Trading Bethesda for Tuscany? Good Luck.

IF YOU CAN'T stand the heat and humidity of a D.C. summer, getting out is tempting. So alluring, in fact, that one Craigslist poster offered to trade a house on the edge Bethesda for a "2 bedroom home in village in Tuscany" for a week this summer. It's a fair trade, right? Bethesda, too, is known for fine dining. And it's probably easier to find parking there than in Tuscany. Maybe.

But what about other international swaps? How about trading the so-called eighth Wonder of the World for ... Tenleytown or Georgetown?

This Craigslist poster is offering to swap his million-dollar apartment in Dubai — the largest city in the United Arab Emirates and a burgeoning tourist destination — for a home near American University or Georgetown for a couple weeks in June. Reads the entry: "Home must be ... air conditioned — or at least cool." Understandable, considering forecasts are calling for temperatures in Dubai to reach 105 degrees tomorrow, while heat in the District will top out at about 85 degrees. Also, the D.C. pad must be "comparable." That could be tough to swing.

The Dubai apartment overlooks the Palm Islands, which are man-made and known for their extravagance.

This begs the question: Why hasn't some bored resident of comically underdeveloped Tenleytown, with its mattress stores and carryouts, jumped at the sweet Dubai offer yet? Perhaps the neighborhood's radio-tower hating residents are scared off by Dubai's whimsical spires.

Written by Express contributor Gabe Nelson