It has been some time now since the last time we mentioned of the greatest advantages of home exchange: you can take your pet. There is also the alternative of having a pet exchange, but it would be much more fun to take your buddy with you, not to mention if you are dealing with a long term home exchange.

We have covered pet carriers, pet safety during transportation, how to keep your pet comfortable during a road trip, getting your pet used to travelling in a car, and even airlines dedicated exclusively to pets. If you haven’t read those posts you can find the using the search box or clicking on the pets category in the right panel =>>

Some are:

• Animal Airways
• Four-legged Travel Buddies
• Animal Anxiety

Image by Maggie Smith /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

But there’s yet another important detail you should be aware of that we haven’t stressed enough: your pet needs to be checked by a vet before he/she can travel. For example, most airlines will require a certificate indicating that your pet has not been sick in the past 30 days and has received all the required vaccines. Also, for his/her own sake you need to consider a visit to the vet to check your pet’s health status before embarking in any trip.

We also have some new resources to refer you to so you make sure you do not miss anything:

http://www.myplanninglists.com/how-to-move-with-a-pet-cat-or-dog.php
http://www.petzbackhome.co.uk/terms.html
http://www.thepawblog.com/how-to-travel-safely-with-your-pet/

Home exchange will lower the your travel expenses, so why shouldn’t you plan the vacations you have always dreamed of? Why shouldn’t you go after your perfect trip?

Like your perfect:

… Paris - not only for romantic couples or people interested in art and the museums, Paris can be attractive to anyone. And why wouldn’t it be? We’ve mentioned before: Paris does have everything! But at the same time, Parisians are trying to get away from their city and if your hometown is the city that has everything, where would you be interested in travelling to? Seems like anywhere! Paris is the city with the most houses registered for home exchange in HomeForHome. Paris alone has more registered swappers than the UK!

… beach paradise - It can be a vibrant Mediterranean beach, an exotic sparsely populated Caribbean sandy heaven, a hot spot for water-sports and adventure.

… relaxation in the mountains - Clean air, the clear blue sky, the sounds of nature and your nervous system will reset itself.

Image by Evgeni Dinev /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

… exotic trip to a distant destination - Go crazy! You can almost close your eyes, roll a globe, use your finger to pinpoint where your next adventure will take place and you’ll find a swapper there! That’s if you don’t hit water, of course

… Christmas trip - we insist, if you want to swap this Christmas you need to get started…

What is it going to be then?

Home exchange is a rising trend. Every day more people decide to try this way of travelling and enjoy its many benefits. HomeForHome is the fastest growing online home exchange service. Why should you try home exchange? Why choose HomeForHome ? Read on…

Home exchange is very simple.
HomeForHome offers you the tools to make it even simpler.

Home exchange is fun and exciting.
In HomeForHome ’s community forums you can have a lot of fun meeting people from all over the world.

Home exchange offers a lot of different alternatives.
HomeForHome makes it easier for you to find people sharing your same interests: long-term home exchange, short-term home exchange, weekend exchange, car exchange, permanent home exchange, study exchange, exchanges for families, travelling with pets…

Home exchange is the best way to lower travel costs.
HomeForHome takes the word cheap to its lower level: everything is free.

HomeForHome has a few extras, including these:

• Our Support Team can offer you guidance to complete the registration process and get acquainted with the website’s tools and resources.
• It has a built-in translation tool so you can receive and answer messages and requests in many languages.

Image by Salvatore Vuono /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The time arrives, you got your home exchange details all worked out, your transportation arrangements are perfectly scheduled and you are ready to go! One last thing: packing your bags. To help you with this step, we have a few DOs and DON’Ts.

DO:
- Plan ahead. Take time to make a list of the things you will need. Include those that are indispensable for the activities you planned for your home exchange (if you will go hiking, take your usual hiking shoes to avoid unwanted blisters).
- Exclude from your packing list those things you can buy in your destination as if you were at home and do not cost much.
- Check the weight of your bags. Especially if you are flying and you need to stick to the airlines policies to avoid extra charges.
- Consider the local weather in your destination at the time you are travelling. The web has great resources to find weather information.
- Prefer clothes that are appropriate for layering.

DON’T:
- Wait until the last minute to pack your bags. You will risk leaving out many important items or ending up with too many bags.
- Over-pack. Remember that with HomeForHome you can search for a  home exchange opportunity to stay in a house with a washing-machine and a drier, which means you can pack less clothing items and still have clean clothes all the time. Most people usually end up wearing half as many clothes as they packed.
- Forget to pack your kid’s favourite toy, but remember to leave a few toys in your handbag for his/her entertainment during the trip.
- Forget it may rain. Depending on your destination, it could be easy or hard to find comfortable waterproof clothes.

Image by healingdream /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A great thing about travelling is that you come in contact with different ways to face every day life. Sometimes, even if your home swap requires you to travel only 20 miles to a smaller town or bigger city, the local pace of life may be strangely different to what you are used to. Then, imagine what happens when you travel abroad or to a distant exotic destination. Just the idea got me thinking about my next destination search in HomeForHome.

Buildings, museums, available services… These all say a lot about the history and present of one place, but nothing says more about the culture, customs and heritage of a place than its cuisine. Restaurants that use local produce to prepare their menus are a great way to get experience the flavours of your home exchange destination. But unusual and exotic foods can pose a treat to some people. For example, many people are allergic to some ingredients or are bound to strict diet restrictions (like diabetics). Then, how can you avoid a nice evening eating out from turning into an unexpected trip to the hospital? Here are five tips that may help you:

- Find information to know what to expect. There are many online resources you can use, including travel guides and restaurant websites with online menus.

- If you are swapping to a country where a different language is spoken, learn a few phrases to let waiters know of your requirements. If you are not comfortable with your pronunciation, you can even have such phrases printed in a small card. A pocket dictionary may come handy too.

- If you are not sure about the ingredients do not order.

- Remember to take your emergency kit with you when you head out to the restaurant.

- Ask your home exchange partner for restaurant recommendations or advice about eating out.

Home exchange cuts your total travel expenses to less than half compared with hotel stays and similar means of accommodation. One reason that explains such huge savings is that with home exchange you have a full kitchen available and you can cook your own meals. But you would probably want to spend very little of your vacation time in the kitchen to enjoy other activities to the fullest. What to cook while on vacations to save time? Here is our idea for today, it is not new but it is helpful: Sandwiches.

Image by healingdream /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Fast preparation is the best feature of this tasteful dish, but it also allows for innovation. You can put almost anything between two pieces of bread and it could taste good. To make it more sophisticated, use french baguettes, to make it healthier use whole grain bread. To have a side dish, you can open a bag of potato chips or if you want something healthier you can use crunchy vegetables. For example, carrots, broccoli and celery are all quite tasty and crunchy. Exchange the burger and fries for a chicken sandwich with a side of crunchy veggies.

Some say that what makes a great sandwich is the condiment selection, but that is a whole different chapter. The basic and simple mayonnaise will do for most people

During your home exchange trip, sandwiches would also be useful if you plan a whole day away in a nearby (or not so nearby) attraction and you do not want to buy food or you just do not know if you are going to find a restaurant you would like to try. You are going to need a cooler to keep your sandwiches fresh (specially in the summer) and you can even pack the ingredients (remember to wash the vegetables before you go and bring some extra water just in case) and prepare your sandwiches in your destination. Find a park or another open area and combine your main activity with a small picnic. If you have children, they would love it.

An interesting fact: In the UK there is even an organisation that sets standards for sandwich manufacture and encourages innovation in the sandwich making industry: the British Sandwich Association (http://www.sandwich.org.uk/)

HomeForHome is a home exchange website, but we leave it to our users to take advantage of our services and innovate. Creativity is always welcomed. The only thing we do not admit is trying to take profit from our services (we do not allow any commercial deals and we ask our users to report people who really want to rent their place instead of a free home exchange). Do you want to hear about some creative ways to swap? Here we go with two ideas:

- Register your motor-home or your yacht. If it can be used as a home it can be registered for home exchange in HomeForHome (no funny interpretations, please - we are serious). A user may be interested in using your motor-home to take their home exchange journey to a whole new level.

- What about an hospitality exchange? Hospitality exchanges are a variation of home exchange when each swapper receives their partner as a guest in their home. This could be a particularly interesting choice for those who want to make new friends and re-discover the beauty of their home town. We have seen some of our users starting forum topics about receiving a child from another family in their home while their child stays with the other family to learn a foreign language, a very special student exchange. This could even be arranged to be non-simultaneous so the visitor has a friend of the same age to show them around. Hospitality exchanges could also be a great idea for retired people or first-time travellers that are not confident about travelling to a whole different country on their own and would rather have some company. As for home exchange, hospitality exchange is not for everyone, some people may be thrilled by the idea of receiving people from a different culture in their home but this may be too much for others.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Home exchange is more than just travelling. It involves getting to know the people who are going to be staying in your home (and trusting you with theirs). You do not have to become friends with every family that exchanges their home with you, but you are probably going to make some friends along the way.

Image by graur codrin /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One detail that is important to enjoy a home exchange is to feel welcome. It is that first moment when you are starting your stay at the house you chose as a home for the next few days or weeks and if you do not feel comfortable since the very first start you are probably not going to enjoy it 100%.

What can be done to ensure a great start for the family that will stay at your home? A nice welcome package. Like those little details hotels use to make you feel as a special guest, there are little details that will help your swap partner feel good from the very start.

Here are some examples of things that could be part of an excellent welcome package:

- A bottle of wine and bread or some snacks or maybe fresh vegetables in the fridge and milk for their children. Anything you can imagine that could make a good first impression.

- A short “how to” guide explaining the basics to get all your appliances to work (dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, Wi-fi, DVD player, etc.).

- A list of relevant phone numbers (a trusted neighbour, baby-sitter, pizza delivery, doctor - you probably get what this list is all about).

- A local map and some leaflets with information for visitors. You may even use a marker to highlight important routes in the map, like the that to market, to important attractions, to your favourite restaurant (maybe you share the same taste!).

These are just a few ideas to get your creativity going. Let it fly…

Image by Salvatore Vuono /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You may have been surprised by the title, but when your vacation plans include home exchange, you better anticipate what is coming in the next few months and that means not just one or two months ahead. You have to decide which will be your preferred destination (or destinations) and then get into searching and contacting other swappers. If you do not care for last minute rushes, then you may want to get started on your December travel plans.

It is one of the busiest times for the transport industry. Train stations, airports, bus stations, roads, freeways, highways, no matter what you prefer, things get complicated around Christmas and New Year’s Day. You may say “too complicated to find a swap for that date” and you may be right, but if you can exchange during the holidays it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Expending such an especial holiday in a different country is something you will never forget. It is like your first Christmas morning again! Probably many things will be just the same as back home, but no matter which destination you choose, if you swap to a different country during this special date, you will experience a whole new holiday. For example, if you arrange a home exchange with someone in another hemisphere, you will have your Christmas dinner in a different season. December is summer in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, Brazil, New Zealand) and winter in the Northern Hemisphere (most of Europe, USA, Canada, Japan). Depending on the country you choose to visit you may head out to the beach after opening the presents or have a hot cup of chocolate before you heading out to play with your kids in the snow.

HomeForHome has thousands of listings, and a wide selection of destinations for you to choose from. All you need is some time to search around, start a forum or send out a few home exchange proposals, and you could find yourself having a Merry Christmas Swap.

HomeForHome has many homes in Wales. Do not waste another minute and start looking for your home exchange partner to make Wales you next swap’s destination. Then, to plan your activities, you can use “The official getaway to Wales” (http://www.wales.com) where you will find these great itinerary suggestions:

“Wales in a week” - Seven days with the best that Wales has to offer.

“Cardiff, our capital city” - The capital and largest city, “Caerdydd” is the perfect gateway to Wales. If you plan to fly to Wales you are going to start in Cardiff and if you can arrange a home exchange before August 31st, you will visit the capital during Cardiff Festival 2010 (link below).

“Food trail” - The best Welsh flavours in three days of pleasure.

“Parks and gardens” - In this four-day itinerary, one of the beautiful places suggested for you to visit is the National Botanic Garden of Wales, home of the largest glass single structure in the world: “Great Glasshouse“. If you take a look at this suggested itinerary, you will probably agree with me that four days are not enough!

“North Wales coast” - Nothing says “vacation” more than barefoot walking in the beach.

“Myths and legends” - Three days getting to know the settings of some of the most famous Welsh folk stories.

“The trail of King Arthur” – King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table… Truth or myth? Find out yourself.

“Haunted Wales” - Take this four day suggestion and become a ghost hunter (if you dare!)

Image by Matt Banks /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Our suggestion to plan your home exchange is to visit http://www.wales.com and take a little from each of the above suggested itineraries to make your own custom made unique tour.

Cardiff Festival - http://www.cardiff-festival.com/
National Botanic Garden of Wales - http://www.gardenofwales.org.uk/
Visit North Wales - http://www.visitnorthwales.co.uk/
http://www.visitwales.com/