What’s a getaway anyway? Well, a getaway can be any thing you want it to be and the flexibility of house swapping can take you away for almost any reason, anytime and without having to spend a fortune. Just pick a reason and exchange your home to:

• Get away from the noise
• Get away to a place nobody knows who you are
• Get away to visit the cousins
• Get away from to somewhere breezy
• Get away from tourists
• Get away to the countryside
• Get away to visit the cousins
• Get away to the beach
• Get away to visit a friend
• Get away to show your children something new
• Get away to enjoy a music festival, and art exhibit, a play ( )
• Get away from stress
• Get away from the routine

I could really use a swap away from/to _____ . Fill in the blank, swap away and remember that some HomeForHome users will allow you to take your pet away with you. Let them get away too!

Image: Public domain image taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Why should you travel to Paris? Depending on who is asked, this question could have several different answers, but which are our top three reasons? We are just about to let you know why HomeForHome is the best place to search for a good house swap opportunity to visit Paris:

1) Paris is the single city with most registered houses waiting for a house swap proposal. Paris alone has more homes registered than most countries!

2) Someone willing to swap their home in Paris could be looking for a different type of vacation, away from a tourist hot-spot or in a different type of hot-spot (for example, Rio de Janeiro is completely different but still a hot-spot). This, combined with the fact that there are over 1600 Parisian homes in HomeForHome, makes it quite likely that you’ll find someone that wants to travel to your area or open to travel to somewhere different.

3) Paris is a year-round destination. No matter when you can travel, you’ll always find magic. Of couse, keep in mind that some attractive areas might not be open to the public during certain times of the year, always check before you make plans. The Internet has become an excellent tool to do so, as many sites have their own websites or you can check websites that offer information for travellers.

Now you know our gold, silver and bronze for Paris.

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Today we found something interesting that could be appealing to many of our readers now that we are about to change seasons. What if you could enjoy the sun in any season? Does this get your attention? Well, today, a user has posted an offer in several of the forum topics under the title “Enjoy the sun in any season“, and we thought it might just be a good thing to give it a gentle push by posting the details in our blog as well.

Ner is a user from Roquetas de Mar in Almeria (Spain), an area described as warm in the winter and hot in the summer. If you are wondering why would someone leave warm paradise to spend the winter elsewhere, well, Ner wants to stay for at least three months in an English speaking country to learn English, so if you have a home to exchange where Ner can practice English on a daily basis, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You could be spending part of the winter in an apartment near Playa Serena beach:

Image: one of Ner house’s photos in HomeForHome.

After a quick reminder about the advantages of home exchange, we are back on music road…

It is going to be one of the most important, if not the most important, music event of 2011: Rock in Rio’s return to its birthplace. There is a notable list of confirmed performances, including the best of Brazil’s musical scene plus: Elton John, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, Shakira, Evanescence, Mana and Jay-Z. Quality and variety.

There are over one million followers in the social networks that just can’t wait to be a part of it. The festival’s theme is “For a Better World” and since the first edition the organization has been taking actions to make of this statement a reality, applying sustainable practices and supporting educational projects through music and activities that arise environmental awareness.

With more than one month ahead before the festival starts, the tickets are completely sold out for the event but nothing can stop you if you want to start your preparation for the next editions, Rock in Rio Lisboa 2012, Rock in Rio Madrid 2012 or Rock in Rio 2013!

We are going to share more about this festival in our next posts, so you find a way to enjoy Rock in Rio even if you are not one of the lucky people with a ticket.

Image: anankkml / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After taking a quick glance at the activity in our community forums during this past week, it is safe to say that it is still very active and a tool our swappers are using more and more each day to find home exchange opportunities, to make specific offers and also to share their experiences, both good and bad. Luckily, the count is in favor of the positive experiences, that outscore the negative ones by far.

It is also noticeable that English speaking users are less active that other house swappers, so we want to encourage you to get involved and participate, even if you are not looking for an exchange right now, if you build a strong net of contacts using the forum it will help you find trustworthy counterparts more easily in the future and will show people you are a serious possible partner. Plus, it is fun and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Give it a try!

Image: Public domain licence, taken from Wikimedia Commons.

A few days ago we were showing you how to hide your home from the search engine when you are not looking for new home exchange opportunities, but by no means this is what most of our users will do these days… Have you checked the Community forum lately? There is a lot of activity in the different topics, specially those about “Exchange Requests”, with new offers being published daily. Fourteen topics were started only yesterday and one of the got over 8000 hits! Wow!

Weekend exchanges, offers for July, August, and September, and swappers already trying to make plans for Christmas and New Year’s Day… Many keyboards are getting action these days, what about yours? Are you going to stay silent?

Do not let the language be a problem, remember that there are online translation tools, like Google Translate, that can help you get an idea of what the other user is trying to say and you can check a person’s profile to see if they understand English to write them a direct message. Dive in!

Almost ending July, many of our users have exchanged houses during the summer time or are about to do so. It is by far the most active time of the year and you have probably been part of it, either sending or receiving home exchange requests or just contacting other users to see if they are interested in exchanging home with you. What happens when you already “booked” the swap you were looking for? There are many options you can use to tell other users your home is no longer available: 1) change the availability calendar, 2) add  a note to your profile and/or home description, and 3) hide your home.

We have discussed the first two options before (see here), but the third one is rather new. There is an option to hide your home from HomeForHome’s search engine so that other users will not be able to find it and therefore you will not receive unwanted requests.

To hide your home, click on the “Hide” link located in the toolbar below the home title (see image). A message will pop up asking you to accept or cancel the action. This message says: “Are you sure you want to hide your home from the search engine? The home will temporarily cease to appear in the search engine results until you indicate otherwise…”

Now you know. HomeForHome keeps adding new features so you can enjoy house swapping.

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.

France is one of the preferred tourist destinations worldwide. The romantic Paris with its myriad of attractions like the Louvre Museum, the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower, to name some of the most famous, is a hotspot for tourists and receives millions of visitors each year. But if you want to visit France and do something different, why not choose a music or art festival? Here are some interesting options so you can start making plans.

France Festivals is the French federation of international music festivals and its website gathers informations about the festival offer all over France. It is a good resource to find an event near your home swap destination and allows to search by Date, Style or Region, and it even has a map search feature. Here is the URL of France Festivals: http://www.francefestivals.com/uk/

We also have two hand picked festivals for you:

Besançon International Music Festival, one of the oldest classical music festivals, will have its 64th edition in 2011.
When? From September 16th till October 1st, 2011.
Where? Besançon, Franche-Comté, France.
More info about the festival (website content in French): http://www.festival-besancon.com/

Rock en Seine Festival
When? Three days in August, 2011: 26, 27 & 28.
Where? Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, near Paris, France.
Interesting performances: Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, Death in Vegas.
More info about the festival: http://www.rockenseine.com/en/

Image: Photo by Michael Maggs, Wikimedia Commons.

What about enjoying music in a foreign land with a foreign language? You can have a different festival experience by attending any of the events we have for you today.

Benicassim Festival: music, dance, films and sunbathing in the Mediterranean coast.
When? Starts July 14th and closes July 17th.
Where? Benicassim, Castellon, Spain.
More info about the festival: http://fiberfib.com/ (click on the English icon on the right-hand corner of the homepage)

Creamfields Andalusia
When? One weekend in August 2011, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th.
Where? Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Andalusia.
Interesting performances: Paul Kalkbrenner, 2ManyDjs, Eric Prydz, DJ Gonçalo from Portugal, and The Prodigy.
More info about the festival: http://www.creamfields-andalucia.com/ (in Spanish but there are some sections in English, just look for the flag)

Now you know, if you are planning a home swap with a partner in Spain, check with them if there is a music festival in the area to have some extra fun to your next home exchange.

Image: Public domain licence, taken from Wikimedia Commons.