Couple who have saved thousands travelling world by home-swapping stayed on ‘yacht where Prince William had stag do’

A couple who have travelled the world through home-swapping, even staying on a yacht where “Prince William had his stag do”, have said they “don’t pay for holiday accommodation any more”.

Joan Patterson, 67, who lives with her husband Noel in Buxton, Derbyshire, has been using home-swapping platform HomeExchange for nearly a decade and said she has completed 120 exchanges.

The platform allows users to exchange their homes over dates of mutual choosing, or if a member lends their home without reciprocity, their guest can offer GuestPoints to thank them for their hospitality.

While Joan said it is difficult to put a financial value on swapping, HomeExchange estimates the couple have saved at least £45,000 with exchanges in France, Australia, New Zealand, the US and elsewhere.

From staying in a “luxurious” apartment in Bangkok with an infinity pool and living on a yacht, to watching “whales going by” from their bed in Australia, Joan said these are experiences “money cannot buy”.

Joan said “experiencing places as a local” and meeting new people are the best parts of home-swapping and they would encourage everyone to give it a go.

“It’s not possible to put a price on our trips,” Joan told PA Real Life.

“I would never stay in a home where you’re watching the whales going by. This was a very luxurious, five-bedroom, three-storey property, with whacking great big grounds in the best location.

“There’s no way that I would have been staying there, so it gives you access to quality, the quality of properties, that wouldn’t ordinarily be available.”

Joan said she and Noel, who ran an education company before retiring, have always enjoyed travelling and love walking, hiking and learning about history.

As they enjoy long holidays spanning several weeks, they were looking for ways to make their trips “affordable and comfortable” and had heard about home-swapping from Joan’s sister.

This prompted them to sign up to LoveHomeSwap in 2017, which later joined the HomeExchange group, and the platform, which has a £180 annual membership fee, has more than 200,000 members in 155 countries.

While they live in Buxton, Joan and Noel have a one-bedroom holiday home in Criccieth, North Wales, which has views of Snowdonia National Park from a nearby beach, and they use this property for home-swapping.

“The house that we live in, in Buxton, is old and quirky, so it’s not so easy for somebody to walk into it,” Joan explained.

“But when we bought the holiday home that we have in Criccieth, in my mind, we would exchange it.”

Joan and Noel completed their first home-swap in Paris, staying in a quirky “student pad”.

She said the space was small, effectively a “garret”, and you had to climb over a roof strut to get into the kitchen, but it was well-located and they had “the cheapest beer” in a bar next door.

“We would come home in the evening and go into this student bar with cheap beer – a pint was probably around three euros,” Joan explained.

“These places are local, so one of the key things for me is that you could stay in a hotel, but that’s sterile.

“These home exchanges are never sterile.”

On another occasion, the couple had a more “unusual” home-swap, staying on a yacht for a week.

She said the man who owned the yacht ended up being their skipper, sailing them around the Isle of Wight and south coast – and he even let them “have a go at sailing” themselves.

“The man used this yacht for racing as well and, interestingly, this yacht has, if you like, a royal link,” Joan said.

“The yacht was used for Prince William’s stag do – someone had organised it for him, they had a whole load of activities and one of them was sailing this yacht when it was new.

“The deal for us was, we paid for the fuel and for our host’s lunches, and we used our points for the boat and it was lovely.”

Describing some of their most luxurious swaps, Joan said they stayed in a “swanky apartment block” in Bangkok, Thailand, which had an infinity pool and “wonderful views over the river”.

They have stayed in other “posh properties” with large gardens and swimming pools but have also lived in family homes with chickens, cats and gardens to look after.

They even met someone in Tasmania who had built his own property, using car ports, and it was surrounded by wallabies.

“We did a big trip to Australia, and we did what they call a reciprocal exchange, but it was non-simultaneous,” Joan said.

“It was an arrangement where they had a flat underneath their main house, and they picked us up from the airport, took us out, showed us around and we played cards with them.

“They had a friend who, up in the hills, just beyond the national park, had built himself a crazy house.

“So we were saying about seeing wallabies and our hosts said, ‘Oh, come up to our mate’s place’, and it was a quirky, mad place made of car ports and glass.

“We would never have seen that or met this guy otherwise. He was a real hoot.”

Joan said she is always “respectful” of people’s properties and belongings, and she has never had a negative experience hosting or staying in another home.

She has seen some incredible wildlife, including watching a whale migration from the bed of one of the properties in Australia.

Along with travelling the world, Joan said one of the best aspects of home-swapping is meeting people and making new friends.

She said: “That’s one of the joys of home exchanging because, even if you’re only doing it online, you get to know other people, you make friends with people.

“It’s not just about the property, it’s about the people as well.”

This autumn, Joan said she and Noel are spending three weeks in the Dolomites in Italy and they have other home swaps coming up, including a trip to Malta in March next year.

She said she does not have any “dream destinations” as she does not believe in waiting or creating a bucket list for the future, adding: “Life only goes in one direction, so you should hurry up and do it.”

She said HomeExchange is for “anybody”, it is not just centred around large, luxurious properties, and it is enjoyable to see how people around the world live their lives.

“The main thing is that money cannot buy the experience of being welcomed into someone’s home and being in a proper local living community,” she said.

“The advice and guidance from hosts helps you plan and make the most of their area – you get an insider view.

“I am out of touch with prices since I don’t pay for holiday accommodation any more, but I have effectively travelled the world and not paid for accommodation.”