Thoughts on House-Swapping

From its humble beginnings as a way for friends and family to swap off homes for a weekend, the practice of vacation home exchanging now has evolved into an international network of people who want to share experiences with travelers who, like themselves, love to learn what it's really like to live somewhere else.

Best of all, the idea is not only natural, but is good for the environment in many measurable ways.

Why the Idea has Caught On
What are some of the many advantages of vacation home exchanging which have made it popular in our modern conservationist era, in which we all share an interest in avoiding waste and pollution?

• The natural resources of the vacation community do not have to be depleted to make special accommodations for travelers because existing homes can become those very accommodations.
• There's less pollution of the environment in a tourist center by an unsustainable number of people concentrated into one dense zone of hotels and motels.
• There will be more open space, air, and light, if large tracts of land are not developed for transient tourism and half-empty hotels surrounded by busy commercial traffic.
• Heat, electricity, and gas will not be left on and wasted in vacant homes while families are away on vacation for extended periods of time.
• Large tour buses will not pollute the air in tourist areas, if there are fewer package tours typically dependent on hotel contracts and mass quantity sales.
• Families using vacation home exchanging are more likely to use public transportation instead of personal automobiles, which saves fuel resources.
• Having one's own kitchen will promote natural cooking rather than supporting wasteful, unhealthy fast food corporations.
• Vacation home exchanging will occur between families already green-conscious, thus mutually preserving resources in each others homes and leading the way to a more caring and sensitive society.
• The natural flow of people back and forth with vacation home exchanging maintains a graceful population balance in tune with nature itself, rather than an awkward glut of tourists thrown together artificially for some enterprise's financial gain.

Why Vacation Home Exchanging Will Flourish
Regardless of someone's economic circumstances, having personal contact with the families and people who reside year-round in another location is a big part of the memories that travelers will take back with them when they return home. Coming back knowing that the environment is better off for vacation home exchanging is a great feeling that will be refreshing in and of itself.

While immersion into the culture of distant places is perhaps the pinnacle of travel, other practical considerations are very essential during a vacation. People don't have to worry about wasted utility bills, paying double rent on both their hotel room and their home, or about their homes being safe while they're away.

With vacation home exchanging, travelers barter each other's house-sitting services back and forth in a natural way that avoids all waste. Both families know that their homes, plants, and in some cases, pets, are in good hands, and are being enjoyed by others and not left alone. Everything is efficient and useful.

Nowadays, with the Internet, people can examine lists of fellow home swappers in many diverse locations, who have green interests just like themselves. All it takes to make vacation home exchanging work is a love of travel that is equal to one's love of humanity and the world in which billions of human beings all live, as shown by sensitive environmental consciousness.