This weekend I overheard a conversation about house swapping in a cafe. One of the guys wanted to try it for the first time this summer with an apartment in Australia. And of course his friends were a bit skeptical. I joined their conversation and I quickly found out that house swapping isn't just going on a trip for little money. People are concerned about all kinds of things. So here are some things I found on the internet that should help you not worry too much about this great thing called house swapping:

Mutual Trust Do you believe in humanity? You should, but if you don't do too much at least we try to make our users as transparent as possible by our rating system. No early decisions Be open minded about your destination. Sometimes there comes a surprise along you never ever would have dreamed of. If you stick to one particular place you want to go it will most definitely end up in a letdown.

Living Details
I don't know about you, but even though I'm open minded to new cultural experiences some places in this world just work completely different than ours and because of that I'm always very thankful if someone helps me with the cultural differences. So the best you can do, is making a list about all the stuff you would like to know and exchange it with your swapping partner. And also where you keep your daily stuff which grab everyday but only you know where it is. Writing and talking always helps

Don't die of thirst! Make sure you know where you can get your water and food. If you go on a trip to Thailand and you are somewhere in the jungle the next supermarket could be a far cry from your refrigerator.

Cleaner than clean (this includes smells you got used to)
If you think your house is clean, just do it all over again. Just imagine trading a place in Paris, arrive there and then... well start looking for Mr. Clean. I think you wanna do something else (in the city of love).

Trust is good, Insurance is better Talk to your insurance agent about your swapping plans! This will give you additional peace of mind. So what else do you need? Well a destination for starters! What about this one...

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