…are some of the many charms that home exchange houses at HomeForHome may have. People often find it suprising to find such luxurious, beautiful houses available for home exchange.

The truth is that people from all walks of life, with all kinds of houses do home exchanges. One principle reason for doing a home exchange can be finances. It’s what makes home exchange so neat in the time of a global recession.

But that’s not the whole story. You don’t have to be an adrenaline junkie to enjoy the the idea of an exciting trip into the unknown. Some people live for the cultural exchange more than anything else. It’s a great joy and real opportunity to immerse yourself into a different community.

One of the benefits of having many people that share this opinion is that there are some truly beautiful houses available at HomeForHome. You don’t need to feel intimidated if you have a smaller or less impressive house, because people are often seeking change - something different to the norm. So get searching and make sure you high-light the unique and special charms of your own home!

Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet have done it. In the film The Holiday they are both single women desperately in need of a change in climate. To get this climate change, you simply sign up online and go and stay in someone else’s home, whilst they’re in yours.

In The Holiday, as neither Cameron nor Kate’s characters go particularly prepared, they each get to know a new charming man, fall in love with him and end their vacation with a new relationship.

Are you also single and fed up things? Maybe you feel that you need a bit of a break somewhere, because either at home or at work you feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall. Then leave it to home exchange, and take advantage of a new environment. You can go to a new place, live like the locals, meet new interesting people, and maybe even meet a new partner! Even if it doesn’t come to love, you can definitely make some new friends

So, what do you say? Could it change your life, bring winds of change into your life, or simply help you get to know new places? Home exchange is a great way to take a cheap vacation. Give it a try.

Transparent garbage bags. The Next Big Thing. That will certainly teach us to separate our bio-degradable goods from our plastics and our non-shiny card. Just imagine. All of your rubbish laid out in a chichi modern transparent waste-disposal bag for the whole street to see.

Those failing to comply with the garbage separation rules will be castigated, punished, reprimanded. Made an example of.

Sounds a little strange, huh? But life-style changes are systemic. Yet when we think of how about ten years ago, practically everyone was lumping their plastics, their aluminium cans, their bottles, their card with all the other junk into the trash can without a second thought for the environment, we have to accept that change happens.

Alternative life-style forms are being rapidly assimilated into the “normal” way of living. Life-style habits that ten years ago seemed to be the occupation of a few well-meaning (yet ultimately hopeless crazies) are rapidly being incorporated into the so called normal life-style.

Home exchange can easily been seen as one of these “green” features. Something that ten years back only a few Euro-phile cranks like my parents were doing. Yet now it is receiving more and more press coverage, people are signing up to the free home exchange sites every day, and the concept is rapidly becoming better known.

We live in an exciting age. Which is all the better for sweetly cheap and fun-filled holidays!

One of the annoying things about changing currency is the short change that you get left with that you can’t convert back. It’s particularly irritating. I personally have the habit of keeping the loose change of the foreign currency floating around in my purse for about a month after taking the vacations. Only to wind up pulling my hair out and having to muffle my screams of frustration with my sleeve everytime that I come to pay for something in a shop. And then end up burying it in the garden in an act of irrational anger.

Home exchange has many advantages, great and small. One of the mini-advantages is that you can leave your small change in the home that you’ve stayed in, and if you’re lucky the other family will leave theirs in yours. This not only saves you the horrendous extended stress period post currency change, where you have this money but you don’t really quite know what to do with it. But it also means you´ll have some small change to work with when you get back. (Let’s face it, the idea of guarding the money in a safe place for the next year without forgetting it by the time the next round of holidays comes along, is a little steep.)

So home swapping could potentially solve the niggling problem of the loose change that comes flooding back after a holiday. Also, things such as having fresh milk in the regrigrator. Cheese. Fresh bread. A nice cup of tea and a cheese toastie is usually just want you need when you get back late at night after a day or two spent travelling. And lo and behold, if you arrive back home and there’s nothing there, it puts a dampener on things. Having the home family having just left means that not only will your house be sparkling clean when you arrive, but also that there’s a good chance there will be fresh good and milk left over.

Just a couple of the mini-advantages that home swap has to offer…

Europe. Go on, pick a country.

Now pick another.

Is the weather the same in both of them? Aha I think not. (Well, if you chose Spain and Italy, then you sort of ruined the game.) But if you chose Greece and Poland, or Scotland and France, Iceland and Portugal then you can really see the contrast.

The truth is, that weather-wise, Europe has a bit of everything. So on top of seeing the 100 fold varied cultures, you can also enjoy the differences in the natural environments.

Let´s take a minute to reflect on some of the best things about the rain and the sun.

Rain (e.g.: England)

• The smell of wet plants
• Wellies
• Collecting the city grime in a storm then washing it OUT of your hair
• Thunder
• Watching the trees flail in the wind
• Hearing the storm outside when you´re all snuggle in bed
• Puddles
• The brilliant emptiness of the atmosphere the day after a storm
• The diffuse yellow light that filters in before and after a heavy shower
• The anger of the sky

Sun (e.g.: Spain)

• Seeing the city physically welt in the heat
• A trickle of sweat running down your forehead on the beach
• Wearing cool sunglasses
• Lollies
• Driving with the windows down and the music on LOUD
• How easy it is to get up in the morning
• Lying on your bed with the fan on
• Reading in the shade
• Icecubes
• Soaring seratonin levels

As I said, a little of everything. Get yourself home exchanging and get involved in some of these little treasures that just make life good.

Retirement can be a difficult time.

Especially during the first year. Humans, we do not like change.  And the transition from a fervid, caffeine-fuelled work schedule to a blank, relaxation period can actually bring with it plenty of unforeseen, daunting troubles.

One way of dealing it is to make like my father, and start the party by enrolling yourself into an unthinkable variety of university courses. Foreign languages, creative writing, a bereavement counselling course… Extravagant lunches with old friends in café gardens, foreign film club twice a week, starting to write a novel, occassional trips to the National Costume Museum… Cake making, singing, violin lessons… (Well, actually, the last three I made up, but I´m giving him a couple more months). 

This is one way of dealing with it.

But not everyone´s that crazy. Another way to gently break into the different style of living that comes with retirement is to spend a bit of time home exchanging.

If you want to take advantage of your retirement in order to have more holidays, home exchange is a brilliant way of taking safe, comfortable trips all across the world. Plus, because they´re so cheap, you can afford to take them right through the year.

Alternatively, if you´re thinking of buying a second home, or of moving to another area, home exchange is the perfect way of scouting out your ideal location. Not only do you get to sample the area first out, but you also get a feel of what it would be like to LIVE there, in a home. Hotels can be misleading, and also if you go on package trips you tend to feel set apart from the actual community way of life. So it serves not only as a way of packing holidays into a sardine tin, but also as a trial period for potential new areas to live in.

The transition between a flat out, or even a relaxed part time working schedule, can be a tricky psychological adjustment. So if you feel feel a little blue, or are finding the displacement that often comes as you embark upon a life of freedom a little strange, then you can ease into it smoothly. Catching some sun, or seeing some inspiring art in a completely new environment, can infuse you with a sense of well being, and motivate you to learn some new relaxation techniques.

Home Exchange is not just about summer vacations. It´s can touch all corners of your life.