Home exchange has many advantages over other ways of travelling. One of them is the opportunity for families with small children to stay in a child-friendly environment. A home is a much better environment for a kid than a crowded hotel or a vacation rental that only has the basic service items.

Kids have to deal with so many adjustments as they grow up that staying overnight away from home can be somehow stressful if they are still going through toilet training or starting to sleep in their own bed. Consider this issues as you plan your swap so you have enough time to prepare your child.

For toilet training it is easy, just remember to bring the potty chair and remember to be patient if there is an “accident” while your child is still adjusting to the new house.

To prepare your child to sleep in a different house, there are some fun activities you may get him involved in. If you have a young child, you may buy a travel bed and let him play in it for a few days before you travel. Most children enjoy having a portable bed, because some are tent-shaped and have enough room for them to play inside. There are several options to choose from, most of them have inflatable mattresses and are easily set up to get a comfortable bed anywhere you go.

To get started, visit HomeForHome to find exciting home exchange opportunities.

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!

Taking time off to enjoy a relaxing vacation is not the only opportunity to exchange homes, as we have mentioned in previous posts. This time we will highlight one of the many situations in which home exchange may simplify things, not only from an economic perspective, but also for its practical advantages.

There are thousands of short educational alternatives these days, from short seminars to congresses and continuos development courses. Many of them offer a great opportunity for people looking to build up their careers and are most likely to take place in a different city or even a different country. As in most trips, lodging may end up accounting for an important part of the cost.

Home exchange benefits potential students in a number of ways:

1. It eliminates lodging expenses.
2. It lowers extra expenses that arise when other alternatives are chosen, like buying meals/refreshments or even local transportation if car exchange is included in the swap agreement.
3. It opens the possibility for the family to tag along, and maybe even enjoy a relaxing weekend away after the course is completed. For those that need to travel with small children, contacting your exchange partner in advance may offer the possibility to get ideas about trusted day care facilities or babysitters that could be useful while you are attending the event.

HomeForHome offers thousands of worldwide exchange opportunities for you to match your needs.

You’ve long been waiting for your adventure across Europe and everything is planned out already. Everything is in its place but you suddenly stop to think of things: What if a snow storm comes and I get stuck at the airport in Prague? What if someone gets sick while you and your family are staying in your home swap in Barcelona? What if my travel bag gets lost in the baggage department in the airport in Copenhagen? Sounds crazy but possible, right? So what do you do for a better peace of mind? Get a travel insurance.

Travel insurances normally costs around 5 to 12 per cent of your total trip cost. But is it worth it? I say yes. There are many travel insurances available; you can browse the web for various companies and agencies offering travel insurance. Choose a company that is well-known or is recommended by most travelers. Remember to closely review the insurance policies they have too, as most of them have their perks and downsides. Choose what you think works for you and would suit your needs best. Most travel insurance packages covers trip cancellation or interruption, medical insurance, evacuation insurance, baggage insurance, flight insurance. It’s better to read closely and understand the mechanics of each aspect of the insurance package. Ask someone knowledgeable about the policies for any unclear issues you have.

Travel insurances doesn’t cost much, but will definitely be of big help in case any undesirable circumstance arises. It sure will cost you a price but you won’t regret it. Keep in mind that you are paying for your safety while traveling, and is not just something you are wasting your money on. It is better to be prepared for these undesirable situations than to regret you never considered thinking about safety.

Planning out a family trip is a quite tedious job. You have to ensure that everything from the vacation destination down to the expenses of daily activities will benefit everyone. What kids want usually goes into priority in considering a vacation for the family. Of course, the reason for having vacations is to have quality time with the kids to make up for them; and the primary goal is to make the time worthwhile and worth remembering.

Plan out according to the activity they want and the destination second. It would be a good idea to ask what the kids want to do rather than dragging them into a place that neither of them wants to go to. Let the kids decide. This will make them all excited and would make them be more involved with family decisions. (This is also a good way to start opening up communication lines between kids and parents!) Let them think of the activities that they want to do while on vacation. You could suggest too as parents. Visiting theme parks and historical sites are quite worthwhile and enjoyable for everyone. Sightseeing around the countryside or city destination of choice is also a worthwhile and inexpensive thing to do!

If you plan to stay on a long vacation, it would be more practical to go for a home swap or home exchange. This cuts off pricey hotel accommodation expenses and will leave more budget allotment on other things or activities. There are a lot of options for home exchanges at Homeforhome.com. Look for posts of available home swaps that would accommodate the size of your family in the place you are staying. This also lessens the hassle of booking for an accommodation at a hotel in advance, just contact the home owner and talk things out in advance.

For more tips and ideas about family trips and vacations, you can check out http://www.familytravellogue.com.

An old friend and I met and caught up with each other over a cup of coffee. As we talked about our good old days of traveling in groups, she was saddened by the fact that she can’t go anywhere far from home because of her kid. So I said, “Then why not bring your daughter along with you when you plan to go on a trip again?” Who says having kids would tie you down and prevent you from going places?

Bringing kids with you on trips might even be a good idea. Of course, it’s pretty tough taking care of them when you are away form home, but it would also be a rewarding experience for you and your kids. It is a real learning experience for them to be exposed to a new environment and different cultures and lifestyles. Seeing that the world isn’t just limited to the neighborhood they are in, kids can easily adapt to new environment when they grow older. Adjusting becomes easier. Traveling and going places is a learning experience apart from school. A good idea to make the most of your trip is to take them to museums or galleries to know more about the place you are in. That would be History 101 for your little kid! Another good idea is to take them on a short hike around the countryside or bike around the city. The discoveries are endless. Kids will never forget that experience and will take these memories with them until they grow old. These are inexpensive activities, but the reward for spending quality and quantity for them is priceless.

Traveling with kids or even as a family isn’t expensive; there are family packages that you could avail. And of course, home exchange is a good idea to cut back on accommodations. Look for a home exchange that could accommodate the size of your family and wouldn’t mind if you would have kids with you during your stay. You and your home exchange partner can talk about any concerns with kids staying, but surely they wouldn’t mind. Treat your kids to a new experience. Enjoy!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah………And then you’re back. Right back. Back to September, back to autumn, back to work, back to earth.

You were just settling in to relazzzzing (yes! with a “z” because it’s even more chilled out that “relaxing”!), by the pool, absorbing the sun, enjoying your cocktail… In a flash, you’re back at the office, jostling your way through the underground, bleak, work, staring at the screen again. Upon returning from holidays, it is not uncommon to undergo a small bout of depression. So. How can we avoid the back-to-work blues?

Tip # 1: Find new activities!

During the holidays, you may have tried a new sport, or dabbled with a new activity that you like! You may even have started learning a new language! Now that you’ve got the taste for it, it is the perfect time to get yourself enrolled in that salsa class! Make time to do an evening class or take up a new hobby. All you needed was that little extra kick of motivation, and now you have it, so voilá! Up and at ‘em!

Tip # 2: Cocoon at home with friends

Winter is the time to sit around the fire with a glass of wine, snuggling up and watching films! Forget the gloom that can accompany the dawning of the colder seasons. This is an opportunity to organize a good party mode cocooning at home to tell your friends about your summer adventures and new home exchange projects.

Tip # No. 3: Take care of yourself

Just because the summer has ended and there’s no more beach-wear horror to endure, it’s not a reason to sit back and slide into bad habits. You can continue to go to the gym, eat lots of fresh fruit and veg, and even enjoy wrapping up in your charming winter wardrobe.

Tip # 4: Start thinking about your next home exchange

The summer holidays are over, certainly, but nothing prevents you planning  good weekend with friends or couples. Ticket prices are often cheaper, and you will discover charming destinations in the autumn and winter. Finland in December, Sicily to find a holiday or the Oktoberfest in Munich, enjoy the events and opportunities available to you via home exchange!

Just because the summer’s over does not mean that you have to wait a further year until the next vacation! Log on, get your thinking cap on, and start planning your next home exchange! This is the beauty of such low cost-vacations. Vacations and fun times away all year round!

When you go abroad to a foreign climate, it can sometimes be easy to mistake the weather. A fine example of this in Europe are the Brits that wonder around Spain in March, scantily clad, whilst it is neither warm nor sun-tanning weather. Another example can be the French that visit Scotland in the summer, sporting a fine pair of flip flops that they literally have to chisel the icicles off afterwards.

Photos in travel guides can often be misleading. Plus, despite the beauty of ease that we have with online international weather reports, if you’re going away for several weeks, you won’t be able to see reliable predictions for the whole duration.

So aside from the “just in case” items, such as the golf-course umbrella that you might pack on the way to the south of France, or *that* dress that you might be able to wear out in Finland, there may be some other items you need. Make sure that you ask your home exchange partners for any freaky bouts of weather that are likely to occur in the area. Similarly, there are other considerations to be made such as car use. It might be an investment to bring a wind-shield protector so that you don’t burn your hands on the steering wheel after having had the car in the sun. Or, if you’re going to Canada for example, you may want to think about investing in a de-icing sprayor some anti-freeze .

Also, ask what kind of clothes they would wear at that time, so that when you arrive you don’t have to deal with the unwelcome realisation that bright sun doesn’t always equal hot weather.

Some home-exchanging families will be be taking their children with them on holiday. When evaluating whether you want to accept a home exchange request or not, the question of children is something that requires consideration.

If you are not a parent yourself, you will need to think about the suitability of your home for potential exchange partners and their kids. For example, do you have a lot of breakables? Do you have expensive carpets that are difficult to clean? Are there any unprotected high-points from which a young child could fall? Do you have an open fire or a swimming pool? Do you have crockery that can be used by all, or do you only have precious plates and glasses?

Do you have a bath-tub? This can be an important consideration as sometimes children are not yet able to use the shower. Do you have any toys or games, whether they be computer learning games or physical toys?

If you are a parent hoping to do a home exchange with a user from a child-free home, it’s also very important to think about your compatibility. If you have babies, you’ll be able to take all the paraphernalia that you need with you, and also contain the possible mess made. However, with toddlers upwards, you’ll need to make an assessment. Will they be able to manage with the facilities in the prospective home? Is there a high-risk of breakage? Will they be amply entertained with the pass-times available? Will they be within close enough reach during the night-time?

The best thing to do is to look at the photos of the prospective house, and then have a talk with the prospective home exchange partners. You need to ensure that both parties will be comfortable and that the prospective home meets your family’s needs!

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.