The word “crisis” is still in the front page, stronger than ever and with all the negativity it implies. Risk, debt, budget and debacle are words nobody wants to hear and fear, but it seems they will linger for a while. Something one should not forget is that in times like this, people save money by making cuts in expenses they believe are less important, which is great, but they sometimes include something really important which is resting, taking time to relax and do special things to remain fresh and strong.

HomeForHome can help save money while still enjoying one of life’s pleasures: travelling. Home exchange allows users to save up to 50-70% in travel expenses compared with other options, specially for families. The cost of accommodation is the where the major cut is, but there are also other savings like those related to food because when you swap you can buy the ingredients and prepare your own meals. Another large cut could come from transportation because you have the chance to arrange a car swap as well.

Count on HomeForHome to travel in times of crisis.

Our Customer Support team has been answering many questions about the new registration fee, so we decided to write a short post about that while the changes are made so the portal shows all the relevant information. For example, the FAQ still says that the registration is free because it was not correctly updated. We apologise about that, our development team will work to change it as soon as possible.

Regarding the registration fee: when a new user registers in HomeForHome with the intention to become part of our home exchange community, he or she has to go through three steps now. The first step is to create a user account, the second one is to add a home, and the third step is to pay the registration fee.

The registration fee is currently 35.4 Euros for an annual account (18% tax included). That is only 2.95 Euros per month. The payment is made online and in advance. The user will be notified to renew the subscription once the year has gone by and there are other paid services we are going to launch in the next few months.  With the costs associated when you choose other types of accommodation, this registration fee still makes home swapping and HomeForHome the cheapest way to travel and the best way to make cuts to your travel budget.

As the Northern Hemisphere sees the Summer of 2010 come to an end, the Southern Hemisphere is preparing to receive its Spring and in a few months, when the North becomes very similar to a walk-in freezer, the 2011 summer. There is no need to say that South America then becomes one of the warm places you can dream about on a cold windy afternoon (not to mention snowy or rainy). In anticipation, we will review some of the top spots to have a good time travelling to the Southern end of South America to transform your home exchange experience with a golden sun tan and a load of warm memories.

Image by Gabor Pozsgai /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As a preview, let us say that if you travel to any of these places you will find a combination of beach, nature and entertainment, with a scale that goes from quiet to sizzling, town-size to big-city, small shows to renowned festivals, Atlantic Ocean waters to Pacific Ocean waters and Spanish to Portuguese

Argentina - its Atlantic Ocean coast beach resorts: Mar del Plata, Pinamar, Villa Gessel, Carilo, San Clemente, Monte Hermoso, Miramar…

Brazil - a treasure South of Rio: Florianopolis.

Chile - experience the Southern Pacific Ocean: Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, La Serena, Arica.

Uruguay - the Atlantic Coast resorts: Punta del Este, Cabo Polonio, La Paloma.

Where can you find a good home exchange offer to travel to any of these destinations? You know it: HomeForHome! If you worry about the costs, remember that HomeForHome offers FREE home exchange opportunities and adding its many benefits it becomes (by far!) the cheapest way to travel.

There are no surprises in this post, just a two of the most famous and classic romantic honeymoon destinations in Europe. The upside of our post? With home exchange you don’t need to worry about the cost because with HomeForHome you will find someone interested in a free home swap. This means you probably won’t have to split your budget between the wedding and the honeymoon because accommodation expenses usually account for over 50% of a trip’s budget so you will be making a huge cut there

Paris, France - As romantic as it can get, Paris is of course the capital of romance. Three suggestions for an unforgettable afternoon: a rest stop in a Parisian cafe terrace, a walk holding hands down Montmartre or the Avenue des Champs Elysees, kissing on any of the numerous Seine Rives bridges. Quoting Woody Allen: “As long as you haven’t been kissed during any of those rainy Parisian afternoons, you haven’t been kissed at all.“

A few other places worth a visit: the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg Castle and the adjacent gardens and the Louvre Museum. Check our “10 step guide to Paris“

Image by Francesco Marino /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Venice, Italy - Noise, smog and traffic will not interfere with the romance in Venice. Other unique things in Venice? The canals, the gondolas and the gondoliers themselves, Piazza San Marco, St. Mark’s Basilica, the “Ponte dei Sospiri” (the Bridge of Sighs), the art decorations in most buildings, Murano glass, and Venetian food… Mmm

In case you are wondering there are several registered swappers in both destinations, so HomeForHome is the place to start planning your classic romantic honeymoon.

Home exchange is a rising trend. Every day more people decide to try this way of travelling and enjoy its many benefits. HomeForHome is the fastest growing online home exchange service. Why should you try home exchange? Why choose HomeForHome ? Read on…

Home exchange is very simple.
HomeForHome offers you the tools to make it even simpler.

Home exchange is fun and exciting.
In HomeForHome ’s community forums you can have a lot of fun meeting people from all over the world.

Home exchange offers a lot of different alternatives.
HomeForHome makes it easier for you to find people sharing your same interests: long-term home exchange, short-term home exchange, weekend exchange, car exchange, permanent home exchange, study exchange, exchanges for families, travelling with pets…

Home exchange is the best way to lower travel costs.
HomeForHome takes the word cheap to its lower level: everything is free.

HomeForHome has a few extras, including these:

• Our Support Team can offer you guidance to complete the registration process and get acquainted with the website’s tools and resources.
• It has a built-in translation tool so you can receive and answer messages and requests in many languages.

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 Evgeni Dinev

Today we have a tip for those who use home exchange as part of their efforts to travel green. We have posted before on how home exchange itself helps reduce the environmental impact of vacation (or any) traveling, and we mentioned as well that planes have the highest rate of CO2 emission per traveler.

But sometimes you just have to fly. When you face such a situation it is best to choose a non-stop flight. This lowers CO2 emissions because there is extra fuel consumption during take-off and landing. There are several ways to find and book a non-stop flight, but for the Internet fans here is a list of search engines to help you find the best non-stop flights:

FareCompare - http://www.farecompare.com/ The option to view nonstop flights only is given in the results page.
Kayak - http://www.kayak.com/ Just mark the “Prefer Nonstop” checkbox. It has a downside: it shows best fares found by other Kayak users in the last 48 hours, so seats may not be available.
ITA Software - http://www.itasoftware.com/ You do not need to register, you can use the search engine by logging in as a guest and then mark “nonstops only“.
Travelocity - http://www.travelocity.com/ You will need to use the Advanced Search Options and mark “I prefer nonstops“.

Another plus of this list: They all allow for “wider” flexible travel search which means you can save a lot of money too. Usually, flight search engines offer a flexible search option but narrowed to a few days around your given date, but not these. For example, Travelocity allows you to select “Exact dates” or “+/- 1 to 3 days” or “Flexible dates” which shows you fares up to 330 days ahead. In ITA Software you need to select “Month-long search” for their flexible search.

Other options for non-stop flight search:

Bing - http://www.bing.com/travel/flights
BookingBuddy - http://www.bookingbuddy.com/
Expedia - http://www.expedia.com/
Orbitz-  http://www.orbitz.com/
Trabber - http://www.trabber.co.uk/
SideStep - http://www.sidestep.com/

We looked around for a while and we finally made our choice. Our first recommendation for this summer is the Black Sea Coast.

Being a summer destination it needed to have water. And being we are expecting a hot summer, the more water the better! So, what does the Black Sea Coast have to offer?

Photo by Petro Vlasenko

- Miles and miles of clean sandy beaches
- Warm sunny climate
- Ancient sites
- Small towns
- Mineral baths, thermal springs and even some famous rejuvenation treatments
- Stunning landscapes, with mountains rising behind the shoreline
- And it goes easy on the budget!

The Black Sea Coast has been steadily growing as a touristic destination since the end of the cold war. There are several cities and towns along the coast. Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey are the countries that share the privilege of having Black Sea shores. To help you with your HomeForHome search, here are just some of the many cities lying along the coastline: Sevastopol, Sochi, Batumi, Samsin, Burgas, Varna, Mariupol, Constanta, Novoazovsk, Odessa, Yalta.

There is also growing interest for archaeological exploration, since the Black Sea has excellent conditions for preservation of submerged materials and was sailed by several ancient seafarers, including Greeks, Persians, Scythians, Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Huns, Ottomans and Hittites.

Do you need anything else? Start your search right now and prepare your home exchange to the Black Sea.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When you think of a great beach vacation you probably think of the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean, the Mediterranean coast or a similar location. But which is your favourite UK beach? With the word “crisis” still in the air, it may be a good idea to keep an eye on the holiday budget and there’s no better way to do that than to combine home exchange with a domestic trip (or a even a few) to save both on accommodation and transportation.

They may not be the as dreamy and warm as the Caribbean’s, but there are hundreds of beautiful beaches in the UK’s 19,000 miles of coastline just waiting for you.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) through its Good Beach Guide gives the following recommendations to enjoy your time at the beach:

* Check the public notice boards for information on water quality, currents and emergency phones.
* Follow any advice from lifeguards and understand the system of safety flags.
* Never leave young children unsupervised.
* Do not swim when the sea is rough, or where there are known currents or riptides.
* Do not use inflatable beds or toys - currents can easily take you out of sight.
* Swim parallel to the shore rather than out to sea.
* Do not swim immediately after a meal and never after drinking alcohol.
* If you’ve been ill after bathing report the illness to Surfers Against Sewage Tel: 0845 458 3001
* If you see someone in trouble, alert the lifeguards, or contact the Coastguard (999) - DO NOT ATTEMPT to rescue them yourself, unless you are qualified and have help.

The MCS also has a list of recommended beaches based on water quality, so it may be a good idea to check if your favourite beach is in their list!

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!