Joy is one of our founding members in the World School Home Swap Facebook Group so I thought it would so I thought it would be fun to ask her on how she got stated to swap homes and any tips she had!
Submitted By Joy.
Sometime in 2014, I was up at the crack of the devil’s arse with a 4-month-old baby who just would not settle. I put him on my back and paced the house, scrolling mindlessly on Facebook. I came across the World Schooling FB page and spent more than an hour just reading the awesome stories of families who had taken the plunge to world school in one way or another. What caught my eye more than the schooling part (after all my child was only 4 months old! School was nowhere on my radar!) was the house swapping, hosting like minded families and meeting like minded people part.
This where Gillian comes in – the requests for swaps, sits etc were getting lost in the general everyday posts in the group. Gillian mooted a suggestion for a separate group specifically for house swapping, sits and rent and we’ve been there ever since!
My then 4-month-old is now almost 10. We have swapped and house sat in just over 34 countries since 2014. We have been members of the FB group since then as well as some dedicated house swaps sites. We completed 50 swaps as of April 2023 and have swap no 51 booked for Oct 2023. We are now also a family of 5 and started out as a family of 3! We have been hosted numerous times and have hosted many families in return.
Making Global Friends
My most memorable hosting experience when we had a family of 5 (similarly aged children to ours) spend a week with us. None of the children could understand each other at all – they were all multi-lingual but in different languages. Not only did they have a blast, but we had a children mutiny on our collective parental hands the last day as the children decided they wanted to remain together!
We have returned to some swaps several times; we used a house swap to launch ourselves into New Zealand when we moved here sight unseen 6 years ago. Thanks to our swap partners, we landed in a nice, friendly friendship circle and had time to find our feet. We have swapped cars, acquired adopted grandparents in two continents and many friends even when we were not seeking for friendship. My children have learnt to look after pets in several countries (we have no pets), harvest bananas and make banana chips in New Caledonia, swam the Barrier Reef in Australia. They have swaptiquette and yes, I made that up!
Finding Your Tribe
Not to gloss over mishaps – we have had near misses and mishaps. These have also happened when we were in a holiday let and at home. It is good to have a community of people that essentially form our village of like-minded people. Especially in an ever-connected world that does not actually feel connected when you move out of your immediate comfort zone. I love home swapping and bang the drums of this way of travelling.
But What if Your Home isn't Fancy?
I often read people write their home is not fancy enough – my experience is that majority of swappers (I can’t speak for all swappers) do not care for fancy. Plus, who defines what is fancy anyway? Majority of homes are presented in their best light. I waited for the sunniest day, cleaned the house within an inch of its life and warned the children on the pain of no snacks to stay out till I had all my pictures taken. A well, presented house possibly tells me the swappers would look after my home as well. It is our only asset (perils of always travelling), and we want it looked after. How else am I going to be able to judge it will be looed after without extensive talking, videos and then proof of how you look after your own home?
And of course, certain countries skew to bigger homes. The average sized family home is New Zaland is 2-3 times bigger than the averaged sized family home in the UK (using that reference as I have lived for several years in both countries).
Tell us about your home, sing its praises! Tell me why you love it, why your children love it, tell me about your neighbours, things to do there! Tell e the quirky things - you have to hit my dishwasher just right to get it to work for you! All the writing has rubbed off – we’ve used sharpies on the settings we use most but it works so I’m not buying a new one till it keels over! Home swapping is very much like online dating for houses – so tell me all about your home and area!
The main cornerstone of house swapping is communication. No question is to silly to ask (well…don’t say I said so!) to give you re-assurance and take that first step!
Thanks to Joy for giving us an insight into her swapping adventure!
Join us on the journey
Now you know how Joy got started.
Come join us in the World School Home Swap Facebook Group.
Exciting New Updates!
We have now developed our new website World School Home Swap to help support the Facebook Group and we have a new exciting Partner - People Like Us
There are big plans to make the site better and better as it grows. It’s an exciting journey, and you’re welcome to join us!
Do you want to be featured? Contact us here - info@worldschoolhomeswap.com
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