In an age where we live everything at a galactic speed, it’s very difficult to remember how we ever got by before we had the internet. I mean, it’s a tricky enough job to remember how we got by before the age of broad-band. Those pesky dial-up connections that could take up to six times or more to even connect, then the five minute wait to be taken to the page you were looking for. Then another five minute wait to be taken to the next one. And so it went on…

But these days, the internet goes a lot faster and it helps us do one million and one things every week. Imagine how it could help you on holiday. You see adverts for a festival or a concert when you’re out, but don’t take down the details. When you get back to the home you’re staying in, you can google it and you will have all the information you need at your disposal.

It can also be useful on holiday for printing out maps, getting route directions, making bookings, checking out restaurant menus, finding opening times and prices, and looking up the history of something that caught your interest during the day. You can even use it to tranlate languages! Of course some people will take their lap top on holiday. But for those of us who like to disconnect, it can be a real benefit if you do a home exchange in a house with internet.

Of course, it’s important to consult with your home exchange partners before doing the exchange to establish what the rules are for using the computer and the internet. This kind of agreement is paramount. But in most cases where families will have broadband, it works out in everyone’s interests to use the internet at home, as it can be incredibly useful.

Home exchange is a great opportunity to go on a cultural holiday. This can be a fundamental part of enriching your children’s development. For those culture vultures out there that really like to explore the history, old buildings, grand churches and the archaic historical sites, doing a home exchange in a rustic part of Europe is a brilliant opportunity.

But do children really enjoy it? There is plenty to be gained from visits to cultural sites, and it’s evident that they can really capture their imaginations in a way that all the interactive media in the world could never do.

However, if they’re really little, then they’re not yet capable of making these mental leaps, and can end up getting very tired, bored and unhappy, especially when they’re far away from what is familiar.

So a way of combining educational visits with something more fun is to go to a farm. There are some really impressive antique farm houses that are still alive and kicking in mainland Europe, especially in France. It’s a great chance for little children to make the connection between the brightly coloured cartoon animals in their young learners books, and the bigger, life sized, smelly noisy real farm-yard animals. Not only do they get to learn the names, sites and smells of all kinds of farm-yard paraphenelia and life-forms, but they also get to see the processes behind the scenes. These can be really fascinating, engaging, and children tend to thoroughly enjoy themselves.

So if you’re hoping to do take advantage of the cultural nature of a home exchange, then bear in mind a farm trip as a fun and educational day out for the children.

If you’re a city-dweller, and have been so all your life, then you may never have even seen a shooting star. Throughout centuries in songs and literature, shooting stars have been documented and romanticised.

But even if you understand the symbol well, it’s still a special moment seeing one for the first time.  Imagine taking a vacation deep in the heart of the French country-side. Rustic farm-houses, lazy vintage tractors mowing down the windy, dusty roads, a heavy, roving sun beating down. Vine-yards.

Then imagine a chalky, warm evening. Outside in the garden you can tuck in to a light dinner, with some authentic, fruity wine. Then, with the over-whelming sound of the orchestra of crickets, you can look up to the clearest sky you’ve ever seen. So deep in the French country-side, so far away from either pollution or light-pollution, the sky clear, bright and striking.

The stars seem a lot closer, and you can see so many of them shoot across the sky as they give out their final blare of brilliance to the universe. It really is like nothing else. It’s the perfect romantic evening, either spent with a partner, or simply alone enjoying the aesthetic quality of the surroundings.

As with many types of cuisine, you can try home recipes and various restuarants that claim to offer the genuine dishes… But without actually being there, in the local zone, there’s nothing quite like the real McCoy.

This is particularly true of the marisco from the Galician coast. Sea-food lovers will know that to get the full sensation of mouth-watering, juicy fresh plates of sea-food, you really need to go to the local area. Galician marisco has such a world-wide reputation that it’s almost a cliche to mention it.

Octupus, seasoned in paprika and sprinkled with olive oil can truly make your mouth think that it’s died and gone to heaven. Or, try the shrimp and squid, fried and served in its natural ink, alongside a whole wealth of shell-fish dishes.

Of course, there are also the fresh-water fish like salmon, baby eels, trout and sea-trout. All of which can be complemented by one of the many delicious Galician cheeses. To be washed down, of course, with one of the velvety Galician made wines, for example on of the three most famous kinds of Rias Baixas, Ribeiro or Valdeorras. Why not propose a home exchange with a home on the Galician coast and decide for yourself?

Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet have done it. In the film The Holiday they are both single women desperately in need of a change in climate. To get this climate change, you simply sign up online and go and stay in someone else’s home, whilst they’re in yours.

In The Holiday, as neither Cameron nor Kate’s characters go particularly prepared, they each get to know a new charming man, fall in love with him and end their vacation with a new relationship.

Are you also single and fed up things? Maybe you feel that you need a bit of a break somewhere, because either at home or at work you feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall. Then leave it to home exchange, and take advantage of a new environment. You can go to a new place, live like the locals, meet new interesting people, and maybe even meet a new partner! Even if it doesn’t come to love, you can definitely make some new friends

So, what do you say? Could it change your life, bring winds of change into your life, or simply help you get to know new places? Home exchange is a great way to take a cheap vacation. Give it a try.

One of the joys of exploring a new city is finding the independent cafes, book stores and record stores. If you’re hailing in from the UK, the sorry story is that these precious cultural artefacts are soon to be diminished.

It’s true. As high-street chains take over, saturating every city with pretty much the same stock, the same lay-out, the same ambience, it can really start to feel like the world is becoming one small place that covers a big surface area.

So when you go away, it can be really rewarding to find a store, cafe or restaurant that gives you a new vibe. This can be that it awakes in you some old memory of an experience long forgotten; that it introduces you to a new style of music; that it helps you completely disconnect from your day to day life; that it relaxes you; that it excites your senses; that it enables you to explore completely new products and support local, independent business.

Getting out and away from the monotonous homogenous dredge can be one of the purest joys of a holiday. So make sure you talk to your exchange partner, and you may want to invest in a local guide such a Lonely Planet travel guide, for example.