- Last year, I wanted to escape the New York winter and travel somewhere warm, but couldn't afford it.
- Instead of paying for a pricey hotel, I traded apartments with someone from Cape Town, South Africa.
- Swapping homes with a stranger allowed for a bucket-list adventure and gave me a new friend.
Last November, fresh out of a relationship and trying to feel like myself again, I started daydreaming about a warm New Year's escape from New York City.
I desperately wanted to book a one-way plane ticket somewhere, but between flights and accommodations, a last-minute trip during the holidays was more than I could afford.
After hours of searching for cheaper alternatives, I had an idea: What if I swapped apartments with someone instead of paying for a pricey hotel? I had seen people trade homes online, and, of course, in films like "The Holiday," but I wondered how it would work logistically.
So, I filmed a video offering up my Brooklyn studio apartment, with its Manhattan skyline views, and it quickly went viral on TikTok.
When I was going through the comments, one stood out: Thiala, a content creator in Cape Town, South Africa, said she wanted to go to New York to experience Christmas.
We FaceTimed, showed each other our apartments, and booked our flights within 48 hours.
Giving a stranger access to my apartment sounded risky, but I felt surprisingly calm
Maybe it was because we were both content creators, or simply because we were both interested in this crazy idea, but I never hesitated at the thought of Thiala coming into my home and caring for my cat.
From our very first conversations, we immediately bonded. Whether we were swapping packing lists or making itineraries of must-try spots in our cities, we were texting and speaking on the phone every day leading up to the trip.
Thiala originally wanted to bring a friend to New York, but after some issues with getting a visa approved, she decided to go on this adventure alone. To make sure she never felt lonely, I immediately sent her a few friends to connect with and doubled down on every New York recommendation I could think of, from cozy corner bars to the best streets for holiday lights.
We both bought Christmas decorations so the other would feel at home when they arrived. Additionally, we traded building instructions, WiFi passwords, and a very long list of what she could feed my picky cat. By then, trusting a stranger with my home didn't feel scary — it felt like handing the keys to my new friend.
Before we knew it, we were both on flights to each other's homes for the holidays, two 30-plus-hour travel days headed in opposite directions.
When I walked into Thiala's one-bedroom apartment in Cape Town, I found a welcome basket full of South African snacks to try. The cherry on top: I saw the most gorgeous sunset right from her living room hours after arriving.
As I got settled, a worry hit me: would she feel like it was a fair swap? My studio apartment is small, and she was trading a Cape Town summer for a freezing winter. Then I remembered that's exactly what Thiala wanted. The exchange had nothing to do with square footage; it was about making memories.
Then the fun really started. Because we're both content creators, we documented the trip as it unfolded.
I got to see New York through Thiala's videos. She got ready in my bathroom for a first date at a wine bar in Brooklyn I had been to a handful of times, woke up with my cat in her arms, and strolled down the streets of Manhattan. Thanks to the time change, I woke up to her posts every morning, and she woke up to mine.
In Cape Town, I spent my days at the beach, seeing penguins, going to Thiala's favorite Pilates studio, and exploring places she insisted I couldn't miss, like the beautiful mountain Chapman's Peak.
It was exactly the kind of trip I'd hoped for — getting to experience a city beyond just its tourist attractions.
After 15 days of being in each other's homes, we finally met in person
Even though it felt like we were best friends, talking every day and sharing our daily adventures, Thiala and I had still never met.
So, after 15 days of apartment-swapping, I headed back home. I left a day early so that she and I could overlap for a bit and grab brunch. Unfortunately, my flight was extremely delayed, and we only got 30 minutes together before she caught her plane to South Africa.
Still, we made the most of the time we had. She got her Chick-fil-A DoorDash one last time, I got to hug my cat again, and we had the ultimate in-person debrief. I then helped her shove her big fur coat into a suitcase, and just like that, we were off to resume our own routines.
To this day, Thiala and I stay connected. She now posts vlogs about being an au pair in Paris, and I'm still living in New York, taking solo trips to places like Guatemala and Kyrgyzstan, and traveling with friends here and there.
Overall, the apartment swap turned out to be so much more than a fun experiment. It let us afford a bucket-list trip, make a new friend, and experience each other's cities through the routines and recommendations of someone who actually lived there.
It felt more personal than a hotel, more meaningful than a typical Airbnb, and somehow made a city thousands of miles away feel a little bit like home.
