make new friends around the world.
Couchsurfers- people who travel the world, staying not in hotels, but with acquaintances whom they previously met through the Internet.
It is not necessary to spend money on a hotel, you can just stay at an apartment with friends, who, in turn, someday will also come to you and be able to stay at your apartment. At couchsurfers they have their own specialized sites where they get to know each other, negotiate and discuss the conditions and places of their future shelters. At the same time, couchsurfers, as a rule, do not care in what conditions they will have to spend the night. It may not be a poorly furnished apartment, or it may turn out to be an empty room with only a sofa and a refrigerator. Couchsurfing is so addictive that it has become a way of life. The place and living conditions in this case are not the main thing. The main thing in an exchange vacation is communication with like-minded people and travelers like you. Couchsurfing This is housing exchange tourism. Couchsurfing is an exchange holiday.
Of course, everyone decides for himself whether he can become a couchsurfer and host absolutely strangers, while sharing with them your bedroom (in the normal sense of the word) and kitchen, accept their habits and desires. arranging exchange holiday
, you first "write off" with your future guests and try to learn as much as possible about them during the correspondence. Some people simply love to receive guests, and receiving foreigners is doubly fun for them.
On the other hand, you yourself can just go to the country you like, without worrying about the place of residence and about booking a hotel in advance. Moreover, it is possible that the host (host) will help you (cauch) navigate in an unfamiliar country and in a particular city. If desired, the host will show you the main attractions, accompany you to night club or to a museum and explain where it is better and cheaper to buy products. In this case, you also save on guides. When receiving guests from another country, you can take a walk with them in your own way. hometown and for sure to learn a lot of interesting things about him. Only a couchsurfer can really understand the life of the country, how they live in it simple people what they are fond of and, as a result, acquire a unique and invaluable travel experience.
As a couchsurfer and exchange traveler, you will of course have to interact with your guests. The unspoken language of communication among couchsurfers is English language. However, no one prevents you from learning the language of the host, for example, Albanian or Greek.
If you decide to become a couchsurfer and are ready to travel by exchange learn a few simple truths. First of all, before agreeing to accept strangers in your house for the night, try to find out in advance what they are. Ask them, for example, to send you their photo and tell you more about themselves, ask what languages they speak. Go to a specialized site where perhaps someone has already communicated with these people and left reviews about them. Couchsurfing, an exchange vacation, is also practiced by gay people. Therefore, do not hesitate to clarify these points in advance. Otherwise, having received your consent to spend the night, your guests may be very upset, not getting what they expected from you. In short, you must have some intuition to correctly assess the capabilities and desires of your guest. Among the large army of couchsurfers, there are those who can easily sit on your neck. The most harmless in this case can be dinner at a restaurant at your expense.
If a candidate for accommodation does not suit you, do not hesitate to refuse him. After all, you don't owe anyone anything. Similarly, you should act in the event that you yourself are going to visit someone for an exchange vacation. Try to burden the hosts as little as possible and people will be drawn to you, and rumors of your hospitality will spread throughout the world.
Couchsurfing does not imply the provision of accommodation with an overnight stay. It is enough, having previously written off or phoned, just meet in some museum or just take a walk around the city, sit in a cafe and thereby strengthen the acquaintance. Remember that exchange vacation is, first of all, communication with new people.
If you are interested in this type of tourism, you can leave your suggestions in the comments.
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Vacation by exchange. Travel enthusiasts often face many challenges. It is not always possible to get high-quality service from a travel agency, book a hotel on desired date save on housing.
An alternative solution in this case may be an exchange vacation.
This is a great opportunity to make friends around the world, gain experience of independent travel, get to know the culture of another country and see it through the eyes of local residents.
If you really want to see the world, and there is not so much money for traveling during your vacation, an exchange vacation will help solve the problem. There are specialized sites on the Internet where tourists who want to save on housing get acquainted, discuss places and living conditions.
Popular resources:
- https://www.couchsurfing.com
- https://w-home.net
- https://swap-house.com/ru
- https://www.warmshowers.org
- http://www.hospitalityclub.org
To start communicating on the site, you need to register and fill out a form. It is advisable to indicate as much information about yourself as possible - tastes, interests, hobbies and other details. It is very important that the host has a positive impression of the tourist.
The decision on whether this type of tourism is suitable for him, each person makes himself. Not all people agree to let strangers into their home, having communicated with them before only through the Internet. On the other hand, this allows you to travel to the country of interest without worrying about where to stay for the night. The host party often helps to navigate in an unfamiliar city. Advice will not be superfluous - where to buy products cheaper and what sights are worth visiting.
There are several myths associated with exchange holidays that have nothing to do with reality:
- Have to live in terrible conditions. All questions regarding housing are pre-negotiated. If the living conditions are not satisfactory, you should continue to search for a better option.
- Exchange holidays are only suitable for students and romantics. In Europe, people have long understood that this is a cheap and interesting way to travel. They do not hesitate to make new acquaintances and look for profitable offers. The age of tourists interested in exchange holidays is mainly from 25 years old.
- People are different, they can rob or even kill. 100% security guarantee in our world hardly exists. In such cases, intuition can be a good adviser. If there is something you don’t like about a person, or if the accommodation offered for exchange raises suspicions, then it makes sense to look for another option. With a careful and thoughtful approach, the risk is minimized.
Housing exchange is more developed in large and tourist cities. It can be difficult for residents of the provinces to find people willing to settle in their apartments.
Exchange methods
Traveling with the exchange of housing, houses and apartments is becoming increasingly popular. The principle is quite simple. A tourist is looking for a person who will agree to exchange housing for a vacation and come to his country. And at this time he occupies the living space of his guest. Travel costs are ultimately significantly reduced. You will only have to spend money on travel and food.
The largest site for the exchange of housing: https://www.lovehomeswap.com The resource has been operating since 2011. Its pages contain more than 75,000 properties that are available for exchange. The geography of proposals is very extensive. Residents from 160 countries are considering this travel option.
House Exchange
Important! In Europe and America, this method is widely used.. In Russia, its popularity is somewhat lower. People who want to use this method need to place their offer on the site. It must contain detailed description home and a list of countries of interest for the trip.Then it remains to wait until the offer is of interest to another user of the resource. At the same time, it is recommended to independently search for a suitable option. If the object of interest is found, you should write to its owner.
List of resources with offers for the exchange of houses:
- https://homelink.org
- https://www.intervac-homeexchange.com
- https://www.gti-home-exchange.com
Inhabitants major cities have a good chance of making a successful exchange and not paying rent during the trip. Having decided on the choice of a partner, you need to try to find out as much as possible about his house. It will not be superfluous to find it on the map in order to get a complete picture of the area in which you will live. When exchanging, they usually conclude an agreement that specifies the terms of residence, the terms of payment of utility and telephone bills.
Exchange of apartments
The exchange of apartments for the holidays should be approached with all seriousness. It does not matter if you are planning a vacation abroad or in your own country. When choosing a candidate for an exchange, you need to remember that the safety of personal belongings, neatness, order and safety of housing in general will depend on him.
After registering on the site, you must provide detailed information about your apartment and about yourself. It is necessary to take photographs of the living area, supplementing them with a detailed description.
You should also indicate the places or countries of interest in terms of travel and exchange. Information can be subsequently changed and supplemented. Popular site with offers: https://www.homeexchange.com
Exchange of housing for a vacation in Russia
Exchange tourism in Western countries has long been a common occurrence. The resources are full of ads with options not only for modest apartments, but also for luxurious private houses. Travelers from Europe and America calmly trust their home to the same enthusiasts as themselves.
Attention! In Russia, this direction of tourism is still developing. Therefore, those wishing to relax within the country are often faced with a lack of a sufficient choice of housing for exchange. To take advantage of one of these offers, you can visit the resource: http://www.obmendomami.ru
Attention! This will allow you to spend a vacation with home comfort and inexpensively, saving about 70% of the budget.. To live in cozy home much nicer than in a small hotel room. In addition, for a while you can feel like a local resident.Holiday exchange with foreigners
There are dozens of resources on the Internet where you can find housing exchange offers in various parts of the world. The opportunity to provide a tourist from England or Italy with the keys to their apartment, and to live in their house for free, is quite real. Having decided to exchange with a foreigner for a vacation, you must first agree with him on the terms of residence and a number of additional conditions:
- cleaning the apartment before leaving;
- watering flowers, if any;
- Payment of utility services;
- safety of property, personal belongings.
Key exchange is done in several ways:
- in person;
- mail;
- through neighbors.
It is better to look for a suitable option on trusted sites that specialize in this type of tourism.. Some of them may charge a small registration fee. Popular portals where they look for foreigners for housing exchange:
- https://www.homeexchange.com
- https://homelink.org
Possible risks
The vast majority of participants in the exchange are worried about the safety of their property. Usually tourists living in someone else's house carefully handle the belongings of the owners. Only about 1% are dissatisfied with the state of their home after returning home. The administration of popular resources is taking action against sloppy tourists and thieves.
And yet, sometimes bad things happen. Often they are associated with breakdowns of household appliances and broken dishes. In an effort to maintain good relations, many exchange participants themselves offer to reimburse the cost of the damaged item.
Although extremely rare, more serious incidents do occur. There are cases when the irresponsible attitude of tourists led to fires and flooding of housing. By insuring your property before leaving, you can protect yourself from negative consequences of this magnitude.
Exchange holidays have a number of undeniable advantages:
- No need to pay rent while traveling. Payment for accommodation is the most significant expense item for tourists, so the economic benefits are obvious.
- The traveler is settled in a habitable house, and not in an empty hotel room. Home coziness and comfort in a foreign country is a huge plus, especially for parents with children.
- An opportunity to feel like a real local resident for a while. This type of tourism allows you to better know the traditions in the host country and get acquainted with the real life of foreigners.
- Exchange participants will tell you in detail where it is better to go to dinner, where to shop, what interesting places in the city are worth visiting.
- Communication with friends, relatives and neighbors of the partner expands the circle of acquaintances and allows you to gain additional experience.
Not without drawbacks:
- There is a risk of being scammed. They can pass off someone else's home as their own or post information about a non-existent home.
- It is possible that the participant will turn out to be an unscrupulous tenant. This is fraught with damaged property or theft of personal belongings of the owners.
- Travel must be planned in advance. Sometimes the search for suitable housing can take months.
- Time costs. You will have to register on the site, fill out a questionnaire, take a photo of your home, correspond with candidates, study their profiles.
Exchange holidays are a fun and economical way to travel the world. If you are interested in this type of tourism or have already had experience, share it in the comments.
If you watched the movie "Exchange Vacation"(2006, USA), you will probably guess what will be discussed.
Today, travel with the exchange of housing, houses or apartments, is becoming more and more popular. The principle of the exchange of living space is quite simple: you find a person who goes on vacation to your country, city. This person, or maybe there will be several of them, stay at your apartment for the duration of their trip, and you, in turn, travel and stay at your guest's apartment.
Vacation apartment exchange is a great alternative hotel rooms and certainly excellent monetary savings - after all, only the cost of transportation is paid!
Benefits of sharing accommodation while traveling
- Rest at home
- money saving
- Meeting interesting people
- "Taste" and features of life of the local population
- Comfort and coziness
Is there a risk in traveling and vacationing in different countries with an exchange of housing?
Without a doubt, an exchange vacation must be approached with all seriousness. It does not matter whether you are looking for people to exchange in your own country or are going to go on vacation abroad. The safety of your personal belongings in your own apartment depends on who you choose to exchange, as well as its external order and neatness, and the safety of the apartment as a whole. Well, you must admit that not everyone would be allowed into their cozy corner ?!
The question of whether you can trust free sites with housing exchange services and on what basis these sites select reliable and serious travelers should also be approached with extreme responsibility.
Reliable international sites for sharing apartments for travel
The most reputable international sites that unite people who are serious about traveling with an exchange of housing into a single database require a paid subscription to use their services. And although the monthly subscription cost is quite low, in any case, it plays the role of a kind of filter for "unreliable people".
When registering on sites for the exchange of apartments, a questionnaire is filled out with information about yourself, given Full description apartments or houses, photographs of living space are displayed, and of course, countries or places where you would like to go on vacation and the desired travel dates are indicated. As a user of a site for housing exchange with residents of different countries, you can make changes to your profile at any time (adjust cities, countries, travel dates, upload an unlimited number of photos of your apartment, etc.). At the same time, you will receive notifications about changes or new profiles in your areas, etc.
Where to find a vacation apartment exchange partner
The popular, well-known international website HomeExchange is the leader in travel and exchange vacations in various countries and cities of the world. The site offers more than 42,000 exchange ads in over 150 countries (small and big cities USA, European and Asian countries, South America etc.) HomeExchange was founded in 1992 and today is well known all over the world. The site was written about in New York Times, also in the film "Exchange Vacation" this site was mentioned.
Among the Russian-speaking population of the planet, the site is just beginning to gain its popularity. Considering the constantly growing number of our compatriots who increasingly prefer to travel abroad on their own, it must be assumed that the number of Russian-speaking users of the HomeExchange site will also grow steadily in the coming years.
The principle of operation of sites for the exchange of housing for vacation
By subscribing to the services of the site, you have the opportunity for an unlimited number of housing exchanges with other registered users of the site without any additional fees. Users of the site can be people of different ages, professions, marital status.
On the site it is also possible to search for exchange partners by interests and hobbies, such as running, swimming, yoga, etc. When exchanging apartments between partners, an agreement is drawn up on the site. You can also take out insurance.
You can register to use the services of the site on the official HomeExchange website for 1 year for only $ 150 USD. Special Promotions and discounts offered by HomeExchange will help to significantly reduce the cost of a subscription. We publish all current offers of the international site for the exchange of housing HomeExchange on this page.
And one more nice service from the HomeExchange website! HomeExchange offers all new users of the site to try their services for free for 14 days. If during this period, you are not satisfied with the quality of the site's services, simply cancel your subscription before the expiration of the free 14 days on the site. And it's completely free. In order to try the services of the site completely free of charge for 14 days, use special offer official HomeExchange website below.
Thanks for your support!
Vacation time has existed for more than 50 years in America and Europe . The very idea of such budget vacation belongs to students who have always been interested in traveling, and the money issue has always been acute.
Before the all-powerful internet, ads were simply printed in newspapers. Well, with the advent of the World Wide Web, it has received a very serious scope. For Russia, this is relative. the new kind budget holiday.
What benefits does it provide?
The benefits are, of course, serious.
- This way of rest allows you to significantly save your finances.
- This is a unique opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the ordinary life and rhythm of another city (or country).
- The time of stay is not limited by the period of the tourist voucher, you can determine the desired period yourself.
- New contacts, new friendships appear, and this is always pleasant and useful.
- Feeling at home away from your own home is worth a lot.
Flaws
Of course, there are also "cons", but there are not so many of them:
- You need to plan your trip in advance in order to choose the right option.
- There is a risk of encountering an unscrupulous tenant, because your housing will need to be provided to strangers.
Where to look for options?
You need to look for various exchange options on special web resources. The most popular among them are the following:
Procedure for temporary barter with apartments or houses for a vacation period
Step-by-step algorithm of actions
The exchange procedure is completely simple. just don't miss anything.
- You need to register on the selected site for the exchange of housing (or better on several).
- Take a high-quality photo of your apartment (house), you can add a photo of the surrounding space.
- Describe your housing in detail and colorfully and it would be nice to add a description of your city here.
Important! Be sure to tell everyone interesting places and attractions in your area. Pay attention to public transport.
All the advantages of your proposal should be indicated.
- Then you can wait for responses to your proposal or view the available options yourself. If you are interested in any offer - write to the owner.
- After you have found the right option, you need to discuss with the owner of the apartment the terms and conditions for using this housing, sign an agreement and exchange keys.
Conclusion of an agreement with those who responded to the offer
There are two main types of contracts, which are usually concluded during the temporary exchange of houses or apartments:
- lease contract;
- temporary exchange agreement.
Nuances
Required documents
The documents that you will need when drawing up the contract are:
- passports (both sides);
- documents confirming the ownership of this apartment.
Peculiarities
Usually use one of the most common methods:
- exchange keys in person;
- transmitted through neighbors.
You can, of course, agree on some more suitable key exchange option for you.
How to make sure your property is in safe hands?
Naturally, no one would like to meet an unscrupulous person and let him into their home. “How can you protect yourself and what can you do?” - the question is not idle. Here A few important points to keep in mind:
- It is necessary to offer the other party to legally formalize a temporary exchange.
- Do not leave valuables in the apartment, only the necessary should remain.
- It is imperative to communicate via video link from the apartment where you are going.
- Read reviews about the person with whom you are going to exchange housing.
Of course, the exchange trip is a fascinating, informative, but at the same time cheap form of recreation. It is ideal for adventure lovers, because in this way you can fulfill your dream and travel even to another country.
All the positives absolutely outweigh some of the negatives. Although this type of tourism is still in the development stage in Russia, a lot of offers come from foreigners who want to get to know our culture better in this way.
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Recently, we talked in detail about the very first stage of travel - about where and how to profitably book plane tickets.
In the article we will describe both simple and familiar to many tools, as well as more extravagant ones, which not everyone can decide on - but nevertheless, they have the right to exist.
Let's start with the most extravagant option.
6. Booking systems
This is perhaps the most standard way to find hotels. There are many booking systems that have at their disposal a database of hotels for which the search is carried out.
Moreover, often the cost of the same number in different search engines can differ significantly.
Most popular systems:
- http://www.agoda.com
- http://hotels.com
- http://istrovok.ru .
7. Meta search engines
This method can be called the simplest, most convenient and often the most effective, especially if your goal is simply to find an acceptable hotel in the right city.
Meta search engines are search engines, which do not have their own database of hotels and do not offer booking services, but search through a variety of booking systems.
The obvious advantage of this method is the ability to compare many different options and the absence of the need to study each reservation system separately. For each hotel found, a list of options with prices is provided, from which you can choose yourself.
In addition to prices, descriptions, and photos, some of these meta search engines also collect discount offers and hotel reviews, so you can explore everything in one place.
We have tried many similar sites, many of them are similar, but in our opinion, the most convenient and complete are www.hotellook.ru and.
When choosing a particular hotel, you will be asked to go to the booking system website for booking - you can try to go to different systems and compare the results.
Sometimes it happens that the difference in price is not significant, but in one of the options, for example, you do not need to make an advance payment, or just some system will seem more convenient to you.
So, to summarize all of the above: if you are just going on vacation to Europe or the USA, you want to live in comfort, but not overpay and at the same time not spend a lot of time looking for housing, then it will be most convenient to use one of these services:
- www.hotellook.ru
We hope that this review will allow you to find accommodation for the soul and for the budget and have a great vacation!
