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Cinnamon Mornings and Chocolate Dreams

Whether you're hosting a formal get-together or need a quick brunch idea, this book will spark your imagination and your appetite.

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Homestay

Homestay is a form of tourism and/or study abroad program that allows the visitor to rent a room from a local family to better learn the local lifestyle as well as improve their language ability. While a homestay can occur in any destination worldwide, some countries do more to encourage homestays than others as a means of developing their tourism industry. Hosting a homestay participant also allows the local family to earn some additional, needed income. Having low profitability, as it is, homestay can not be regarded as strictly commercial activity, but more of cross cultural exchange.

In many countries, a homestay is synonymous with bed and breakfasts or guesthouses however generally a homestay is truly someone’s home first and foremost and will rarely have room for more than one to two guests. However, a homestay can come in all shapes and sizes, from modest cottages on the Irish Sea Coast, to castles on a hill and many farmhouses and ranches in between. In centuries past, a homestay was the most common fort of lodging and almost every village of any size had a family that took in the occasional guest.

A homestay is at the very root of the cross cultural concept of hospitality opening one’s home, hearth and perhaps a bit of one’s heart to voyagers along the way. The concept of offering hospitality in one’s home to travelers is one revered in cultures as diverse as are the countries of Saudi Arabia and France. There are many homestay networks around the world organized around specific hobbies, view points and other interests. These homestay networks allow their members to correspond with one another and arrange stays of predetermined amounts of time to foster both travel and the exchange of ideas on their common subject.

Whichever type of homestay you choose, making such a cultural and personal foray is sure to be rewarding.