Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah………And then you’re back. Right back. Back to September, back to autumn, back to work, back to earth.

You were just settling in to relazzzzing (yes! with a “z” because it’s even more chilled out that “relaxing”!), by the pool, absorbing the sun, enjoying your cocktail… In a flash, you’re back at the office, jostling your way through the underground, bleak, work, staring at the screen again. Upon returning from holidays, it is not uncommon to undergo a small bout of depression. So. How can we avoid the back-to-work blues?

Tip # 1: Find new activities!

During the holidays, you may have tried a new sport, or dabbled with a new activity that you like! You may even have started learning a new language! Now that you’ve got the taste for it, it is the perfect time to get yourself enrolled in that salsa class! Make time to do an evening class or take up a new hobby. All you needed was that little extra kick of motivation, and now you have it, so voilá! Up and at ‘em!

Tip # 2: Cocoon at home with friends

Winter is the time to sit around the fire with a glass of wine, snuggling up and watching films! Forget the gloom that can accompany the dawning of the colder seasons. This is an opportunity to organize a good party mode cocooning at home to tell your friends about your summer adventures and new home exchange projects.

Tip # No. 3: Take care of yourself

Just because the summer has ended and there’s no more beach-wear horror to endure, it’s not a reason to sit back and slide into bad habits. You can continue to go to the gym, eat lots of fresh fruit and veg, and even enjoy wrapping up in your charming winter wardrobe.

Tip # 4: Start thinking about your next home exchange

The summer holidays are over, certainly, but nothing prevents you planning  good weekend with friends or couples. Ticket prices are often cheaper, and you will discover charming destinations in the autumn and winter. Finland in December, Sicily to find a holiday or the Oktoberfest in Munich, enjoy the events and opportunities available to you via home exchange!

Just because the summer’s over does not mean that you have to wait a further year until the next vacation! Log on, get your thinking cap on, and start planning your next home exchange! This is the beauty of such low cost-vacations. Vacations and fun times away all year round!

Today, at work, in your activities, your vacation and of course in your home exchange, something that can heavily influence the success or failure of what you do, is your attitude. If you think positively, it usually ends up paying off.  On the other hand, if you are defeatist, negative, fearful and reluctant, then you’ll drive away your potential exchange partners.

Using this premise, and a positive open attitude means that the dialogue you will have with potential exchange partners will be more pleasant. Your exchange and your discussions offer important signs that will be the triggers that will make people want to come or not see what’s happening in your area.

And it is quite normal, we all want to exchange with people who seem nice, funny and postive. So. It’s time to conquer the exchange field, put on your broadest smile, and listen to your little inner voice that tells you: “ouaaa they look too cool, that’s it, we’re going! This may be a good holiday!” That is the best attitude you can have for home exchange.

Take full advantage of home exchange by adopting a positive attitude, believing that a smile can change your destiny, and let the magic happen!

Home exchange is a great opportunity to go on a cultural holiday. This can be a fundamental part of enriching your children’s development. For those culture vultures out there that really like to explore the history, old buildings, grand churches and the archaic historical sites, doing a home exchange in a rustic part of Europe is a brilliant opportunity.

But do children really enjoy it? There is plenty to be gained from visits to cultural sites, and it’s evident that they can really capture their imaginations in a way that all the interactive media in the world could never do.

However, if they’re really little, then they’re not yet capable of making these mental leaps, and can end up getting very tired, bored and unhappy, especially when they’re far away from what is familiar.

So a way of combining educational visits with something more fun is to go to a farm. There are some really impressive antique farm houses that are still alive and kicking in mainland Europe, especially in France. It’s a great chance for little children to make the connection between the brightly coloured cartoon animals in their young learners books, and the bigger, life sized, smelly noisy real farm-yard animals. Not only do they get to learn the names, sites and smells of all kinds of farm-yard paraphenelia and life-forms, but they also get to see the processes behind the scenes. These can be really fascinating, engaging, and children tend to thoroughly enjoy themselves.

So if you’re hoping to do take advantage of the cultural nature of a home exchange, then bear in mind a farm trip as a fun and educational day out for the children.

You can have a lot of fun in the summer if you have access to a kitchen.

There are some really great fun treats you can do with the kids (or whoever else may be childish enough to enjoy this kind of fun, aka: most adults ).

For example, mini lolly making.

You can buy for about 50 cents a bag of lolly sticks, and a couple of packs of fromage frais (i.e.: Petit Filous). Then, with the kids (or the adults, whatever!) you can have great fun piercing a tiny whole in the lid of the yogurt, and inserting the lolly stick so that it stays completely upright. You then carefully place them in the freezer with the lolly stick poking upright.

Wait for a few hours, and then take them out. Now, what you need to do is turn the lollies upside down and remove the yogurt pot. Hold the lolly stick at the bottom and you will have a frozen mini-yogurt free of preservatives, delicious to taste, refreshingly cold, and a snappy and creative task that you can have a great time doing!

This is something that you can uniquely do with a home exchange, where you have a kitchen to play around with. In the summer, having access to a freezer counts!