I had a dream

Sometimes, I like to daydream of living in the country, in an idyllic little cottage surrounded by a magical forest.

And I dream of spending the days making the most exquisite chocolate cakes, truffles and fudges. And I dream of people coming to the cottage from far-off places to pause and enjoy these treats.

And I dream of chilly fall afternoons making preserves for the winter, sipping coffee and reading at the attic.

And some day I wake up of my daydream and find out that someone has already been there.
Would you like to get into this dream too? Take a sit (with a click) on this bank and you will start dreaming too:

Café CaRe
Dorfstraße 134a
D-02829 Königshain (Germany)

Eat with a local

For a while now I've been using a home exchange site to go on vacation. That's right, like in the movie "The Holiday", with just the small difference that I haven't had yet the opportunity to open the door to any Jude Law, nor did I found a video collection like the one Cameron Díaz's character had in the movie. I've met really great people though, not to mention the rooftop with views to the Queensboro Bridge I could enjoy in Manhattan or the mini vintage apartment I got in Stockholm.

This way of accommodation requires a little bit of additional organisation, a bunch of e-mail correspondence, dates and terms negotiation, plus a high rate of trust in strangers. For me, however, it was always worth it!

Yet another idea based on a similar concept is the exchange at the table, meaning sharing meals with strangers. Imagine you travel somewhere and a local invites you to his or her home for a meal, wouldn't that be great! Or you meet an stranger somewhere in that place to go out for lunch, dinner or even visit local farmer markets together? This way you would for sure get a first hand taste of the culinary traditions. Tempting, isn't it? Well, that's also possible with the idea behind "Eat with a local".

How it works is very easy: you only need to register to the site and be willing to make a meal for someone who is visiting your area or, if you prefer, meet the traveler to eat out, and so, when you visit other places, you look for people on that region, write them and ask them if they would host you. Isn't that a great idea?