From Florida to Full-Time Travel: The HomeExchange Shift

At HomeExchange, we love giving a voice to those who can best describe it: our members. This testimonial was written by Nic, a member who, by using HomeExchange to travel, was able to discover many countries and states with his family, including one that made such an impression on him that he wanted to settle there permanently.

We are an Australian family of three whose ‘home base’ of the last 11 years was in Florida, USA. At the start of 2023, we decided to travel fulltime, stepping away from traditional ‘school holiday’ travel and lived full-time through HomeExchange. No more Airbnb’s - just real homes, real neighborhoods, and real communities. What we didn’t know then was that one of those exchanges would eventually become our new home.

Discovering Bend: Community, Integration, and Outdoors

In September 2023, we embarked on our first long-term HomeExchange: three months in Bend, Oregon. At the time, Bend was simply a spot on the map - a place we had heard was outdoorsy and beautiful. What we found was so much more. Bend welcomed us in the way only a true community can. From the moment we arrived, we felt the warmth of neighbors, the ease of daily life, and the sense that people genuinely cared about where they lived and the people around them. Our HomeExchange hosts didn’t just share their home, they shared their community with us too.

Our days quickly found a rhythm that felt very normal (but amazing). We worked remotely from a home that was in the perfect neighborhood, our daughter enrolled in the local school and we all made friends. We learned new school routines, and we all enjoyed weekly afterschool and extracurricular activities including weekly violin, French lessons and ninja classes. We chatted with parents, volunteered at school events and felt like we became part of something. And then there was the outdoors and weekend adventures. Bend is an outdoor wonderland. Waterfalls tucked into acres of pine forests. A selection of hiking trails that seem endless. Rivers winding through town and lakes surrounding it. Snow-capped mountains on the horizon. A downtown that balances charm, creativity, and livability. Every weekend felt like a holiday - not rushed sightseeing, but slow discovery. We felt like we were living there.

Global Exploration and the Decision to Put Down Roots

After our three months in Bend, we continued traveling full-time through HomeExchange for two more years throughout Europe, Australia and North America. We exchanged homes across regions and seasons, building friendships, learning how other people live, and giving our daughter an education that extended far beyond textbooks. Each place added something to us - but Bend stayed with us. We all kept in touch with the friends we had made in Bend. We followed community updates. We talked about Bend often, always referring to it as “when we lived there,” even though we technically hadn’t been permanent.

As time went on, our daughter began expressing a desire to stop traveling full-time. She loved the experience, but she wanted to make deeper friendships and put down roots. We listened and decided Bend wasn’t just one our favorite stops on our journey, it also felt like it could be home. In June 2025, we bought a house in Bend (after going back to the same HomeExchange home while we looked at real estate). After finishing our final stretch of full-time HomeExchanging, we moved there in September 2025, just in time for our daughter to start middle school on the ground - exactly what she wanted.

A New Chapter with HomeExchange

Today, we are settled and so happy we made the move. Our daughter is thriving at school - so social that we joke we barely see her anymore. She has friendships, routines, and a sense of belonging that fills us with so much joy. We feel connected to our neighborhood and community in a way that would have been impossible through short stays or traditional travel. And none of this would have happened without HomeExchange. Without the ability to live somewhere long enough to truly experience it - to send our child to school, to work normal days, to know our neighbors, to get a taste of three seasons - we never would have known that Bend was where we would like to belong. HomeExchange gave us the rare opportunity to ‘try on’ a life, not just a destination.

While our chapter of full-time travel has ended until at least after High School, our relationship with HomeExchange is far from over. We still have school holidays to look forward to - around 12 weeks a year - and we continue HomeExchanging every chance we have (I literally just got back from a solo Paris HomeExchange last night). The world still calls to us, and HomeExchange is the way we explore now! Thank you HomeExchange - you didn’t just show us the world; you helped us find the perfect home!