Meanwhile, the stranger whose apartment she was staying in was at Horn’s place in Paris, traipsing through the city’s cafes and museums.
Horn began participating in home swaps after stumbling across HomeExchange in 2022 and finding a San Francisco couple whose house would be available while they were on vacation. She contacted them, and the couple agreed that Horn could stay at their place for two weeks if they could stay at her Paris apartment for the same length of time at a later date.“I was kind of nervous. I was like, ‘Oh God, what if this is fake? What am I going to do?’ ” she said.
“It’s really intimate to be in someone’s space, and even if you’re not physically with them, you’re seeing how they live. Like if someone comes to my home, they’re going to have to learn how to compost the vegetable scraps. That’s not an experience you get in your Airbnb” often these days, Horn said.