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The time arrives, you got your home exchange details all worked out, your transportation arrangements are perfectly scheduled and you are ready to go! One last thing: packing your bags. To help you with this step, we have a few DOs and DON’Ts.

DO:
- Plan ahead. Take time to make a list of the things you will need. Include those that are indispensable for the activities you planned for your home exchange (if you will go hiking, take your usual hiking shoes to avoid unwanted blisters).
- Exclude from your packing list those things you can buy in your destination as if you were at home and do not cost much.
- Check the weight of your bags. Especially if you are flying and you need to stick to the airlines policies to avoid extra charges.
- Consider the local weather in your destination at the time you are travelling. The web has great resources to find weather information.
- Prefer clothes that are appropriate for layering.

DON’T:
- Wait until the last minute to pack your bags. You will risk leaving out many important items or ending up with too many bags.
- Over-pack. Remember that with HomeForHome you can search for a  home exchange opportunity to stay in a house with a washing-machine and a drier, which means you can pack less clothing items and still have clean clothes all the time. Most people usually end up wearing half as many clothes as they packed.
- Forget to pack your kid’s favourite toy, but remember to leave a few toys in your handbag for his/her entertainment during the trip.
- Forget it may rain. Depending on your destination, it could be easy or hard to find comfortable waterproof clothes.

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A great thing about travelling is that you come in contact with different ways to face every day life. Sometimes, even if your home swap requires you to travel only 20 miles to a smaller town or bigger city, the local pace of life may be strangely different to what you are used to. Then, imagine what happens when you travel abroad or to a distant exotic destination. Just the idea got me thinking about my next destination search in HomeForHome.

Buildings, museums, available services… These all say a lot about the history and present of one place, but nothing says more about the culture, customs and heritage of a place than its cuisine. Restaurants that use local produce to prepare their menus are a great way to get experience the flavours of your home exchange destination. But unusual and exotic foods can pose a treat to some people. For example, many people are allergic to some ingredients or are bound to strict diet restrictions (like diabetics). Then, how can you avoid a nice evening eating out from turning into an unexpected trip to the hospital? Here are five tips that may help you:

- Find information to know what to expect. There are many online resources you can use, including travel guides and restaurant websites with online menus.

- If you are swapping to a country where a different language is spoken, learn a few phrases to let waiters know of your requirements. If you are not comfortable with your pronunciation, you can even have such phrases printed in a small card. A pocket dictionary may come handy too.

- If you are not sure about the ingredients do not order.

- Remember to take your emergency kit with you when you head out to the restaurant.

- Ask your home exchange partner for restaurant recommendations or advice about eating out.

Home exchange cuts your total travel expenses to less than half compared with hotel stays and similar means of accommodation. One reason that explains such huge savings is that with home exchange you have a full kitchen available and you can cook your own meals. But you would probably want to spend very little of your vacation time in the kitchen to enjoy other activities to the fullest. What to cook while on vacations to save time? Here is our idea for today, it is not new but it is helpful: Sandwiches.

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Fast preparation is the best feature of this tasteful dish, but it also allows for innovation. You can put almost anything between two pieces of bread and it could taste good. To make it more sophisticated, use french baguettes, to make it healthier use whole grain bread. To have a side dish, you can open a bag of potato chips or if you want something healthier you can use crunchy vegetables. For example, carrots, broccoli and celery are all quite tasty and crunchy. Exchange the burger and fries for a chicken sandwich with a side of crunchy veggies.

Some say that what makes a great sandwich is the condiment selection, but that is a whole different chapter. The basic and simple mayonnaise will do for most people

During your home exchange trip, sandwiches would also be useful if you plan a whole day away in a nearby (or not so nearby) attraction and you do not want to buy food or you just do not know if you are going to find a restaurant you would like to try. You are going to need a cooler to keep your sandwiches fresh (specially in the summer) and you can even pack the ingredients (remember to wash the vegetables before you go and bring some extra water just in case) and prepare your sandwiches in your destination. Find a park or another open area and combine your main activity with a small picnic. If you have children, they would love it.

An interesting fact: In the UK there is even an organisation that sets standards for sandwich manufacture and encourages innovation in the sandwich making industry: the British Sandwich Association (http://www.sandwich.org.uk/)

HomeForHome is a home exchange website, but we leave it to our users to take advantage of our services and innovate. Creativity is always welcomed. The only thing we do not admit is trying to take profit from our services (we do not allow any commercial deals and we ask our users to report people who really want to rent their place instead of a free home exchange). Do you want to hear about some creative ways to swap? Here we go with two ideas:

- Register your motor-home or your yacht. If it can be used as a home it can be registered for home exchange in HomeForHome (no funny interpretations, please - we are serious). A user may be interested in using your motor-home to take their home exchange journey to a whole new level.

- What about an hospitality exchange? Hospitality exchanges are a variation of home exchange when each swapper receives their partner as a guest in their home. This could be a particularly interesting choice for those who want to make new friends and re-discover the beauty of their home town. We have seen some of our users starting forum topics about receiving a child from another family in their home while their child stays with the other family to learn a foreign language, a very special student exchange. This could even be arranged to be non-simultaneous so the visitor has a friend of the same age to show them around. Hospitality exchanges could also be a great idea for retired people or first-time travellers that are not confident about travelling to a whole different country on their own and would rather have some company. As for home exchange, hospitality exchange is not for everyone, some people may be thrilled by the idea of receiving people from a different culture in their home but this may be too much for others.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Home exchange is more than just travelling. It involves getting to know the people who are going to be staying in your home (and trusting you with theirs). You do not have to become friends with every family that exchanges their home with you, but you are probably going to make some friends along the way.

Image by graur codrin /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One detail that is important to enjoy a home exchange is to feel welcome. It is that first moment when you are starting your stay at the house you chose as a home for the next few days or weeks and if you do not feel comfortable since the very first start you are probably not going to enjoy it 100%.

What can be done to ensure a great start for the family that will stay at your home? A nice welcome package. Like those little details hotels use to make you feel as a special guest, there are little details that will help your swap partner feel good from the very start.

Here are some examples of things that could be part of an excellent welcome package:

- A bottle of wine and bread or some snacks or maybe fresh vegetables in the fridge and milk for their children. Anything you can imagine that could make a good first impression.

- A short “how to” guide explaining the basics to get all your appliances to work (dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, Wi-fi, DVD player, etc.).

- A list of relevant phone numbers (a trusted neighbour, baby-sitter, pizza delivery, doctor - you probably get what this list is all about).

- A local map and some leaflets with information for visitors. You may even use a marker to highlight important routes in the map, like the that to market, to important attractions, to your favourite restaurant (maybe you share the same taste!).

These are just a few ideas to get your creativity going. Let it fly…

Image by Salvatore Vuono /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You may have been surprised by the title, but when your vacation plans include home exchange, you better anticipate what is coming in the next few months and that means not just one or two months ahead. You have to decide which will be your preferred destination (or destinations) and then get into searching and contacting other swappers. If you do not care for last minute rushes, then you may want to get started on your December travel plans.

It is one of the busiest times for the transport industry. Train stations, airports, bus stations, roads, freeways, highways, no matter what you prefer, things get complicated around Christmas and New Year’s Day. You may say “too complicated to find a swap for that date” and you may be right, but if you can exchange during the holidays it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Expending such an especial holiday in a different country is something you will never forget. It is like your first Christmas morning again! Probably many things will be just the same as back home, but no matter which destination you choose, if you swap to a different country during this special date, you will experience a whole new holiday. For example, if you arrange a home exchange with someone in another hemisphere, you will have your Christmas dinner in a different season. December is summer in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, Brazil, New Zealand) and winter in the Northern Hemisphere (most of Europe, USA, Canada, Japan). Depending on the country you choose to visit you may head out to the beach after opening the presents or have a hot cup of chocolate before you heading out to play with your kids in the snow.

HomeForHome has thousands of listings, and a wide selection of destinations for you to choose from. All you need is some time to search around, start a forum or send out a few home exchange proposals, and you could find yourself having a Merry Christmas Swap.

If you are not an active traveller and you would rather spend your vacation time in a “resting” state, there are many things you can do in Wales while you take advantage of the huge savings home exchange has to offer. For example, Wales has 641 castles and three World Heritage Sites you can visit. The three World Heritage Sites are:

Image by Tom Curtis /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd: Beaumaris Castle, Caernarfon Castle, Conwy Castle and Harlech Castle.
2. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape: evidencing the importance of the region’s industries to the 19th century’s Industrial Revolution.
3. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal - Truly a monumental piece of civil engineering, both creative and majestic.

Other “slow” activities you can enjoy in Wales, and specially recommended for wildlife lovers, are birdwatching or admiring the rare bottle nosed dolphins, basking sharks, leatherback turtles and Atlantic grey seals that can be spotted in the Welsh marine environment. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park,  is the perfect place to do this.

You can also find a list of attractions that can be visited for free if you are looking for a low budget holiday. The list includes museums, art galleries, parks, exhibitions, festivals, castles and trails. Navigate through http://www.visitwales.com/ to find more details.

As you can imagine, Wales is a great destination for family vacations. Three family friendly features of Wales:

- Perfect place for outdoors activities.
- Several free-entry attractions.
- 1,200 Km of coastline: sand and sea are a perfect combination to entertain the little ones.

Find more information in the links below and more ideas in HomeForHome’s next post.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park - http://www.pcnpa.org.uk/
http://www.visitwales.com/
Cadw (the historic environment service of the Welsh Assembly Government) - http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk/
Southern Wales - http://www.southernwales.com/
Mid Wales and the Brecon Beacons - http://tourism.powys.gov.uk/
Visit North Wales - http://www.visitnorthwales.co.uk/

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

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.