An old friend and I met and caught up with each other over a cup of coffee. As we talked about our good old days of traveling in groups, she was saddened by the fact that she can’t go anywhere far from home because of her kid. So I said, “Then why not bring your daughter along with you when you plan to go on a trip again?” Who says having kids would tie you down and prevent you from going places?

Bringing kids with you on trips might even be a good idea. Of course, it’s pretty tough taking care of them when you are away form home, but it would also be a rewarding experience for you and your kids. It is a real learning experience for them to be exposed to a new environment and different cultures and lifestyles. Seeing that the world isn’t just limited to the neighborhood they are in, kids can easily adapt to new environment when they grow older. Adjusting becomes easier. Traveling and going places is a learning experience apart from school. A good idea to make the most of your trip is to take them to museums or galleries to know more about the place you are in. That would be History 101 for your little kid! Another good idea is to take them on a short hike around the countryside or bike around the city. The discoveries are endless. Kids will never forget that experience and will take these memories with them until they grow old. These are inexpensive activities, but the reward for spending quality and quantity for them is priceless.

Traveling with kids or even as a family isn’t expensive; there are family packages that you could avail. And of course, home exchange is a good idea to cut back on accommodations. Look for a home exchange that could accommodate the size of your family and wouldn’t mind if you would have kids with you during your stay. You and your home exchange partner can talk about any concerns with kids staying, but surely they wouldn’t mind. Treat your kids to a new experience. Enjoy!

One of the fine things about going on holiday is the nouveau gourmet. Trying out the new restaurants, bars, cuisine, the different variety of dishes available.

But one of the advantages of doing a home exchange is that you can actually learn to cook the new dishes yourself, with the fresh and correct ingredients from that region!

If you stay in a hotel your certainly don’t have the facilities to practise the new culinary tasks that the new location or culture have set you. Even if you take some vacations by staying with a friend, you don’t reeeeally have the freedom to put your Quiche Lorraine to the test.

But if you do a home exchange, you’ll have every kitchen utensil you need at your disposal, and you’ll have the space and time to try new things out. For example, fresh shrimps from the Galician coast in Spain. Learning how to cook them and trying them out with the real McCoy ingredients. Real Italian tomatoes as you learn to weave a real thin, crispy, home-made pizza base.

This gives you the opportunity to take what you see and experience on holiday right into your heart. It gives you the chance to learn new cooking skills, and to walk like a native for that one day as you plod the route to the open market, in the sunshine, watching the people go, listening to the strange words in the music of a foreign language… Then to go home, and really live as someone within that culture, going through the same motions as them, preparing the local tradition foods.

It’s something that is a particular treat for the Brits of the North Americans, as our food markets are already so globalised that the notion of a national dish is pretty much forgotten.

It’s also a great thing to do with your partner or family, and it makes a wonderful memory that you can take back with you into your own home and keep hold of forever.

Home exchangers of the world unite!

Here at Homeforhome, (because we`re nice), we want to give you some tips and advice in creating a selection of photos that will help you receive more home exchange offers.

We know what it`s like. You`ve spent the time uploading your profile, and you just want to get through the process and hurry up and get home exchanging. And then you realize that you need to go and take photos of your house.

Which means finding your camera. Finding the cable. Cleaning. Tidying. Waiting until there`s some decent day light.

But it really is worth it. A good photo can give someone a real taste of all the great things about your home, and why you love living there. Which raises YOUR stakes in the home exchange system.

So firstly, let`s assume that it`s all clean and tidy and ready for action. A few “do`s” and “don`t”s.

The “Don`t”s

1) Try to avoid dark photos where you can`t see much of the house. It will give other users the impression that the house is badly lit, uncomfortable, or not very welcoming. People will just have a negative sensation and won`t feel very excited by your offer.

2) By all means you can include photos that include people. However, it is important to focus on the house. People are thinking of the space in which they will able to spend their precious holidays. The home needs to be the focus. And let`s be honest. Photos of dark rooms with a bright light shining on a young child, or a mug-shot of the owner are not likely to attract many exchange proposals.

3) Photos of you scuba diving, or dressed up in 16th century fencing costume are fine for your profile picture (each to their own!), but when it comes to photos of the home people will be put off if you don`t have some serious photos. Generally, people are a little suspicious and want to know that their prospective exchange partners are serious. If you don`t have proper photos up, then the other user does not have much to go on.

4) Don`t put up pre-saved photos that you have in your image bank. *That*pink flower or *that* sunset. It`s frustrating for other users. It`s actually worth the wait of getting your own photos up there.

5) Don´t put a photo that is larger than 3mb because it won´t load. All photos have to be 3mb or less.

The “Do”s

1) Take plenty of photos of the rooms of the house, the garden, and if you like photos of local interest points.

2) Try to stand back, for example in the door way, or stand outside of a window looking into the room in order to be able to capture a good section of the room.

3) The rule of thirds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds Imagine that the image is divided into three equal parts horizontally, and three equal parts vertically. Try put the natural lines or sections of the photo along these imaginary lines.

4) Make sure that you rotate the images first on your computer before uploading them, as you won`t be able to rotate them once they`re up on the site.

So. Keys under the flower pot. Or under the doormat. Does anyone do that anymore? I don´t think so. But there is something really quite romantic about it. Something really very World War 2 era, or something very teenage there, lingering somehow.

Which of course brings us to the question of: how do we transfer keys when we do a home exchange? The most obvious thing to do would be to leave the keys with a neighbour. Safe, reliable, easy and simple.

But what about if you don´t have a neighbour you would feel comfortable asking this from? It could happen. People don´t connect as much anymore. Gone are those playful days of a gentle loan of a cup of sugar, or leaving the front door unlocked so that neighbours can come and go as they please. (Like, to access inside of the house.) So some people might not feel comfortable asking a neighbour to do this.

Or what if the other home exchangers have flights that will arrive at 4 o´clock in the morning and you just can´t quite bring yourself to ask Bob and Sue (or Geoff and Viv) to wake up in the middle of the night to do you this favour.

Well. There are other ways of organizing these things. Firstly, depending on your preferences, you could send a copy of the keys via special post delivery. It´s a bit extreme, but possible nonetheless. Obviously don`t put your address on the envelope.

If you don`t feel comfortable with this, you could organize for a family member, or friend to come around on the day that the guests will arrive, and get them to open up and welcome in the new family. Or, if it´s a “4 in the morning” type scenario, they could put the keys in an envelope and hide them in a specific and predetermined point outside of the house. (Flower pot!! It´s screaming out to you!)

Another way to do things is to get the exchanges to overlap a little, so that the family stays with you one day, and that way you can do everything by your own hand. Often home exchangers do like to meet their fellow exchangers, as it puts a nice smiley face on top of everything, and makes you feel more comfortable.

There are fifty ways to leave your keys to the incoming exchangers. You just need to be a bit imaginative, and don´t be afraid to ask for a bit of help from a neighbour or friend. Most people are more than willing to do it.