How We Saved Over $1,500 on Our Australia Trip, and Why I Almost Missed This Opportunity
We just returned from a week in Western Australia, where we stayed in two wonderful homes, saved over $1,500 in accommodations, and had an experience I never would have expected. And to think, I almost dismissed the whole idea because I misunderstood how it worked.
Have you ever seen the movie “The Holiday” with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, and Jack Black? Two women exchange homes over Christmas, one heading to a beautiful cottage in England and the other to a fabulous house in Los Angeles.
That was my understanding of home swapping. You found someone who wanted to visit your part of the world, you wanted to visit theirs, and you exchanged homes at exactly the same time.
It sounded great in theory, but I had questions. What if I didn’t want to go where the other family lived? What if our dates didn’t match? And how comfortable would I really feel having people I’d never met staying in our home?
So, for years, I never seriously explored it.
What I didn’t understand about Home Exchange
Then I discovered something that completely changed my perspective.
Home Exchange allows you to swap homes directly, but it also has a system called Guest Points. You can earn points by hosting other members and use those points to stay in homes anywhere in the world. The person hosting you doesn’t need to visit your home, and your travel dates don’t need to match.
Even more surprising, you can earn points when you first join, complete your home listing, and activate your membership.
That’s exactly what we did. We used the points we’d accumulated through getting started, before we’d even hosted our first exchange.
Seven nights, two completely different experiences
Our first stay was in Perth, in a lovely two bedroom house near Hyde Park. The location was fantastic. We could walk to cafés, restaurants, shops, and a fabulous bakery around the corner.
We had a spacious kitchen, an outdoor barbecue, and a cozy living room where we could relax together in the evenings. After a day exploring, it was wonderful to come back, prepare something to eat, and watch a show together.
We stayed four nights, and I imagine a comparable Airbnb in that location would have cost around $250 a night.
Then we headed south to Margaret River for three nights.
This time, our accommodation was completely different. We stayed in a private studio of approximately 300 square feet, with its own entrance, bathroom, refrigerator, microwave, toaster, and small cooktop. It had the privacy of a hotel room, with the added convenience of a kitchenette and much cozier.
Our host, lived with her family in the main house. We didn’t need to interact with them, but as we crossed paths, we started chatting.
Her son, a year younger than our daughter, was outside practicing his fishing cast. He was curious about meeting an American teenager and started asking her questions about fishing and where she’d lived.
The host also had a daughter a year older than mine. As it happened, we were there on a Friday, when local teenagers often gather in town. One of my daughters school friends from Bali was also visiting Margaret River, and the kids ended up spending the evening together.
Suddenly, our daughter was hanging out with Australian teenagers, making new friends, and experiencing something we never could have planned through a hotel reservation.
That became one of my favorite memories of the trip.
A family tradition I hadn’t connected until now
The experience reminded me of my grandmother, who believed deeply in the value of sending her children abroad.
My father was one of eight siblings, and my grandmother encouraged them to spend time in other countries, studying, working, and living with local families. Some went to France, others the US. Our family also welcomed children from those families to our farmhouse during the summers.
Years later, my sister and I spent summers living with a family in France to learn French.
Looking back, I realize how much that philosophy shaped the way I see travel. There’s something special about stepping into another culture through everyday life and personal relationships.
Of course, Home Exchange is different from a student exchange. But I love that, in its own way, it creates opportunities for those unexpected connections.
What about trusting strangers in your home?
This was one of my biggest hesitations, and I imagine it might be yours too.
What reassured me was discovering that Home Exchange has a verification process involving identity and proof of address. Members have profiles, photographs, descriptions, and reviews from previous exchanges. You can communicate through the platform, ask questions, and decide whether you’re comfortable accepting someone into your home.
It’s not a hotel experience. Every home is different, and you’re expected to respect the owner’s rules and care for the property as you would a family or friend’s home.
For us, that was part of the appeal.
Would I recommend it?
Absolutely. Our seven nights in Australia would likely have cost us over $1,500 in comparable accommodations, based on my estimates.
Home Exchange has an annual membership fee of $235 in the U.S. For our family, the value has already been worth it.
I don’t normally promote companies unless I’ve personally experienced something and genuinely love it. And this is one of those times.
I think Home Exchange is a win-win for everyone. If you love traveling, saving money, and experiencing places in a different way, I highly recommend checking it out. You can earn points by hosting other travelers and use those points to stay in homes around the world. And sometimes you get the added bonus of meeting wonderful people along the way, although that’s not always part of the experience.
If you’re curious, click here to check out Home Exchange.
If you sign up through my referral link and complete the qualifying steps, you can earn 250 additional Guest Points, and I earn points too. (Win win for everyone!)
And if you do sign up, please let me know! If you have questions or need help getting started, I’m happy to guide you through it. I’ve become such a fan of this new way of traveling that I genuinely enjoy sharing it with others.
What I love most is that we discovered a new way to travel that makes financial sense while leaving room for experiences we couldn’t have anticipated.
And I’m already wondering where it might take us next.
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