Image by br3akthru /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What comes to your mind as you enjoy your summer home exchange? We would love to know what does the summer inspire in you (even if you haven’t gone on vacations yet)… Let’s see if you empathize with these inspired phrases about the summer days:

- Summer afternoon - Summer afternoon… the two most beautiful words in the English language. (Henry James)

- A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. (James Dent)

- A life without love is like a year without summer. (Swedish Proverb)

- Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. (Sam Keen)

- Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. (Russel Baker)

There’s one for every mood, right now I would have to say I’m closest to Sam Keen’s ideas.

And for those that are eager to find their first home exchange deal, the summer may be an excellent time to put some time into home swap searching so let us remind you about what HomeForHome has to offer other than over 16,000 listed properties: Our active community has opened over 3,000 topics to propose exchanges, suggest improvements to the website, ask for help and even share their successful home exchange experiences.

Those looking for an exchange in the next few months, may check out the Exchange Requests topics.

For those already planning your home exchange for Summer 2011, you may even found open proposals in the Exchange: a period lasting for a few months forum.

And if you are willing to let yourself be surprised by some different offers, take a look at the topics in the Study exchanges forum.

All quotes taken from:
http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/summer-quotes.html

Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a 600 year old city proud of its past with a vibrant modern present. As we mentioned in our previous post, 2010 was supposed to be the year to visit Seoul but many of the events programmed to attract tourist are probably going to escape any home exchange arranged form now on. However, no matter when you decide to visit Seoul, the city has something for everyone:

Photo by yeowatzup /Flickr.com

Modern Buildings:

- N Seoul Tower (Namsan Mountain)

- Moonlight Rainbow Fountain (probably the world’s longest bridge fountain)

- 63 Building (63 City)

The Five Royal Palaces - All built during the Joseon Dynasty some 600 years ago, they remain completely blended with the surrounding environment:

- Changdeokgung
- Changgyeonggung
- Deoksugung
- Gyeongbokgung
- Gyeonghuigung

Museums - There are over 100 museums in Seoul, just to mention a few:

- National Museum of Korea (with over 150,000 artifacts)
- National Palace Museum of Korea (mostly artifacts from the Joseon Dynasty)
- Cheong Wa Dae Sarangchae (”Office of the President Museum, previously Hyoja-dong Sarangbang)
- Seoul Museum of History
- The War Memorial of Korea
- Choonwondang Museum of Korean Medicine
- Seoul Museum of Art

Natural beauties:

- Hangang Park
- Seoul Grand Park
- Seoul Forest
- Namsan Botanical Garden
- Dream Forest
- Olympic Park
- World Cup Park

With HomeForHome, the year to visit Seoul on a home exchange never ends…

Resources to find more information:

http://english.seoul.go.kr/
http://sdf.seoul.go.kr (click in EN in the top-right corner to see the English version)
http://www.gogung.go.kr/eng/
http://www.museum.go.kr/eng
http://www.visitseoul.net/en/
http://www.warmemo.or.kr/eng/intro/message/message.jsp

2010 is the “Visit Seoul Year“, a part of a three year promotional campaign designed to attract people to visit South Korea. The “2010-2012 Visit Korea Years” are meant to provide unique opportunities to get to know the country, with several festivals, cultural events, political summits and sport events taking place in every part of the country.

Image by J Frasse /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you want to get into South Korea you will definitely have to start with here: Seoul (officially Seoul Special City), with over 10 million inhabitants, is the capital and largest city of South Korea, and one of the largest cities in the world. The metropolitan area, known as Seoul National Capital Area, is home to over 20 million people, and this makes it the second largest metropolitan area in the world. The importance of Seoul to South Korea is demonstrated by the following facts:

- Since South Korea (Republic of Korea) has a population of 50 million, Seoul’s metropolitan area hosts almost half of the country’s population, and Seoul Special City alone, almost a quarter of the population.

- Seoul is the country’s economic, political, cultural hub and is also considered one of the top ten financial and commercial centres of the world.

The city is located in a natural basin in the centre of the Korean Peninsula (shared by North Korea and South Korea). It is divided in two halves by the Han River and guarded by mountains. As a modern centre with a  carefully well preserved heritage and environment, Seoul has everything to amaze  new visitors.

As we mentioned, 2010 was supposed to be the year to visit Seoul, with these events attempting to get your attention:

- G20 Summit (Nov. 13th - 14th)
- Hallyu Dream Festival (Set. 10th - 12th; it takes place every year, so you may catch it in 2011 to avoid a rushed-swap)
- Hi Seoul Festival (Oct. 1st - 9th)
- Korea Food Festival (Oct. 21st - 27th)
- Seoul Design Fair (Sep. 17th - Oct. 7th)
- Seoul Lantern Festival (Nov. 5th - 14th)
- Seoul Grand Sale (going on right now, it started on July 21st and will end next Sep. 12th)
- Seoul International Travel Fair (Sep. 13th - 17th)
- Seoul International Fireworks Festival (Oct. 9th)

2011 will be Daegu’s year and 2012 will be “Visit Yeaosu Year“. So, the invitations were sent, you have received yours now, just take a look at the listings in South Korea and make your home exchange arrangements.

Resources for detailed information:
http://english.visitkoreayear.com/
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto
http://www.visitseoul.net/en/

Today we complete our tour through HomeForHome, with the interactive Community and our all-you-need-to-know about home exchange (or FAQ) section.

COMMUNITY

This section starts with a list of all the different forum categories and a brief description of their contents. These are the current forum categories:

- Exchange Requests
- Exchange: a period lasting for a few months
- Long term exchange
- Exchanges for family holidays
- Study exchanges
- Exchanges for retired people
- Other exchanges
- Experiences
- Non-simultaneous exchanges
- Help

By clicking in any of these titles, you gain access to the list of all the topics opened about that particular subject and you will also find a button to create a new topic.

This section is intended as a place for HomeForHome users to communicate with one another, so in each topic, you will find a “Reply” button to add your own comments, and also a link to each participant’s profile, so you can check their home and preferences. The forum is also a good choice for those who do not have a preferred destination and are looking for interesting home exchange offers.

Sometimes, using the Search section may not fit a user’s plans. For example, those looking for a permanent home exchange would waste a lot of time reviewing search results to find a user in their preferred destination that is also interested in a permanent exchange. But we have an option that can make it easier: start a forum topic in the “Long term exchange” category. To start a new forum topic, you need to login, then go to the Community section, choose the appropriate forum category and click the “New topic” button to create your entry. Once created, your topic will be visible for other users and if someone is interested in your proposal they will be able to contact you.

FAQ

Our FAQ section is the place to look for basic information about home exchange and HomeForHome.

In this section, we answer the following questions:

- What is HomeForHome?
- Who does HomeForHome belong with?
- How does it work?
- Does HomeForHome have any rules for home exchange?
- Can I upload my second home?
- Can I trust it?
- Does the Exchange have to be simultaneous?
- Are cars also exchanged?
- What happens with pets?
- Who would be interested in my house?
- How much does it cost?
- Am I going to save much money on my holidays?
- Can you do an exchange within the same country?
- I´m only a tenant. Can I still exchange my accommodation?
- What we say at HomeForHome
- At the time of doing the house exchange, does any type of contract exist between the exchanging parties?

As promised, today we continue with a brief introduction to the different sections of our website: Home, Search, Community and FAQ. Let’s get started with the first two and leave the Community and FAQ for tomorrow.

HOME

In the centre of the Home section we show you the top three countries with the most registered houses available for home exchange and the cities with most registered houses within those three countries. There are some popular travel destinations there: Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Rome. Every country name or city name links directly to the list of houses available for home exchange in that country or city, so it could be very useful if you have your mind set on any of the destinations shown in that list.

The right side panel is dedicated to showing the discussions in the Community forum that received comments recently and the latest homes added to HomeForHome.

SEARCH

The very useful Search section has two main areas, a left panel where you can choose your search options and a central area where the search results are displayed.

You can specify:

- Travel dates.
- Destination: Country, Region, Town/City. You should always allow a few seconds before selecting the sub-levels because only after you choose the country from the first drop-down menu, the region drop-down menu will load the proper options, allowing you to make your selection, and only after you select the region, the same will happen with the town drop-down menu. You can also select the country and then leave the region and city in blank to search for home exchange offers in any particular country, for example France.
- Type of house. There are three options in the drop-down menu: Flat, House, Rural-house, and a few checkboxes you can mark.
- Services.
- Activities.
- Other. This section will let you select the number of bedrooms, double beds, single beds and bathrooms.

You don’t have to specify your selection for every search option before you hit the “Search” button, but you may want to include all the things you can’t do without. For example, under Services: Internet or Washing machine, or under Activities: Beach!

After you get your search results, you can use the feature “Put in order of” to sort them by area, number of rooms, services, facilities, evaluation (these are opinions given by users that already made a home exchange to this house) and the date the house was first registered for home exchange.

By clicking on the home title you will access the property’s complete description. If you find an offer that you like, you will be able contact the owner directly using the “Contact” button available in every profile or home listed. There is also a button to “Request exchange” in each home description.

Since we have had a great number of users registering in the past few weeks, we are going to take a quick tour to help people find where everything is in HomeForHome and get acquainted with the website.

The top and bottom panels are visible from every section of the website and include:

In the top-right corner:

- The links to change to HomeForHome in different languages:
ES-Spanish FR-French DE-German IT-Italian

- The link to “Sign up” for those that have not registered for an account in HomeForHome yet. The registration form is also accessible using the “Register free and add your house” button in our homepage. There are two steps to create an account in HomeForHome:

1. To add a personal profile (User registration)

2. To add your home.

After you finish your registration, you will be able to access your account using the “Login” link to navigate through the listings, contact other users and send them home exchange requests.

- The link to “Login” for those that already registered. By logging in, you access different tools to add valuable information about your home. These tools are located under “My homes”: Below each home title (you can add as many homes as you want), you will find the list of tools: Requests, Edit, Photos, Videos, Availability and Remove. Use the “Edit” option to add information about facilities, services, and more.

- The “My list” link, which allows you to see those houses you have added to your list of favourites. For unregistered users, the tool will function whenever you visit the site from the same computer if you allow cookies from HomeForHome. If you are a registered user, you should add houses to your favourites list while logged in so they are permanently saved to your account and accessible from any computer, any time. When you see a home that you like, all you have to do is click on “Add to my list”, and this home will appear in the list of your favourite homes.

In the bottom of the page you will find the links to learn more About us and the Legal Terms and Conditions, access our blog, the contact form and press releases and articles talking about HomeForHome and home exchange.

Next time we will continue with the different sections of our website: Home, Search, Community and FAQ. Stay tuned!

We continue with our tour through Scotland’s best. Today: Castles and Edinburgh.

Image by Tom Curtis /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are several castles in Scotland, so if you are looking for a piece of history combined with beautiful architecture, landscapes and decoration, here are some suggestions:

- Airth Castle (near Stirling)
- Birkhill Castle (Fife)
- Caerlaverock Castle (Glencaple, Dumfries)
- Culzean Castle (near Maybole, Ayrshire)
- Drumlanrig Castle (Dumfries and Galloway)
- Duart Castle (Mull)
- Dunvegan Castle (Isle of Skye)
- Edinburgh Castle (Edinburgh)
- Falkland Palace (Fife)
- Fyvie Castle (Aberdeenshire)
- Glamis Castle (Angus)
- Hermitage Castle (Roxburghshire)
- Inveraray Castle (Argyll)
- Kildrummy Castle (Aberdeenshire)
- Stirling Castle (Stirling)

If your home exchange destination is in Aberdeenshire, you may enjoy the only Castle Trail in Scotland, with 14 castles marked by white on brown signs with a blue castle logo. This is a hihgly recommended activity for families with children, as the younger ones would enjoy discovering secret passages, dungeons, haunted rooms and ghost stories. Visit Scotland.com - The official site of Scotland’s national tourism organisation has a Castle Trail leaflet with all you need to know to plan your own Castle Trail tour.

The Festival City

Edinburgh - The capital is one of the single most attractive spots in Scotland, the 12 major annual festivals that take place in the city account for its nickname: the Festival City, and its spectacular architecture make it an art piece on itself. As we mentioned, there are countless cultural events that take place in Edinburgh, the main being: Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. We did not count them all, but there are probably hundreds of events that take place in this cultural hub, and you could certainly find one that matches both your interests and your home exchange calendar so we will refer you to Edinburgh Festivals to prepare your trip.

Of course this is just peek of Scotland’s vast offer to enjoy your home exchange vacations, so imagine all the things you will discover on your trip!

If you are looking for a different experience for your next home exchange, Scotland sure has some ideas for you.

Green Tourism in Scotland

Photo by lmnyberg /Flickr.com

First things first. Over 700 businesses are registered members of the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) and are assessed for their energy efficiency and efforts to reduce their environmental impact, to sustain the quality of Scotland’s natural treasures. As a visitor, your support is required to preserve the quality of Scotland’s environment. So look for the identified businesses while you tour through Scotland.

Whisky Tourism in Scotland

There are 42 distilleries open to visitors, because not only it is one of the country’s most important exporting industries, it has also become an attraction to visitors and whisky fans from around the globe. The tourism and hospitality sector has joined the distilleries’ efforts to arrange a memorable experience adding other attractions to the “Scotch Whisky Trails“. The most complete online reference on this subject is ScotlandWhisky but you should also check out The Whisky Coast, The Malt Whisky Trail, and for information about the industry visit Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).

Just to give you a taste of what you can find:

Speyside is home to half of Scotland’s whisky distilleries, so if you care for a tour covering the different traditional distillation processes, this is the spot. Some of the tourist-friendly distilleries in the area are: Benromach, Cardhu, Dallas Dhu, Glen Grant, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet and the Strathisla Distillery, home of the renowned Chivas Regal blend.

Campbeltown is home to the oldest independent family owned distillery: Springbank Distillery. This is not the only fact that sets this distillery apart, it is also one of the two distilleries in the country that carries the complete process from barley and water to bottled Scotch whisky in one single site and it is also the only one that produces three different single malts using three different production methods: Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn.

“The Enchanted Forest”

An award winning outdoor show, that uses sound and light to tell the most amazing of all stories: the Earth’s history from the beginning to the modern era. Definitely a must if you arrange your home exchange in the area.  The Enchanted Forest is part of the Highland Perthshire Autumn Festival so visit http://www.pitlochryautumnfestival.co.uk/ to find our more and plan a fun-filled autumn home exchange vacation.

“One for All”

All in one: Cairngorms National Park includes the Aviemore, Angus Glens, Royal Deeside, Donside, Glenlivet and Speyside areas. You can find almost anything here, from family attractions to extreme sports there is definitely something to keep you entertained whether it is cold, warm, hot or even raining. Also, businesses in the park operate under the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) guidelines.

More information:
http://www.visitcairngorms.com/
http://www.cairngorms.co.uk/

The United Kingdom has a strong presence in HomeForHome, and over 50 of those houses that are ready for home exchange are located in Scotland. In this week’s posts, we will invite you to discover this land full of traditions, history, myths and beautiful scenery that goes from moorlands to mountains and rocky coastlines to peaceful lochs.

Photo by conner395 /Flickr

Scotland occupies the northern third of the Great Britain island and over 700 islands. Its official language is English, but Gaelic and Scots are also spoken; the first prevails mostly in the Highlands and Islands of the North and West, while Scots is spoken in the Central Lowlands.

The summer days, long and warm, present visitors with a range of events that would assure you find a fit for your particular interest: music, performing arts, sports, outdoor activities, you will find something for your own taste. Here are a few of the many coming entertainment events:

Edinburgh International Festival - Three weeks of performances from international artists, in one of Europe’s great festivals offering opera, dance, theatre, music and visual arts. This event alone accounts for a doubling in Edinburgh’s population during the Festival. More details at http://www.eif.co.uk/

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo - A three-week long festival where international military musicians take the stage with the majestic backdrop being Edinburgh Castle. The famous ending with the performance of the Lone Piper seems to be the distinctive mark of this world class unique martial music event that takes place every August in the Castle’s Esplanade. Over 100 million people watch the event on international television. For more information, please visit http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/

Aberdeen International Youth Festival - Starting with a colourful parade, this festival allows you to enjoy the best performances from young artists in ten days of literally all kinds of cultural expressions. For more information, visit http://www.aiyf.org/

Arbroath Sea Fest - An annual, 2-day festival to celebrate the Sea. More in http://www.arbroathseafest.co.uk/

The Braemar Gathering -  A series of traditional competitions with a member of the royal family present on the site to support the athletes. More information at http://www.braemargathering.org/

Piping Live! - This international piping event in Glasgow, features several styles from traditional to techno piping. A week of concerts, workshops, masterclasses and street performances, in an energetic environment. Details in http://www.pipinglive.co.uk/

Largs Viking Festival - The place and time for those who wish to know more about the Viking heritage of this area. It includes a Viking Village where the Swords of Dalriada live as the Vikings did, giving first hand entertainment and teaching at the same time. More at http://www.largsvikingfestival.com/

Events about Scottish foods and drinks: Tarbert Seafood Festival, Scottish Food Fortnight, Highland Feast, Whisky Live Scotland, Flavour of Shetland, Taste of Grampian Food Festival.

If you do not find a home exchange opportunity to experience this year’s events, you may want to check next year’s dates in the links provided and mark them in your calendar.

It is party time in Spain. Plaza Cibeles, Paseo de Recoletos and Plaza Colon in Madrid gathered over 250,000 people in red and yellow to watch the FIFA World Cup Final. Plaza España in Barcelona received more than 75,000 fans to watch the match. But as soon as the final whistle was heard in Johannesburg’s Soccer City, even more people formed red and yellow waves in the streets to celebrate.

Spain’s victory in the 2010 FIFA World Cup is something that wasn’t only predicted by the Psychic Octopus but also by the lead in registered home swappers in HomeForHome (see The FIFA World Cup in HomeForHome ).

Our means were not the same, the cephalopod was tempted with food, HomeForHome users were tempted with the advantages of home exchange and our free services for making the swap arrangements.

Not only Octopus Paul got right the championship match’s winner choosing Spain over the Netherlands in the first time he was not presented with Germany as one of the options, but he also made the correct guess choosing Germany over Uruguay for winner of the third-place match. Paul leaves this World Cup with a 8/8 record. It may have been just coincidence but what are the odds for correct random prediction of the result of 8 matches? Well, it is 1/256. Not too bad for Paul.

Congratulations to all our users from Spain and for the rest, you know what you have to do if you get tempted by the images of the celebrations you see in the news. If the images from Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Malaga or Bilbao catch you eye and you decide to visit Spain in your next home exchange, then take advantage of over 5,500 registered homes in HomeForHome and find your perfect swap match in Spain.