Travel Q&A: How to handle house swaps; Greece can be cool; insurance abroad.(Sun-Sentinel, South Florida)

Q. We are retiring this year and would like information on house-swapping. How would we contact other people who want to swap houses? _ J. and K.N., Dania, Fla.

A. I talked with Bill Barbour of Fort Myers, who told me that he and his wife, Mary, have done 90 home exchanges all over the world. They learned so much about the process that they wrote a book about it.

The book helps prospective swappers find the agencies that handle exchanges, includes interviews with people who have done it, and doles out plenty of practical tips.

``Have you ever had a really bad experience?'' I asked Barbour. ``Only things that might happen at home, like leaky faucets,'' he said. As for whether the Barbours' own home was ever trashed by exchange families, he said that never happened to him and he hasn't heard from anyone who was victimized by a bad trade. ``And we encourage people to bring children,'' he said. ``But …