We live in LA and have friends in Seattle. They do that for us and we gladly reciprocate.
I know there are websites like Home Exchange, but I've thought about a website where there would be cells of 5 couples who did something like this, and then have the cells intermingle with each other.
With credit card hacking and earning free flights, a free car and a place to stay really can make a vacation pretty cheap.
Great ideas. Thanks!!
Actually, now that I think of it, old friends and I have a similar, informal arrangement. It's always planned in terms of "catching up with each other," but the vacation realities are (in fact) quite LBYM! I have best friends and close family members who live in San Diego Co., Fresno, the San Joaquin Valley, the Bay Area, and Marin Co. (all in CA). Others hail from upstate NY, FL, Maryland and Iowa. We all want to see each other whenever there's a chance (or someone is swinging through on some other trip). Bottom line: we all stay with each other, enjoy going to the local sights, and cook for each other in our kitchens. We drive each other to the places we want the visitor to see. And we stay up too late drinking wine (bought on sale), or indulging in too much dessert, and/or sitting by whichever body of water is local (Pacific Ocean? Hudson River? Atlantic Ocean? Lake Erie or Ontario? or the Cuyahoga River....or the American River).
Basically, these visits are simple extensions of friendships started in college, at family events, at schools where I taught, or in former neighborhoods. Everybody loves where everybody else lives. So, it's all win/win. See the friend, and enjoy that place!
