James Asquith is the Official Guinness World Record holder for being the youngest person to travel to every country in the World before the age of 25.
Although he has traveled to every country in the world, he feels like he is only just getting started, and wants to travel so much more. For example, because he has visited a handful of places in Brazil, there is so much of the country he has yet to see. So it was in 2017 that he was traveling through Transylvania, Romania where he had the thought that people all want to travel more but spend less. That’s where the idea of Holiday Swap was born.
The app focuses on encouraging people to Explore More and allows swapping of accommodation with a large social media element tied in.
Travel lessons young solo travel James Asquith
With the ‘Always Bag Packed’ feature users can use their accommodation as their commodity to make social connections around the world, and swap when it suits them! With hotel and homestay prices continuing to go up, it opens up destinations to a whole new demographic of traveler that they may not be currently capturing, who can save on their biggest outgoing and have more money to spend on the things they love whilst traveling. Dream destinations have just become much more accessible and cheaper!
Although James had some great adventures traveling solo, it was his experiences that he was able to share with others that he values the most.” To him, travel isn’t just about finding yourself. Instead, it’s about forging connections with others.
“Smile and say yes as much as possible. You never know where each risk can take you.”
At Holiday Swap we’re hoping to encourage the next generation of travelers. Part social media app, part booking site, it allows users to “like” certain destinations, communicate with the people living there, and, if they so choose, swap homes with the ones they forge connections with.
“It takes away the largest cost of travel, and the social media side also means that you’ll have a virtual tour guide before your trip,” Asquith explains of the community he hopes to inspire with the app.
“You can basically build up connections around the world for when you want to travel. I’m lucky enough that trough my travels I can hop on a plane and know people in my destination. I want everyone to have more of that.”
Holiday Swap is becoming the most exciting and cheapest tool in the travel industry by taking away the ever-increasing cost of accommodation with traditional booking sites. Already in 50 countries, Business Insider is quoted as saying “A Tinder-style social media platform that lets travelers swap accommodation around the world” – Business Insider.
Everyone can download the app in the AppStore and Playstore.
