洛杉矶雕塑家Meagan Cignoli分享了她使用Kindred家交换旅行平台的经历。Kindred允许会员进行非连续性交换，用户只需支付服务费和清洁费，无需金钱交易。Cignoli高度评价Kindred的灵活性和经济性，她表示，通过支付每年600美元的Kindred Passport费用，她可以免除服务费，只需承担清洁费。她举例说，在墨西哥一周的旅行，清洁费仅为110美元，在希腊10天的旅行清洁费也仅为140美元。这种模式让她能够以更低成本进行长时间旅行，深入体验当地生活，并将其用于个人创作、度假或与朋友聚会。她认为Kindred比酒店和度假租赁更具吸引力，并强调了平台上提供的保险和清洁服务，以及会员之间通常会留下的感谢礼物，进一步提升了家交换的体验。

🏠 Kindred家交换平台提供了一种经济实惠且灵活的旅行方式，雕塑家Meagan Cignoli通过该平台实现了全球旅行。与传统的邻居或朋友间的家交换不同，Kindred允许会员进行非连续性交换，即不必在同一时间段内交换房屋，会员只需支付服务费和清洁费，无需直接的金钱交易，这大大降低了旅行成本。

💰 Cignoli特别提到了Kindred Passport的年费模式，每年600美元的费用使其免除了每次旅行的服务费，只需支付清洁费，这对于像她这样频繁旅行的人来说非常划算。她举例说明，在墨西哥一周的住宿清洁费仅为110美元，在希腊10天的住宿清洁费为140美元，远低于传统酒店或租赁费用，使得长时间、多地点的旅行成为可能。

✈️ Kindred的家交换模式不仅适用于个人旅行，也适合团体旅行。Cignoli曾利用该平台进行独行旅行、情侣旅行，甚至与八位朋友的团体旅行，如在湖边小屋的聚会。这种模式的优势在于，价格几乎不随房型大小变化，且不限制停留时间，让旅行者能够更深入地了解社区，放松身心，而非匆忙打卡。

🤝 Kindred平台通过服务费和清洁费，并提供保险和预先安排的清洁服务，保障了会员的权益和体验。会员在接受他人入住时，可以通过视频通话或查看对方的社交媒体来评估其可靠性。此外，客人通常会为主家留下感谢信或小礼物，如Cignoli作为雕塑家会赠送自己制作的小碟子，这增添了人情味和社区归属感。

Meagan Cignoli uses Kindred for affordable, flexible home-swapping travel worldwide.Kindred allows non-consecutive swaps, where you pay a service fee and for cleaning.Kindred's insurance and cleaning services enhance the home-swapping experience for members.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Meagan Cignoli, a sculptor based in Los Angeles and a member of Kindred, a home-swapping network. Kindred members do direct, one-to-one home swaps or can earn nightly credits by letting other members stay in their homes. There is no cost to joining Kindred, and no money is exchanged between hosts and guests. Members pay a service fee and a one-time cleaning fee for their stay. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

The first time I house-swapped was around 2005. I stayed in someone's home in Miami for two months over the winter, and they stayed at my place in New York.

I used to use Craigslist and find people, but it was really hard to find people who wanted the exact timeframe that you wanted and who also had a decent home that you actually wanted to stay in.

Now I use Kindred, which is so much easier because the home swaps don't have to be consecutive. I'm obsessed with never being home and traveling a lot, and Kindred has given me the ability to do that. I have the Kindred Passport, which costs $600 a year, so I don't pay service fees, just the cleaning fee. Because I'm traveling constantly, I get my money's worth on the passport within a month or two.

The cleaning rate I've paid in Mexico is $110, so you can go to Mexico for a week for $110, and it could be a five-bedroom place with a pool. The cleaning rate in most of the places I've seen in Europe is $140, so we went for 10 days to the most beautiful place in Greece, and it was $140.

I use it for group, solo, or work trips

I live in a one-bedroom apartment. There are places of all sizes on Kindred, and we've stayed in some beautiful places. It's kind of crazy and amazing that a one-bedroom or studio goes for the same amount of credits as a four-bedroom with a pool.

I travel alone a bit. I travel with my girlfriend. We have used Kindred in Greece on two different islands. I've used it in Portugal alone, including in Porto and Lisbon. We've used it in Mexico a bunch and all over the states, from California to Georgia.

I also travel with my assistant, so if I have a show in another city, I'll find a two-bedroom or bigger. We went to Joshua Tree for a week just to make art, photograph things, make new sculptures, and just have a little art retreat.

Kindred gives the ability to stay somewhere longer because the price doesn't really change. And the longer you stay, the more you get to know a neighborhood. And there's not the pressure that you have when you're paying nightly to get the most out of it, so it just made it so we could just relax and not feel in a rush to see everything.

I've also done group trips. I booked a Kindred in Lake Arrowhead for around eight of our friends, and we just cooked and hiked, and explored the town and lake. It was amazing for everyone because it's so inexpensive, it's just the cleaning fee.

Guests often leave gifts for their hosts

When accepting guests at your home, you can say "no" to anyone. You can request to FaceTime, check out their Instagram, or look at photos of their home. If their home looks clean, you feel like they will take care of your home, too.

Kindred has a very good insurance policy, so if someone messes up something in your home, they're going to make it right. The company also schedules cleaners to come right before the guest arrives and right after they leave, so when you get home, it's often cleaner than how you left it.

Guests often leave thank-you notes or gifts for their hosts. Because I'm a sculptor, I'll make a whole bunch of little dishes at once, and I'll bring one to each place I go and leave that as a gift for my host. Sometimes we leave wine. People have left me chocolate-covered pretzels and a bottle of wine, and the notes are really cute to come home to. They'll say, "Your home made me so happy."

Now I try to avoid hotels and vacation rentals

Kindred is 100% the first thing I check when I want to travel somewhere. Now, when I look at hotels or Airbnbs, I'm shocked by the price.

You're also getting spoiled by making your own eggs in the morning and not having to go out for every single meal. It just makes travel a little bit less overwhelming when you can eat at least one meal at home.

If you're flexible with your travel schedule, Kindred is even better. I have wishlists on there and I check it almost every day to see what's available. Some places have more availability than others, but a lot of major cities have Kindreds, and it's getting bigger all the time.

The one bad thing is that Kindred has me so spoiled by the price that it's hard to swallow other options when I travel somewhere and a Kindred isn't available.