Chances are, if you’ve spent some time traveling the world, you’ve visited some pretty amazing locales. These exotic cities or destinations enticed you from the moment you arrived, until the moment it was time to board the bus or return to the airport.

I know it’s happened to my wife and I (Koh Lanta, Thailand and Nosara, Costa Rica come to mind). We’ve daydreamed about the possibility of returning for longer than a few days, or even a few weeks. We wanted to experience life as a local.

What are the options? Unless you can convince a friend to donate their couch for an extended stay, you basically have to rent an apartment or the more affordable solution: do a home exchange.

As far as I understand, it works like this: you sign your apartment or house up on a home exchange website, while you troll other listings for a place that catches your eye. You contact the owner, agree to the terms, and swap houses. Pretty sweet.

Indeed, I’ve thought about it, but I still wasn’t convinced it was worth the effort.

So when Lois Sealey from Home Base Holidays wrote me recently to see if I wanted to do a story on the idea, I challenged her to come up with her best reasons for trying a home exchange.

Appropriately enough, here’s what she came up with: 6 Reasons To Try A Home Exchange

Have you ever tried or thought about doing a home exchange? Share your experiences in the comments!

Ian MacKenzie

Ian MacKenzie is the founder and editor of Brave New Traveler. Aside from writing, he spends his time exploring the fundamental nature of existence and wishing he did more backpacking.