One of the fine things about going on holiday is the nouveau gourmet. Trying out the new restaurants, bars, cuisine, the different variety of dishes available.

But one of the advantages of doing a home exchange is that you can actually learn to cook the new dishes yourself, with the fresh and correct ingredients from that region!

If you stay in a hotel your certainly don’t have the facilities to practise the new culinary tasks that the new location or culture have set you. Even if you take some vacations by staying with a friend, you don’t reeeeally have the freedom to put your Quiche Lorraine to the test.

But if you do a home exchange, you’ll have every kitchen utensil you need at your disposal, and you’ll have the space and time to try new things out. For example, fresh shrimps from the Galician coast in Spain. Learning how to cook them and trying them out with the real McCoy ingredients. Real Italian tomatoes as you learn to weave a real thin, crispy, home-made pizza base.

This gives you the opportunity to take what you see and experience on holiday right into your heart. It gives you the chance to learn new cooking skills, and to walk like a native for that one day as you plod the route to the open market, in the sunshine, watching the people go, listening to the strange words in the music of a foreign language… Then to go home, and really live as someone within that culture, going through the same motions as them, preparing the local tradition foods.

It’s something that is a particular treat for the Brits of the North Americans, as our food markets are already so globalised that the notion of a national dish is pretty much forgotten.

It’s also a great thing to do with your partner or family, and it makes a wonderful memory that you can take back with you into your own home and keep hold of forever.

One of the annoying things about changing currency is the short change that you get left with that you can’t convert back. It’s particularly irritating. I personally have the habit of keeping the loose change of the foreign currency floating around in my purse for about a month after taking the vacations. Only to wind up pulling my hair out and having to muffle my screams of frustration with my sleeve everytime that I come to pay for something in a shop. And then end up burying it in the garden in an act of irrational anger.

Home exchange has many advantages, great and small. One of the mini-advantages is that you can leave your small change in the home that you’ve stayed in, and if you’re lucky the other family will leave theirs in yours. This not only saves you the horrendous extended stress period post currency change, where you have this money but you don’t really quite know what to do with it. But it also means you´ll have some small change to work with when you get back. (Let’s face it, the idea of guarding the money in a safe place for the next year without forgetting it by the time the next round of holidays comes along, is a little steep.)

So home swapping could potentially solve the niggling problem of the loose change that comes flooding back after a holiday. Also, things such as having fresh milk in the regrigrator. Cheese. Fresh bread. A nice cup of tea and a cheese toastie is usually just want you need when you get back late at night after a day or two spent travelling. And lo and behold, if you arrive back home and there’s nothing there, it puts a dampener on things. Having the home family having just left means that not only will your house be sparkling clean when you arrive, but also that there’s a good chance there will be fresh good and milk left over.

Just a couple of the mini-advantages that home swap has to offer…

It gives us great pleasure here at Homeforhome to announce that a couple who use our site are able to do home exchanges and travel during June 2009 to January 2010 through a variety of cities across Latin America.

Who are they? Well, this couple is formed by two people - Ana and Marc. Ana is a primary school teacher, and Marc is a writer. As a couple, they have already done two successful home exchanges, and have decided to travel during the next six months across Latin America.

In return, Ana and Marc are offering their home in Punta Cana (Pueblo Bavaro, República Dominicana). It takes five minutes to get from the airport to the city centre, and ten minutes to get to the beach. As well as this, the home has a swimming pool, 24 hour security and parking.

You can take a look at the home of this couple who are interested in covering the whole of Latin America from 2009 - 2010 doing home exchanges.

Their house in the Carribean sounds really tremendous, and their trip will surely be amazing. With all the advantages they have to offer, why don’t you take advantage of doing a home exchange?

Register free at Homeforhome, the best portal for home exchange across the world.

One of the benefits of a home exchange is the comfort with which you have access to free internet, in the majority of cases.

A large number of homes available at homeforhome offer wifi or even the use of their home computer. This is great if you are someone who has to keep up with work whilst on holiday. It’s a lot more comfortable than going to a wifi or internet cafe, and it takes the hassle away.

Also, for those aspiring photographers, we all know what it’s like to have the titillating opportunity to take photos of new and undiscovered surroundings. But one of my biggest fears of being pick-pocketed whilst in a foreign country is that my camera will get nicked before I´ve had the chance to develop or save the photos. If you do home exchange you can anull this risk. Kill it, dead in the water.

After a day of taking photos and enjoying the sites, you can come back and in your own time, at  your own ease you can upload the photos whilst you´re getting the dinner on in peace.

Other benefits of having all of the home utilities are obvious. A common hassle of travelling is running out of clean clothes. With home exchange, generally you will have all the cleaning facilities you would have in your own house. This makes a big difference to your comfort and day to day well-being. Clean underwear! Reliable and nice washing facilities! A private space! A drying area! A secure place to leave your things!

They may be little details, but when you add them together they contribute to quite a substantial change in the general ambience and the feel of the holiday.

Security is something that worries us all.

Whether it be about thieves in the night, the salt content of our diets, or people rummaging through our stuff when we do a home exchange, we want to feel safe.

When you look at it objectively, it’s a very sensible idea. Avoiding unnecessary dangers. Not taking risks. Taking precautions against what might do us harm.

So, definitely a good evolutionary feature. We’re not about to turn around to you at HomeForHome and tell you that life is nothing without takings risks (even though there may be a few grains of truth of that.)

With every holiday you take, there is an element of risk. That’s a given. Not something we can guard against. But in terms of the primary concern that people have with home exchange, that an unknown family might look through their personal things, we can offer you an effective strategy against this.

Depending on the size of the house, you can designate a place - or even a room - to putting your private and or most valued things.

These may be photographs, jewelry, ornaments, valuable documents, laptops, specialist equipment. Generally our most valuable possessions are not littered all over the house. With a little bit of organization it’s the easiest thing to manage. Put all of your things into the attic, a safe, a wardrobe, a locked room or even a friend’s house. This way you will free yourself form one of the biggest fears that grips people who aren’t quite sure about home exchange. It’s safe, it’s protected, and you’re not putting anything at risk.

With a bit of forward planning, everything is possible.

So put your hands up if you know what the most famous festival in Germany is.

Yes, that’s right! Okoberfest!

The 16 day beer festival held in Munich. It’s a traditional celebration of Bavarian culture, and has the impressive status of being the biggest fair in the world. Other festivals around the world have been modeled on its style, and every year 6 million people travel there to take part.

Since 1950, the tradition has been to open the festival with a twelve gun salute and the tapping of the first keg of Oktoberfest beer at 12:00. This is performed by the Mayor of Munich, who cries out “O’zapft is!”

Although there are rather a lot of crazy young folk who turn up and, well, basically get bladdered in a supremely embarrassing way (to the point where the locals have their own term - Bierleichen - for the so called “beer corpses”), since 2005 here has been an effort to been the Oktuberfest family friendly. Until 6pm the tents are very tranquil, playing only quiet music. After that time, Shlager and pop music are put on.

There are a variety of tents, and people get dressed up in hilarious clothing. The tents are varied, play funky music, and offer scrumptious food and beer for the tasting.

* Hippodrom — One of the smaller tents, it’s the first tent that many visitors see at the fest. As well as serving normal Wiesn beer, it has a Sekt (sparkling wine) bar and Maß of Weißbier. Considered one of the trendiest tents, and attracts the occasional celebrity. Traditionally in the evening the Oktoberfest band the Münchner Zwietracht plays all the Oktoberfestclassics.
* Armbrustschützenzelt — Translates as the “Crossbow Shooters Tent”, a competition that has been a part of the Oktoberfest since 1895.
* Hofbräu-Festzelt — The counterpart to the famous Hofbräuhaus, this tent is especially popular with Americans, Australians and New Zealanders.
* Hacker-Festzelt — One of the largest tents on the Wiesn, they have a rock band that plays from 5:30 each evening (as opposed to the traditional brass band). This tent is also known as “Himmel der Bayern” (Heaven of Bavaria)
* Schottenhamel — Reckoned to be the most important tent at the Oktoberfest, mainly because it is where it starts. On the first Saturday of the event, no beer is allowed to be served until the mayor of Munich (currently Christian Ude) taps the first keg, at 12pm. Only then can the other tents begin to serve beer. Very popular amongst younger people.

There are fourteen different tents, and a whole variety of different foods and beers that you can TOTALLY knock yourself out!

Here are but a few examples:

Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstel (sausages) along with Brezel (Pretzel)), Knödeln (potato or bread dumplings), Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Blaukraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese-butter concoction) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).

So get yourself there. Munich, 2009, Sep. 19th - Oct. 4th

You’ll have a blast.

Some friends of mine recently got engaged. At the immediate post-announcement drinks, I think the main thrust of what everyone was saying was:

“Congratulations how are you going to find a venue and cover all the costs.”

A little depressing. This here economic climate seems to be touching all areas of life, no matter who you are or what you might be doing (or marrying).

What we’re offering you at http://en.homeforhome.com in terms of weddings, might not be for everyone. Some people spend their lives dreaming of that one day where they adorn themselves in a white dress (or top hat and tails), skip down the aisle and celebrate their love with a a priest and a massive congregation of their friends and family. To be followed with a gigantic dinner and party and a band.

If that is your dream and your wedding plans have been hampered by the credit crunch crisis, then maybe it’s best to ride out these old hardy years and hold on until the ships of prosperity come sailing in.

BUT. If you’re not hung up on a precious and expensive white wedding, then there are plenty of options open to you if you want to get married in year 2009.

You can do home swaps all around the world, and as at homeforhome we currently have a large number of homes available for swapping, your destination options are very broad.

Eloping can be very romantic. It can take the stress out of the wedding and replace it with intimacy. It’s a very beautiful option for people who are looking for something different.

You can have a wonderfully chimerical private wedding in an idyllic location, and enjoy the precious moments of a holiday together in a very intimate, private and special homely environment.

Homeswap. Elope. Have the time of your life.

Some might say that having a job that fulfils you is something of a luxury.

For many, work is about survival. On the whole, we work in order to pay the rent, put food on the table, pay the bills and simply arrive at the end of the month.

This is not something to be taken lightly. We cannot start making grand claims to have an exciting, fulfilling job that completes us as people, when the reality is that basic material need fulfilment is not something at all easy.

But we also have to accept on some level that a lot of people “fall into” lines of work that aren’t anywhere in line with their personlities, strengths, or emotional make up. Yet it is easy to get used to a comfortable life-style. To the money, the security.

Yet, with the crisis, that security has now gone. Nothing is sacred. And many people are, despite the very uncomfortable fear and insecurity, have the opportunity to look at what they can do, and if - as we now know - nothing is safe, then what is worth taking risks for.

Maybe this is the conception of our generation. The apathy, the commercialism, the consumer comforts. All gone! We’re ready for a fresh awakening. A chance to really question what we value, and what it is, at the deepest pitted root, that we need to make us feel happy.

What does this mean for home exchange? Well, it’s another symptom of the frost that comes, yet that bring us to a more alert state of consciousness.

It’s something for us to think about. How the change in consciousness, the new awareness that the security we always thought we would have has gone, and how we are taking things out of the matrix, and into our own hands.

How often before have we “fallen into” a package trip that some group of travel agents has loosely hooked together that’s meant to interest us and the whole of the rest of the population at the same time? Just because they sell it, doesn’t make it good.

Home exchanges bring home the real values of holidays. They’re not about package tours, impersonal hotels, and what money can buy you. They’re about giving yourself an experience that fulfils you and gives you the opporunity to challenge youself and try new things.

On April 24 the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) announced that the global recession had led to a sharp increase in the amount of back-packing travellers making their way to Australia.

Although the predictions fore-casted that the number of visitors to Australia would drop by near on 250,000, the Council have said that they are robustly dealing with the issue, and that they are confident the the industry will make a full recovery.

“The industry’s been through SARS, September 11, the collapse of Ansett, and the Bali Bombings, and we have learned and got better at recovery every time,” said a representative.

The government has pumped 8.5 million Australian dollars into a grant to boost and innovate the industry.

But perhaps we need not worry considering that the amount of visa applications to travel to Australia have gone up by 20% from England and Germany.

So things are looking pretty sunny on the otherside of the globe. There is a sparky interest in jet setting over to those sandy shores, and there is a peachy market for home exchanges with Australia over here.

So Australia, welcome to our site! We hope the all the new coming Australian users will take advantage of the impressive and sustained tourism market over there to do exchanges with other parts of the world!

One of the many wonderful things about summer is the beach.

Whether it be rolling up your trousers to take walk along the shore, stepping lightly just where the cold fizzling water combs the sand and relaxing your heels into the marshy surface… Or whether it’s a proper, all out, full body wax, string bikini, factor 4 body oil, day long’s dedication.

Or maybe it could be a day organized around meal-times, as all the best days are. A picnic on the beach, followed by a a creamy calorie packed-out Mr Whippy Ice-cream (crunchy chocolate flake to boot). Then a siddle down to a summer haven of a bar, to sit back and sip the sweet syrup of the sangria, packed out with loaded bed of red oranges. Or you could just get a beer. The important thing is the way the light falls across the sand and that clanging salty sea air caressing your skin and just how relaxed and calm you feel in that environment.

We already have a selection of beach houses at http://en.homeforhome.com, not to mention homes available that are close to the beach. With the summer coming, if you’re not lucky enough to live by the shores, now is the perfect time to get organizing your beach holiday home exchange!