Summer festivals have music for everyone, for all ages and for every taste. Yesterday we had some short notice dates but today we have more variety. Home exchange, like any other way of travelling, can be about many things, and art and music can be a very powerful reason.

Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2011: known as Glastonbury Festival to save some words, it is probably one of the largest festivals in the UK with music, dancing, and different artistic performances.
When? Starts on a Wednesday, June 22nd is the date, and ends June 26th.
Where? Worthy Farm, Pilton, England.
Interesting performances this year: B.B. King, Morrissey, Beyonce, Jimmy Cliff, Coldplay, U2, Fatboy Slim, and so many more…
More info about the festival: http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/

Wireless Festival 2011: if you want to get your body moving, this is the festival for you.
When? From Friday July 1st till Sunday July 3rd.
Where? Hyde Park, London, England.
Interesting performances this year: The Black Eyed Peas, The Chemical Brothers, Pulp, The Hives, David Guetta.
More info about the festival: http://www.wirelessfestival.co.uk/2011/

How long do you need to find a home swap opportunity near these festivals? In case you can’t make it this year, remember that they are usually annual events but there are exceptions and the Glastonbury Festival is one of those because 2012 will be a fallow year and the next edition will be in 2013. Can you wait that long?

Image: Public domain media from Wikimedia Commons.

To all of you that were following our musically-guided worldwide tour, we have strayed away in the past couple of weeks but we will be back on “track” soon. There is much music to come but we just had to make a stop to help some of our users take the most out of HomeForHome to find their swaps for this coming Summer.

With all the music related contents we have in mind, there is no doubt we are going to have other “interruptions” before we cover everything. So, in case you are wondering about where we are going to take you and what we are going to talk about in our future music related posts, here is a short list of subjects:

– Music festivals in different cities.
– Useful websites to find music related events near you.
– More about different music styles and rhythms: there is a lot about rock, folk styles, merengue, salsa, electronic music, mariachi’s music and many more!
– Interesting or less known musical instruments and where you are likely to find them.

What would you like to read about? We are curious to learn if there are things you would like us to write about, so, you can contact us any time with your ideas, suggestions or comments. HomeForHome can help you find your next exciting home swap but it can also help you find other things!

Since we abruptly ended our last post with a note inviting you to continue reading about taiko drumming in this post, we are going to get right into the subject:

The body of a taiko is made out of wood. Different types of wood are used to make these drums, which are not easy to make. There are a few ways to make a taiko, the most common way to make a one piece cavity is to select a tree of the desired size (diameter) and cut a piece of the appropriate length. Then, the section is hollowed out very carefully, considering shape and thickness of the body that is desired, and finally pieces of animal skin (usually cowhide or horsehide) are used to seal both ends tightly. The animal skins of the heads can be nailed to the body of the drum (byodome-daiko) or alternatively they can be stretched on ring-shaped frames that are placed at both ends of the body (tsukeshime-daiko). This second way to attach the heads to the body allows for cords to connect both pieces of skin through holes made on their edges, and allows for the drum to have a different sound depending on how tight the heads are pulled.

This instrument comes in different sizes and shapes, the largest one being the O-daiko (or Ōdaiko, which means big taiko) that can be many times bigger than a man with a diameter of several meters, but there are are other types like the Chu-daiko, a type of nagado-daiko or elongated drum.

We are not finished, so more about taiko tomorrow along with places where you can combine your home exchange with some taiko drumming.

Image: BrianAdler (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

We took a short detour from our series of music related posts to give you some news about what is going on in HomeForHome and how any user can share a list of preferred home swap destinations, adding valuable information to their profile, but now we are ready to continue in the path of music. We might have to take other breaks in the future, whenever something exciting needs to be disclosed or there is something that catches our attention, but now is time to get our headphones back on and get on the road again.

There is a lot to be covered in this virtual trip yet and music is such an excellent excuse to discover different places that we cannot be sure how long we will stay in this journey. Like we said, we may need other short periods of silence in the middle of this rhythmical trip, and you can be sure that music will take us to every corner of our wonderful world.

There are still many places to be visited, many genres to tell you about, many interesting instruments to be discovered, many notable performers that deserve to be mentioned, several stories that need to be told, places and attractive ideas you may want to add to your travel plans. In our next post we will learn about taiko. Come with us to discover an ancient instrument that has re-gained popularity in recent decades.

Image: seaskylab / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To complete our week we are going to discover just a little bit about Gent (Ghent) and Glasgow, two cities that appear to have two things in common: 1) a capital “G” and 2) music

Glasgow, Scotland

This city claims to have a weekly average of 130 music-related events. Could that be so? Well, as surprising as it may seem, it appears to be the truth because there are all kinds of events in Glasgow, covering all music styles, all kinds of events and for all ages: Celtic, country, classical, contemporary, electronic, indie, jazz, pop, choral, rap, urban… You name a music related keyword and we can find you an event in Glasgow. Impressive!

Gent, Belgium

Gent was the latest addition to the list of UNESCO Cities of Music and it is the smallest city in the list. The most prominent cultural expressions of Gent’s spirit are the International Festival of Flanders Ghent (Internationaal Festival van Vlaanderen Gent) and the Ghent Festivities (Gentse Feesten) - ten days of music in every corner of the city, including Jazz in the “Gent Jazz Festival”, techno music and dancing in “10 days Off” and puppet theatre and musicals in “Puppetbuskersfestival”.

Whether you go for the 130 events per week, the 10 days of Gent Festivities or the Festival of Flanders, you know where to find an partner for an international home exchange.

We have “invited” you to four countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand. Three of these countries are organizing sports events that will attract the eyes of millions and one has a traditional festival that every year fills the streets with magic, but also involves a competition because during Carnival the different Escolas de Samba (Samba Schools) compete to be crowned the best of the year and there is even the possibility to be “degraded” to a lower “division” if they don’t do well in the eyes of the judges. Since we started too “sportingly” we are going to turn to the arts, but with a little bit of competition too, like in the Carnival

Alaska, USA - If you like snow, ice and cold, or you are in very hot place and you feel like you need to chill, then we have the place for you: the 2011 World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. From February 22nd to March 27th, the self claimed largest annual ice art competition and exhibition worldwide will receive over 70 teams from around the globe to compete in several categories including Amateur and Junior. The event is accompanied by an all-ice entertainment park for children: the Kids Park. So, this seems like an enjoyable event for a family looking to swap houses to a place that combines arts and recreation. If you are thinking: are there house swappers in Alaska? We have the answer: Yes! There are HomeForHome swappers in Alaska.

If you are in the mood for more ice sculptures and you don’t want to get so far up North, we are going to bring you more Ice Sculpture Festivals around the world in our next post.

Happy New Year! 2011 is here! It is interesting how one simple change in the date gives us enough excuse to celebrate, reunite with family and greet friends and relatives with a very special smile. A new year begins and with it comes the hope for better things.

We can only hope for more people swapping houses in 2011, not only because we truly believe it is the best way to travel (and the cheapest one), but also because home swapping can help you look at the world with different eyes while you travel. When you swap houses, you can get immersed in a different region, country and culture in a way that no other way to travel allows, and you can value the small details that make life such and exciting journey. This “immersion” lets people really get to know and understand other cultures and expressions and it is through understanding that we can hope to accomplish a more peaceful coexistence.

HomeForHome will keep bringing people closer, helping them interact and arrange home swaps, hoping to contribute to a healthier way of travelling.

We want to wish you a very special 2011, may it be a year to share special moments with family and friends, to reach for your dreams and to travel!

It is time to say good bye to 2010, a year that has been very good to HomeForHome and its users. We are glad to end the year with our renewed website and some new services intended to help you swap homes the easiest way. As we look back to the information we shared with you in our blog, it has been a varied selection of contents we had. We started the year with the list of top destinations for 2010, we covered several topics about being environmentally aware while we travel, we took you to several destinations, we reminded you of several sport events that could serve as an excuse to visit some of the planet’s most beautiful locations, we tried to help you use HomeForHome’s tools, we provided tips for taking care of your health while you travel, we recommended several free online tools to help you plan and organize your trip and have a safe journey…

Here are some of those posts:

Destinations
Budapest: The Bath City
Discovering Scotland
Let’s Visit Oceania
Vancouver Shows The Way
Flying South For The Winter?
It’s Time To Visit South Korea
The Cliffs Of Moher, Ireland

Green Travel
Tips For Green Travelers
Travel Guides For Environmentally Aware Travellers I
Travel Guides For Environmentally Aware Travellers II
Travel Guides For Environmentally Aware Travellers III
Flying Green

Travel and Sports
Cities & Sports - Special Combinations
Miami Gets The Ball
Winter Sports
Artistic Gymnastics At Birmingham
The FIFA World Cup In HomeForHome

Websites
Animal Airways?
FlightStats: An Interesting Tool
Free As A Bird
Hitting The UK Roads

Merry Christmas to all! This is a very special day for millions of people. Most of us know how that Christmas is related to the birth of Jesus, but there are several characters that are famous for being associated to different traditions of the holiday season:

Santa Claus - This long bearded character is famous among young children because he has the duty of deciding who has been good or bad during the past year to reward good behaviour with presents he delivers during Christmas Eve. Similar characters are Father Christmas, Noel and Saint Nicholas.

Krampus - Particularly in the alpine region, there is a character that plays the opposite role to that of Saint Nicholas. While Saint Nicholas rewards good children, Krampus has the task of “punishing” naughty children. To play this role, Krampus only needs is scary look. There are other evil, bad looking characters with similar tasks that only appear around Christmas: Grýla (Iceland), Hans Trapp (Alsace, France), Klaubauf, Knecht Ruprecht (Germany), Pelznickel (Germany), Père Fouettard (Normandy, France), Schmutzli (Switzerland).

The Three Kings - These characters represent the wise men referred in the Bible, who brought three gifts to baby Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Nowadays, in many Spanish speaking countries, they are said to leave gifts for children on the night of January 5th. To receive these presents, children must write the wise men a letter listing their desired gifts and the reasons why they deserve to receive them. On the night of the 5th, they are supposed to leave their shoes in a visible place for the wise men to place the gifts.

If you want to get to know some of these characters, we recommend you travel to the countries that keep their traditions alive with representations and festivals. Perfect for families with children: a holiday home swap. HomeForHome can take you there, one country at a time

Many cities organize important events in an effort to receive more visitors every year. Many of such events are sport events and today we would like to invite you to join us in a journey through several cities that host relevant sport events. Maybe your city is in our list and you can include an event in your home description, maybe you would consider arranging a swap to one of these cities to participate or attend an event, or maybe you would find a city you didn’t consider before as a home exchange preferred destination that would get you interested.

Events in the USA:

Image by Arvind Balaraman /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Basketball - The most famous basketball league, the NBA has over 1,000 games every season. Some of the main cities: New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio, Chicago, Dallas… Beautiful cities to watch a great game.

Marathons - Three events from the World Marathon Majors are held in the USA:
– Boston - Next year’s edition of the Boston Marathon, the 115th, will be held on April 18th.
– Chicago - It usually takes place in October and it flat course is giving it preference among participants wishing to improve their personal records.
– New York City - The New York City Marathon (next edition to be held November 6th, 2011) is one of the marathons with the largest attendance, with more than 100,000 applicants every year, over 40,000 participants and nearly 2 million spectators cheering during the race.

Ice Hockey, American Football and Baseball are other sports you can attend while in the United States.

Events in Europe:

Berlin - The next edition of the Berlin Marathon (http://www.berlin-marathon.com/), which will be number 38, will take place on September 25th, 2011. With almost 300 users from Berlin registered in HomeForHome, it seems like it could be a good alternative for a Marathon+Swap combination. Also, Germany has finished among the top 4 in the last 3 FIFA World Cups, so any city with a Bundesliga team would be a great place to catch a good football game.

London - It seems like London is going to be the capital of sports as it prepares for the 2012 Olympic Games (more info in http://www.london2012.com/). In 2011 the UEFA Champions League Final will be held in London’s Wembley Stadium. Other sport events that take place in London every year are Wimbledon and the London Marathon.

Paris - There are several sport events that take place in Paris, we are going to highlight the Paris Marathon and Roland Garros (we have written other posts about this tennis tournament: Tennis Fever in Paris) but there are also rugby and football teams that play their games in the capital every year.

Spain - No need to say that Spain has the lead in registered homes in HomeForHome, so if you also like running and would like to make a Home Exchange+Marathon combo, here we have a couple of options:

– Marató de Barcelona (next March) -  There’s also an interesting photography contest for those that want to combine their artistic skills with the running.
– Seville City Marathon (next February) - More information in the Official Website (English version)

More sports near your next swap will come in future posts.