{"id":13061,"date":"2026-11-15T07:44:52","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T20:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=13061"},"modified":"2026-11-15T07:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T20:45:01","slug":"home-swapping-began-with-teachers-were-bringing-it-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/home-swapping-began-with-teachers-were-bringing-it-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Swapping Began with Teachers. We\u2019re Bringing It Back."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
By Tom Flanagan, teacher at Singapore American School and founder of<\/em> Kasero<\/em><\/a>, the home exchange community for international school educators<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A couple of months before every school holiday, many of us do the same math as we plan our next trip: the cost of flights, a week or two of accommodation, activities, restaurants\u2026the list goes on. The cost of travel adds up fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The costly travel math is a big reason why I started Kasero<\/a>, the home-swapping community for international school educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why home-swapping is having a moment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increasing cost of travel is also why home exchange (also called home swapping) is having a moment worldwide. Kindred, a US-based home swapping network, says about 150,000 people joined in 2025, Forbes reported<\/a>. In Canada, the platform People Like Us saw its Canadian membership grow 20 percent over the past year, CBC News reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Buchanan, The Home Swap Guy<\/a>, calls home exchange the \u201cthird wave of travel,\u201d after hotels and Airbnb, as fees and accommodation prices climb and travel gets harder to afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How home exchange works<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home exchange comes in two main forms: a direct swap, where two households stay in each other\u2019s homes, or a credit system, where you earn credits by hosting guests and spend them on stays elsewhere, so your dates don\u2019t need to match. Either way, home swappers pay a tiny fraction of the cost of hotels or Airbnbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why international educators are natural swappers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

International school educators are natural home swappers. We have long, predictable breaks, homes that sit empty during these holidays, and colleagues living in amazing locations all over the world. According to Buchanan, \u201cOrganized home exchange began with teachers. In 1953, a group of European teachers founded the first home swapping community, Intervac, to travel affordably during school breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International school educators also share what newcomers to home swapping worry about most: trust. Our international school community is tight-knit, with friends teaching in dozens of schools across the globe. Exchanging homes with a colleague whose school affiliation has been verified takes much of the nervousness out of the idea. Kindred cofounder Justine Palefsky told Forbes: \u201cThis is travel built on trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing Kasero<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That trust is the idea behind Kasero. International school educators join for free with a school email, list a home or a spare room, earn credits when they host colleagues, and spend those credits on stays in other members\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buchanan says the trend is toward community-based clubs: \u201cI am seeing a significant trend of like-minded community-based home swapping clubs being created for artists, adventurers, and, with Kasero, educators. Effectively, this is building tribes with people who understand and trust each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kasero is young: it launched in May, but it already has homes in fifteen countries, and the community is growing every week because colleagues at international schools around the world are building it together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kasero\u2019s first Partner School\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea is also starting to travel through schools. Canggu Community School<\/a> (CCS) in Bali recently became Kasero’s first Partner School, giving its faculty a new way to travel more affordably. Dr. Ben Voborsky, CCS\u2019s Head of School, says: \u201cOne of the best things about international education is the people we meet, the relationships we build, and the experiences we share. Kasero is another way to bring our global community a little closer together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can join Kasero for free<\/a> with your school email, list a home that you own or rent in your host country, your home country, or somewhere in between, and start connecting with colleagues around the world. Let\u2019s build the Kasero community together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Flanagan teaches middle school science at Singapore American School. He loves the community and adventurous spirit that makes the international school community so special and hopes that<\/em> Kasero<\/em><\/a> will help connect friends and colleagues around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of months before every school holiday, many of us do the same math as we plan our next trip: the cost of flights, a week or two of accommodation, activities, restaurants\u2026the list goes on. The cost of travel adds up fast. The costly travel math is a big reason why I started Kasero, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"page_builder":"","_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[3239,3238,3237,184,1879],"class_list":["post-13061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-great-resource","tag-accommodation","tag-home-exchange","tag-home-swapping","tag-international-school-teachers","tag-saving-money"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-3oF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5885,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/much-flights-actually-cost-various-cities-around-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":13061,"position":0},"title":"How Much Do Flights Actually Cost from Various Cities Around the World?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"December 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's holiday time and most of us are on some trip enjoying our time off. 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