Our Experience with People Like Us
Traveling is one of the most enriching experiences, but finding affordable and unique accommodations can be challenging. Enter home exchange—a way to not only save money but also immerse yourself in local cultures more deeply than ever before. My favorite platform for this is People Like Us, a vibrant community of friendly and interesting people who open their homes to travelers from around the world. One of the standout features for me is the option to do vegan exchanges, making it easier to maintain our lifestyle while exploring new destinations.
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What is a home exchange?
A home exchange is a simple concept: you stay in someone else’s home while they stay in yours, either simultaneously or at different times. It’s a fantastic way to experience living like a local, as you’re staying in a real home rather than a hotel or rental. This often means more space, a fully equipped kitchen, and the comfort of a lived-in environment. Some exchangers use their second home for house exchange, but we use our only family home. And of course, you’ll come across world travelers who are avid home swappers, but the beauty of PLU is that everybody welcomes you with open arms and if you have any questions about the process, they are always willing to impart their vast knowledge.
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Why People Like Us Stands Out (the Friendliest Home Exchange Community)
People Like Us is more than just a home exchange platform; it’s a community. The members are not only open to sharing their homes but also eager to share their lives and cultures. The site’s user-friendly interface and active community make it easy to find the perfect exchange. You can also get lucky and do a last minute exchange! And, after you experience your first exchange, you’ll probably be like us and love home swap. Here are a few reasons why People Like Us stands out:
1. Friendly and Interesting People
The community on People Like Us is incredibly welcoming. Members often go out of their way to make sure your stay is comfortable and enjoyable. This can include personalized tips about the local area, introductions to neighbors, or even a welcome meal. It’s not uncommon to form lasting friendships with your exchange partners, turning your travels into meaningful, lifelong memories.
2. Vegan-Friendly Exchanges
As a vegan traveler, finding suitable accommodations can be tricky. People Like Us makes this easier by allowing you to search specifically for vegan-friendly exchanges. Check it out here: People Like Us Meat-Free Homes. This means you can find hosts who understand your dietary needs and might even share your lifestyle. Staying in a vegan-friendly home means having access to a kitchen stocked with plant-based staples and avoiding any awkwardness about your dietary preferences. You can always talk to the exchangers to make sure that they abide by your home rules. For example, in our home, we always kindly request that our exchangers don’t bring animal products into our home and if they feel like they need to consume meat/dairy, to visit one of the restaurants near our place.
3. Diverse Destinations
The platform boasts a wide variety of homes in diverse locations—urban apartments, countryside cottages, beachfront villas, and more. Whether you’re looking to explore a bustling city, relax by the sea, or retreat to the countryside, you’ll find plenty of options. This diversity also means you can explore off-the-beaten-path destinations you might not have considered otherwise.
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Types of Exchanges
1. Simultaneous exchange – at the same time. You go to your exchanger’s home and they come to your home at the same time.
2. Non-Simultaneous exchange – for example, you go to your exchanger’s home in June and they come to yours in December.
3. Non-reciprocal exchange – you stay at your exchanger’s home and they don’t come to yours.
4. Hospitality stay – you stay with your exchangers or they stay with you while you are home.
5. Globe (PLU’s token system) – this is like a special token that you give to the people you are staying at their home, but they aren’t coming to yours. Then, they can use that globe token for their own exchange.
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Length of Stay
While communicating with the exchangers, you can always discuss to see how long each of you wants to stay in each other’s homes. Our stays have ranged between 3 days and 10 days. A one-week stay is probably the most common timeframe for People Like Us members. You can also discuss if you’ll have full use of the home or partial use of the home. For example, our apartment in Portugal has 4 bedrooms, but we offer 3 bedrooms as our daughter doesn’t feel comfortable opening up her room right now.
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Remote workers
Being a remote worker opens up home exchange possibilities. As you have more flexibility, you could exchange for a longer time period or you could travel during the slower seasons. Of course, this will depend on your exchangers, but I’ve found that a lot of people are interested in doing a sort of cultural exchange program where you swap for 3 months or more.
My Home Exchange Experiences
We’ve had several home exchanges through People Like Us, and each one has been unique and memorable. PLU has been a really great experience for house swap. It’s really the best way to travel and considered the future of travel.
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Here are a few highlights of my family’s experiences:
1. Copenhagen, Denmark
Staying in a charming apartment in the heart of Copenhagen was amazing. Our hosts were a lovely family who shared their favorite local bakeries and cafes, many of which offered vegan options. Not only that, they made homemade granola for us and gave us very thoughtful gifts. We were able to meet them upon arrival and departure and consider them friends now.
2. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This was our first home exchange experience. In Amsterdam, we exchanged homes with a family who were vegan-friendly. We stayed at their beautiful home with a community courtyard for all of the neighbors for 10 blissful days. Their home was super comfy and welcoming.
3. Estepona, Spain
Our stay in Estepona was fantastic. Our hosts were outdoor enthusiasts and gave us great advice on local hiking trails and parks. Since the exchange was during Christmas, they made their home feel special with a small Christmas tree, lights and a few thoughtful gifts underneath the tree, including vegan sweets.
4. Berlin, Germany
Berlin is such an amazing city and we would have liked to stay longer than 3 days, but as it was the member’s first home swap, that was the time period that they were comfortable with. We just got a little taste of Berlin and can’t wait to go back and experience more. Thankfully, there are more people joining People Like Us every day! Perhaps we will do a future exchange in Berlin with other members.
Tips for a Successful Home Exchange
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Clear Communication: Always communicate clearly with your exchange partner. Discuss expectations, house rules, and any specifics about your home. During the communication, you’ll be able to see if the home exchange will be a good fit.
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Prepare Your Home: Make sure your home is clean and welcoming for your guests. Provide a guide with local tips, emergency contacts, and any quirks about your home.
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Respect and Trust: Treat your exchange partner’s home as you would want yours to be treated. Mutual respect and trust are the foundations of a successful home exchange.
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Facebook Group: If you’re having difficulty setting up an exchange, you can always post about your desired exchange on Facebook, and you will usually get many responses.
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Most Important Thing: Keep an open mind on future travels. For example, perhaps you’d like to go to San Francisco in the United States and your home is in Europe. Maybe you’re having a difficult time finding an exchange in San Francisco, but members are willing to do an exchange with you from a nearby city in California. You can seize the opportunity and go to the nearby city and do a day trip to San Francisco.
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Cleaning: you can either charge a cleaning fee to the swappers, hire a cleaning service at your expense or clean the home yourself. In all of the exchanges we have done, we always clean the place ourselves. It’s important to leave the home as clean as you found it.
Annual Membership Fee
There is a small, affordable annual membership which is a great value. But considering how much money you save on accommodation costs, home swapping is one of my favorite travel hacks. And the bonus is the values of our community and all of the wonderful people you come across on the site. I can’t recommend the idea of home exchanging enough – it’s seriously better than staying at a vacation rental. Now, when we stay at a traditional hotel or vacation rental, we are a bit disappointed because it’s just not the same as a home exchange.
Conclusion
Traveling through home exchanges has transformed the way we explore the world. People Like Us has made it possible to have affordable, immersive, and vegan-friendly travel experiences. This original idea of home exchange travel is a wonderful way to meet amazing people and perhaps learn about new cultures.
If you’re looking for a way to travel that goes beyond the typical tourist experience, I highly recommend giving home exchanges a try. You’ll discover new places, meet awesome people, and create unforgettable memories—all from the comfort of a home away from home. And not only that, you’ll find that the homeexchange community is one of the best parts or participating in home exchanges.
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THE 5 ITEMS WE WERE SO HAPPY TO HAVE FOR ALL OF OUR TRIPS:
- Merrell women’s light hiking shoes – these are amazing because they are lightweight, but are extra grippy and helpful! I also have this pair that I always get compliments on: Merrell Rainbow shoes. Fernando loves his Asics trail runners which are also grippy and perfect for walking on cobblestone streets.
- Thermoflask water bottle – like a Hydroflask, but more affordable! We don’t go anywhere without these water bottles full of purified water.
- North Face Aphrodite 2.0 capris – Seriously, I wear these pants every.single.day! I couldn’t live without these ultra-comfy, lightweight pants that dry so quickly. They are 100% worth the money!
- Osprey Day Pack – this is an awesome lightweight backpack! We easily put the belongings we need at hand for traveling around the city and on public transportation.
- Travel-friendly chewable toothpaste tablets – these are so fantastic for keeping your teeth clean on the go!
OUR FAVORITE EUROPEAN SERVICES:
- DISCOVER CARS – If you want to rent a car during your home exchange, then check out Discover Cars. We frequently rent cars and they always have the best prices and great quality vehicles.
- iTalki – do you want to learn another language before traveling? Then, we recommend iTalki. We highly recommend their language services.
- NORD VPN – perfect to use your technology in other countries!
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