Dream Vacation for Young Families

---

Turn the dream of a vacation into reality - a guide for young families

Imagine yourself on vacation in Costa Rica, sipping coffee on the veranda with your spouse, while your children play in the surf nearby.  Sound realistically and financially impossible and totally out of your reach? For many families with young children, renting a hotel room or house right on a beach is an impossible dream, not to mention overwhelming in terms of logistics. Traveling with kids takes so much effort and planning.  But with home exchange becoming more and more popular, families can make it happen with minimum planning and even less financial output.

Turning the dream of a vacation into reality

The concept of a vacation home exchange is very simple.  Exchange your home for someone else’s home.  Enjoy vacation with free lodging.  Sounds easy when you are a couple with no children to think about.  But what about when you do have young children?   Young children are messy, young children get upset about people “touching” their toys.”  Young children are loud!  In short, young children can be a liability.  

All of these fears can be put to rest.  When exchanging your home for someone else’s home, families with young children are exchanging with other young families so they are able to relate to each other and understand one another.  Both homes have toys and both homes have child proofed areas.  If something gets broken (which is unlikely) the family staying in the home pays for the damage.  A common practice is to put breakable or valuable items out of reach.  Everything is discussed with the other family beforehand. 

What are the benefits of home exchange for young families? 

•  First, the obvious - savings.   Families can save literally thousands of dollars when not paying for lodging, no matter what part of the world they holiday.  And the savings doesn’t just stop with lodging. When you have your own kitchen, you cook in your kitchen, resulting in more savings.  These savings leave more money for things such as car rentals, tours and activities.

•  Save time on packing.  Packing toys for children are the bane of every parent’s existence.  With home exchange, there is a host of new toys for children to play with.

•  Children love it.  Who’s house are they in?  Where did the family go?  There are endless imagination possibilities and young children love that there are toys, games and various other things for them to play with.

•  Feeling a part of the community.  In a house, you are part of the neighborhood and truly experience the vacation as a local. In short, you feel at home.

If you are a family and certain places in the world seem out of reach, consider home exchange.  The savings and opportunities can turn your vacation dream into reality.

Originally from Chicago, Melissa Downham is a portrait photographer with Z. Noelle Photography and a travel blogger at www.theroamingfamily.com.  She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two children.