When my family’s spring break plans fell through at the last minute, I did what I often do: Googled cheap nonstop flights from our home airport in California’s Bay Area and let the results guide me.
To my surprise, airfare to French Polynesia, about halfway between California and Australia, was roughly the same price as it was to Hawaii or Mexico ($500 on French Bee). Better still, the time difference between the islands and our home was only a few hours. Immediately, I started sending requests for our preferred form of accommodation for my family of four: a house swap.
It seemed like a last-minute long shot. The places I saw on HomeExchange, a France-based company with an annual fee of $235, were dreamy tropical homes with beaches as their backyards or on volcanic hillsides overlooking South Pacific bays.
Not only did we get responses, but we soon had options.
The trip was so unplanned that I had almost no research to guide us on where to stay on Tahiti, the country’s main island, or which house to choose. This, I thought, is a ridiculous way to travel.
And it was. Delightfully so.
Our Tahiti trip was our 38th home exchange in eight years. With young kids, staying in a family home has saved us money, yes, but more important, a lived-in house with toys, books and a kitchen feels like being hosted by friends of friends.
House swapping became such an integral part of our lives that we persuaded friends and family to try it. Among them were my cousin Alina and her husband, Ben, to whom I mentioned our Tahiti plans. They promptly decided to join with their 2-year-old, Rylan. When Alina told her mom about the trip, she agreed to tag along, too. Our almost-derailed spring break had suddenly become a multifamily, multigenerational international adventure.
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