I stayed in this cool canalside loft in Amsterdam without paying a penny and lived my main character moment

If Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet gave us anything, it’s an infatuation with home swapping. Ever since I first watched The Holiday back in 2009, I’ve romanticised the idea that one day I might step outside my own routine and, however briefly, be folded into somebody else’s world.

Last month, that dream became a reality when I crossed the threshold of someone else’s second-floor apartment for the first time. I came across it on the homeswapping platform Kindred, and fell in love with…