Continuing with the idea of reducing stress, which is probably the leitmotif behind almost every vacation, we present you another advantage of home exchange: the possibility to travel light. As you go to a home, used daily by another family, chances are you’ll find everything you need so there’s no need to bring that extra luggage we usually carry when other lodging options are used. Of course you have to check with your home swap partner what things are available for you to use, and you probably have your own “musts” you bring with you everywhere you go, but a lot of weight may be off your travelling shoulders if you decide to swap homes.

To make it more appealing to you, here we list some advantages of travelling light:

- It will save you some money now that airlines charge you for almost everything you bring.

- Eliminates CO2 emission from the extra weight travelling along with you, helping fight global warming.

- Makes your trip more flexible, any transportation is easy accessible with a small bag, so your choices are widened: plane, train, bus, and even walking! Sometimes you get faster from one terminal to another using your own feet.

- Reduces time spent on baggage checks.

- There are less chances your luggage will get lost or misplaced.

- It makes packing back and forth a lot easier, especially on the way back  when you don’t want to pack (of course you may have a few extra pounds from souvenirs, but that’s OK).

Winter is officially two weeks away. The dark cold season has many appeals but also trails several disadvantages, among them is stress accumulation. Holiday anxiety, excessive workload, bad weather and little sunshine are factors that affect our mood and may have a negative effect on our physical and mental health.

There are several things you can do to prevent winter stress: Plan your schedule to save enough time for all your activities (work tasks, family gatherings, parties with co-workers, etc.), exercise, don’t eat or drink too much during the holidays, plan daylight activities that involve getting natural sunlight (gardening is a good example, but you may combine it with exercise and plan afternoon walks), enjoy a relaxing evening with your favorite book or music… Don’t let the winter bring you down and especially don’t wait until your stressed out! A weekend away from home is another way to relax and set stress aside. It may be a short trip to a nearby quiet town, or to your favorite ski slope, or to watch your favorite sport team, or going to that theater play or concert you saw in the news. Some of these activities have dates usually scheduled way ahead and you may even get tickets online so they could be easy to plan and surely enjoyed.

After deciding the kind of activity what best suits your winter mood, you may search through HomeForHome to find possible home exchange opportunities to match your plans.

The home exchange community continues to grow worldwide. Some of the main reasons for this tendency are savings and flexibility, but there is another trend that deserves to be mentioned: world climate change awareness.

“Green travelling” has two main premises: 1.- Avoid increasing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during the trip, and 2.- Preserving the environment you visit. As we have mentioned before, home exchange seems like a perfect option for sustainable travelling, because:

There is no additional CO2 released into the atmosphere by any means during the swap, as you live as if you were in your own home.

You can decrease the CO2 emission due to transportation to your destination if you also include car exchange in the package, as you may travel by train or other mean of public transportation. Keep in mind that planes and cars have the highest rate of CO2 emission per traveler. Also, you may reduce the environmental cost of transportation by travelling nearby and visiting areas where things that interest you the most are within walking distance (for example: the beach, the ski slope, the market, etc.)

By consuming local food and cooking yourself, which are feasible choices when you have a complete kitchen in your destination, you do not increase the emissions from freight transport to move “ingredients” around. For example, if you eat local seafood in a coastal town, it probably only “travelled” a few miles (or “yards”) to your plate.

Go green! Go swap!

Travelling within your country has multiple advantages, specially during these times when “crisis” and “recession” seem to remain a latent menace.

- When you decide to travel within boundaries, flight fares are cut off the final budget: if you travel nearby to save some cash you may as well use your own vehicle! This will add up to the housing savings (bring out your calculator and start doing the math!).

- Travelling to a closer destination helps reduce CO2 emissions during your vacation, helping fight climate change. The closer the destination, the most you help the planet.

- No trouble to travel with your pet(s).

- By entering the wheel of what is technically called “re-distribution”, you help your own country’s economy, supporting thousands of jobs related to travel and tourism.

- You get to know more about your own country’s culture, history and beauties. This is offers another plus if you travel with the family, kids would love to see for themselves some of the places they have seen in their textbooks.

- You are probably not going to have any trouble arising from intercultural differences, since locals will have the same (or similar) cultural background. This also poses an extra-advantage for home swappers: communicating with your partner to arrange a home exchange may be much easier if your counterpart is a fellow countryman.

Why stay home? HomeForHome offers you hundreds of great opportunities to help you find the destination for your next domestic vacation!