Image by Salvatore Vuono /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We are really happy to announce that HomeForHome has reached 15,000 registered homes available for home exchange. We keep growing and growing and we are just thrilled!

Last March we announced the accomplishment of the 10,000 mark and just four months later we are announcing this new stunning mark of 15,000 homes registered in the website. Thank you all for making HomeForHome your preferred home exchange portal. Keep enjoying our free services and the many advantages of home exchange:

- Registration in HomeForHome is completely FREE.

- Home exchange is the cheapest way to travel, as the cost of accommodation is zero.

- Home exchange is simple: home owners agree on exchanging their homes during a certain period of time.

- The “golden rule”: treat the house or flat in your destination as your own and leave it exactly how you found it.

- Home exchange is very flexible, with the possibility for car exchange, travelling with pets, family travel, non-simultaneous exchange, long term exchanges, permanent exchanges, study exchanges, weekend exchanges, local exchanges, international exchanges, chained exchanges and many other options.

- The keystone: communication.

If you are new to home exchange, please visit our FAQ page or read some of our previous posts to learn more about this way of travel. If you want to give it a try, we would be glad to have you as a member of our swapper community.

Today we continue with our introduction to home swapping and HomeForHome for those that are just discovering this way of travelling.

Does it have to be simultaneous? No, home exchanges can be arranged at different times, specially if you are exchanging a second home or you make your home available during an already planned trip (like a business trip).

What happens to my pet? Should I leave it at home? There is flexibility here, you have to discuss this with your home exchange partner considering your pet’s needs and your partner’s exchange preferences. The options could be to arrange a “pet exchange” having both take care of one another’s pets, take your pets with you, or have your pet stay with a friend while you are away.

What is car exchange? Car exchange is including your car in the home exchange deal, saving money from car renting as well. As with pets, you should discuss this with the other swapper, considering both parties preferences and taking into account the use you are going to make of each other’s cars.

Image by Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For a short reminder of how home exchange works and some of the options available through HomeForHome between this one and our previous post, we probaly covered enough. Join HomeForHome, the fastest growing worldwide community of home exchangers. We would love to see you around!

Warmer times are heading our way. It’s time to wave the winter goodbye and step outside to regain our contact with nature. Most people are already searching HomeForHome to find their perfect home exchange deal for the summer, putting some time in front of the computer. If you are answering questions from other swappers or sending out exchange requests, you could probably take a vacation preview to help you cope with the anxiety. That’s why we have a few outdoor suggestions for the spring ahead:

Image by Simon Howden /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Gardening - if you enjoy feeling the earth on your hands, it’s time to do some gardening. Soon, gardens will be filled with blossoming, deliciously scented flowers and you don’t want to miss out. Maybe you can start by doing some weed pulling. Save some time to visit a nursery to pick up your favourite plants and grab those garden tools. If you don’t have a garden but you do enjoy their beauty, there’s probably a nearby garden open for visitors where you can spend a delightful day surrounded by daffodils, bluebells, azaleas, primroses, magnolias, orchids, tulips, hyacinths, camellias and violets.

Visit a farm - no doubt this would be most enjoyed by children, as many farms open their doors for baby lambs to be bottle-fed. Of course, there are other animals for kids to admire and learn about keeping livestock (cattle, pigs, horses, hens, ducks, rabbits, geese, etc.) or vegetables to be collected.

Fresh air down the coastline - it’s too cold to swim yet, but since most beaches are uncrowded, it’s the perfect time to take a walk and let the fresh breeze fill your lungs. With no people around, it is also a good time to enjoy the beach with your pet, specially dogs, since sometimes their presence could be uncomfortable for others during high-season, or you may be required to use a lead. If you want to learn more about beach walks with your dog, here’s a useful link.

We hope you find your outdoor treat. If you want to make it an overnight stay, consider home exchange!

In our previous post, we addressed the fact that home exchange offers the opportunity to bring your pet along during a swap. However, travelling with animals adds a few things you need to consider to avoid unpleasant moments.

We have mentioned a few tips before, including the following items that you shouldn’t forget: a travel bed, your pet’s favorite toy, any necessary pet care accessories and a few disposable pick-up bags. Now, we share some advice that could help during the trip to your home exchange destination, especially if you decide to travel by car:

- Small animals travel more safely in a pet crate/carrier, so, take some time before the trip for your pet to get used to the crate: let him take a nap in the crate, place its favorite pillow or toy inside it, make it as comfortable as you can, and be patient, he may need some time to get acquainted to it. Take him for a short ride in the car and see how he does.

- If your pet gets car sick, consider pet sedation or a motion sickness prescription, and ALWAYS remember to seek advice from your pet’s vet before you chose the best solution.

- If you travel by car, take measures to prevent your pet from becoming too hot or receiving too much direct sunlight.

- Bring a bowl for water and another one for food, and of course bring some water and food for the trip. For cats, you may need to consider bringing the litter box as well.

- Animals that are used to cages (like birds, hamsters, etc.) may be more comfortable and safe in a smaller cage during the ride. You may get a “travel cage” in your local pet store. Also, covering the cage will make your pet less active during the trip.

- If you travel with a dog, you may want to plan a stop during the trip for him to stretch and do his “thing”.

Whatever company you bring, choose HomeForHome to plan your next vacation.

One of the reasons why people chose home exchange is the opportunity to bring their pets along. It just seems right, your most faithful companion deserves to have a vacation after a stressful year too. If your pet has to deal with you during the hard times when everything seems uphill, and puts a smile on your face when you most need it, why wouldn’t you share your vacations with them too?

HomeForHome offers you the opportunity to find an exchange partner that would accept your pet in their house. Some users that accept pets even show so in their homes’ titles, but most of them show this preference by choosing “Animals will be accepted” in the “Exchange preferences” section of their home description (the option should have a green checkmark next to it for it to show the owner’s approval). However, if there is no such indication in the home description, you may check with the owner directly using the “Contact” button.

Your buddy will be so happy to share your laid back moments! Don’t you agree?

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!

If you are on of those people who can’t leave home without Fifi or Spot behind, then this article is for you. As one of the many pet lovers here, I most of the time can’t leave the house without thinking of who will take good care of my dogs. Chances are, if you can’t leave them behind, you’d be bringing Fifi with you. So here are some tips on travelling with your pet.

If you are lucky to find a home exchange that accepts pets during your stay, then pack along these:

- Travel bed

A new environment sometimes upsets your pet. Being in a new environment may bring them anxiety and discomfort. To make them feel better and at home with your new place to stay, bring along their own bed. This way, it alleviates the stress brought about by a new surrounding and it feels much better than sleeping in a hard plastic kennel.

- Your pet’s favorite toy

Bringing along your pet’s favorite toy lessens the boredom they might feel. It would also keep them busy and entertained when you are staying in your temporary home. This is a big help to keep them from digging into your home exchange partner’s garden or ripping the leather of the sofa seats. Of course, we don’t want these things to happen. So better bring one!

- Pet Care Accessories

Of course your pets need the grooming and attention. Bringing along a fur comb and deodorizer at least will be much recommended. If you can’t bring them to a grooming parlor on your vacation, then bring their own shampoo or soap so you could do the grooming yourself.

- Disposable pick-up bags

Now this is a must everywhere you go. With the new surroundings, your pet will sure be uncomfortable with regards to doing number 1’s and 2’s. Pack plenty of these for easier pet waste disposal. It would be embarrassing to leave a “mark” on the place you are visiting if you don’t have disposable bags with you.

These are pretty small suggestions but might be a big help for you to have a terrific travel experience with your four legged buddy.

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.

When you go on vacation, the question of what you should do with your pet can be a bit tricky. Whilst taking them with you brings its own questions, leaving them at home had some of its own issues.

When considering whether to take your pet on a home exchange with you, the first thing you need to check is whether your exchange family accepts pets. If not, then you should talk to them and ask whether they would consider looking after your pet if you were to leave it in the house. If they agree, then you will need to assess whether you think your exchange partners will be able to manage to give your pet the level of care that it may need.

If however your exchange partners accepts pets and you are travelling only by car, then remember to make plenty of stops and take enough bottled water, toys, and reminders of home (familiar smells, objects, etc) in order to reduce the anxiety experienced by your pet.

If you have to cross borders, then it’s worth-while looking up getting your pet a pet-passport, but make sure that you do this with plenty of advanced planning (a minimum of 6 months before the time that you plan to take your vacations.) Also, you will need to research which airlines will cater for animal transportation.

The important thing to weigh up is the discomfort that your pet may potentially experience. Whilst travelling can be a stressful experience for an animal, leaving them for weeks at a time can make them feel disconcerted and depressed. It depends on your pet. There is no single formula - you have to make a judgement based on your journey and on your pets needs.

At least with home exchange you will have the opportunity to talk with prospective home exchange partners who will allow you to take your animal to stay with you in their home.