One of the joys of exploring a new city is finding the independent cafes, book stores and record stores. If you’re hailing in from the UK, the sorry story is that these precious cultural artefacts are soon to be diminished.

It’s true. As high-street chains take over, saturating every city with pretty much the same stock, the same lay-out, the same ambience, it can really start to feel like the world is becoming one small place that covers a big surface area.

So when you go away, it can be really rewarding to find a store, cafe or restaurant that gives you a new vibe. This can be that it awakes in you some old memory of an experience long forgotten; that it introduces you to a new style of music; that it helps you completely disconnect from your day to day life; that it relaxes you; that it excites your senses; that it enables you to explore completely new products and support local, independent business.

Getting out and away from the monotonous homogenous dredge can be one of the purest joys of a holiday. So make sure you talk to your exchange partner, and you may want to invest in a local guide such a Lonely Planet travel guide, for example.

Watch life go by sipping wine in a bar in a medieval European street

Tennessee local news has come up with a great concept for something that sounds like very avoidable boredom. “Stay-cations”.

The inhabitants of East-Tennessee, because of the credit-crunch, are taking vacations across town, rather than across country or continent. The local business owners have said that the increased interest in local tourism by the local inhabitants has lead to a spurt in business.  People still need to keep their kids entertained, even if they have near-on empty pockets.

This is where the concept of home swap is screeeeaming out to you. If you’re not averse to taking a few days out in the summer with your kids, to go for ice-cream or to a gallery, then you could do this for absolutely no cost with home exchange, apart from the travel expenses.

Rather than stay in your local area and go to the sites and parks that you’ve already been to hundreds of times, you could do a free home exchange and have a brilliant time not spending any money.

Let’s not forget that we live in the era of cheap flights and budget airlines, and these low-cost travel opportunities are soon to be offering cross-atlantic flights.

So when it comes to “stay-cations”, you just don’t have to! Go and spend your preciously saved summer pennies in a different part of the world or country, where you can really enjoy the parks and cafes and galleries on a real holiday, at an exceptionally low cost without any accommodation costs!