Great post! I have some experience arranging homestays as well and wrote a short response to your article over on the nextstop blog. Check it out:

http://blog.nextstop.com/2009/10/successful-stays-with-locals.html

Josh

Any hints for teenagers who wants to travel paying for everything by themselves (or, in other words, with the need of saving as much as possible) ?

I may consider some low-cost journey for this summer.

Thanks for theese posts,
and bye from Italy,
Emanuele

Thanks so much for a great article. I work for a company that arranges international volunteer placements and a big focus of our projects are the homestays. It really is the best way to get an “insider” perpective on the culture. Yes, it can be awkward at the beginning (walking in on my host mom in the shower or my host family stealing the peanut butter my parents mailed me from the states!) but the experiences and memories you leave with are way better than any fancy hotel or swim-up bar.

The majority of our participants list the host family stay as the best part of their experience abroad. Many stay in touch with their families and then go back to visit them years later!

I encourage others to look beyond traditional hotels and hostels for their accommodation abroad.

I was talking to a friend about homestays just yesterday and your article just made me go “Wow!”

You paint such a vivid picture of your experience, my feet are just itching to get outta here and “go homestay”. The gifting tip is great – thanks for that!

Super write-up!