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   CONTENTS OF THE SPRING – SUMMER 2012 ISSUE:

      1. THE NEWS: "Europe's Economic Woes A Windfall for US Travelers!" The Euro & Pound are weak. 
           The US Dollar is strong. Advantage: You. See our Prime Cuts Special.
           "AUTUMN SCOTLAND ESCORTED TRIP STILL AVAILABLE." We drive. We guide. You decide where & when.

      2. RECESSION BEATERS: FIVE WAYS TO BEAT THE HIGH COST OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL.

      3. FAMILY TRAVEL: THE TIME IS NOW! Most travel lessons are fun. They're the real souvenirs of your trip.

      4. ADVENTURE: "MÖJA & OTHER SWEDISH DREAM ISLANDS." Finding Sweden while picking wild strawberries
          and skipping stones during a rustic overnight journey into Stockholm's magical Baltic Archipelago.

      5. PEOPLE: "QUEEN ELIZABETH II's DIAMOND JUBILEE": Think you know all there is to know about
          Her Majesty? We bet you don't: read the article, take the quiz!

      6. FEATURED GOLF COURSE: ROYAL LYTHAM and ST. ANNE'S, near Blackpool, Lancashire, on England's "Golf
          Coast". The British Open Championship returns to Royal Lytham for the eleventh time July 15-22, 2012.

      7. FEATURED LODGING: COROMANDEL TREEHOUSE, near Coromandel town on the Coromandel Peninsula of
          the North Island of New Zealand. Artistry and architecture amid an arbor of fern trees. Tree-top-notch!

      8. CALENDAR OF EVENTS is alive with choice activities in and near Home At First destinations in Britain,
          Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Bermuda. Our list includes cheese-rolling, cannon salutes, sports,
          theatre, an air show, an ocean race, a steam train with fish & chips, special exhibitions, traditional customs,
          even fireworks and parades. As always, there is good food, excitement, and genuine laughter, too.
         

 
The News

Europe's Economic Woes A Windfall for US Travelers
The Euro and Pound are weak. The US Dollar is strong. Advantage: YOU.

See Our PRIME CUTS Special.

  NOT JUST GREECE & SPAIN: For a change, the big
  economic news of 2012 is not about the US economy.
  The well-publicized potential default of European Union
  members Greece and Spain (with Italy, Portugal, and
  Ireland on the bubble) has given the other nation-
  members the Euro-jitters, threatening the common
  currency barely a dozen years into its existence. In
  recent months the common currency of 17 European
  countries has dropped 10% in value, as Greece, Spain
  and other deep-in-debt neighbors consider bankruptcy,
  placing the Euro itself in jeopardy. The United Kingdom,
  which belongs to the European Union but has
  maintained its own currency, the pound sterling, has
  not escaped the tribulations of those who trade in
  Euros, and the pound has also weakened significantly
  against the US dollar.
          This news, while not the best for the economies
  of Britain and Ireland, is very welcome indeed to
  travelers from the U.S. who have chosen 2012 as the
  year to travel to England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland,
  and/or Northern Ireland. Many of our suppliers of
  cottages and apartments in Britain and Ireland have
  contacted us to report that, due to down economies
  across Europe, their European visitors are not coming

Bygones Antiques, Lahinch, Central
Ireland. With the lower Euro, prices
of antiques and curios -- in fact,
of everything -- are significantly
down this year.
Photo © Home At First.
 

  in the usual numbers this year, and many prime lodgings remain available for prime
  weeks.
          If you have not yet made travel plans for 2012, you can reap the benefits of
  reduced-price lodging plus reduced costs on-site through Home At First's PRIME CUTS
  Special. Click on the link to see a selection of prime quality rental properties in
  Scotland, Ireland, and London available at prime time, 2012. Maybe this is the
  perfect time to plan the trip of your dreams to Britain and Ireland at a perfect price.
 

Autumn Scotland Escorted Trip Still Available
We drive. We guide. But you choose the daily itinerary & activities.

And you still have your very own Scottish cottage near stores, pubs, & restaurants.

  OUR NEW IDEA. For 2012 Home At First offers a new
  way to experience our most popular destination:
  Scotland, by small group escorted touring.

            Designed for those not wanting to drive
  themselves, but still wanting independence and
  flexibility in their daily travel planning, our small group
  escorted tours provide a combination of independent
  living in your own cottage or apartment in Central
   Scotland with daily options to join our guided, small-
  group excursions to locations throughout Scotland.

          Our inaugural Spring trip (May 11-19) earned
  rave reviews from its participants. A few spaces
  remain for our initial Autumn trip:   September 21-29.  

         Here are some of the particulars:

         • Groups will be limited to a maximum of 12 persons.

         • Registration for Autumn 2012 Trip closes June 23, 2012.

JOINING US TODAY?

           The Price: $2,999.00 per person (double occupancy).  Singles extra.  Reductions for 3-6 persons.

           PRICE INCLUDES:
         • R/T Flights: Philadelphia or Newark to Glasgow.       • R/T Transfers Glasgow Airport to Central Scotland.
         • 6 Nights Central Scotland Cottage or Apartment.       • 5 Daily Guided Small Group Excursions.
         • 1 Night Glasgow Airport Hotel  with breakfast.          • Home At First’s “Scotland Activities Guide”.
         • Orientation, 5 Happy Hour Meetings with One “Wee Dram” Each, and 1 Scottish Supper.

                                HOME AT FIRST PRESENTS

 5 Ways to Beat the High Cost of

 International Travel

  1. For 2012, Home At First holds or drops most
       prices for the third consecutive year!

    HOME AT FIRST's 2012 Prices ARE up to 30% LOWER
    than they were in 2009! Sure, lots of things have
    dropped in price since 2009. But not jet fuel. Not basic
    international airfares plus taxes. We are working
    closely with all our suppliers to ensure that our prices
    are the lowest possible without reducing quality.

    Go ahead — compare our prices with any competitor.
    Find our prices HERE.

     VISIT US ON-LINE

  2. Our 2012 Published Prices CAN be beat...by us!

    Home At First's instant price quotes often undercut
    our low published prices! Here's how to get your own
    INSTANT DISCOUNT.

IN$TANT DISCOUNT$

$AVE HUNDRED$
ON 2012 TRAVEL
PRICES CHANGE DAILY!
GET YOUR QUOTE TODAY!

  3. OUR CURRENT SPECIALS! Check out our DEALS page
     for the latest Recession Beaters. They don't last long.
     Check them often — watch for a special offer for the
     destination and time of year that is on your wish list.

  4. TRAVEL BARGAIN ALERTS! Want us to notify you
      when we discover a bargain for the trip of your
      dreams? Sign up to receive our notices of late-
      breaking travel bargains here: E-MAIL ALERTS.

CLICK TO SEE
OUR LATEST,
HOTTEST
 

 
SIGN-UP FOR
E-MAIL ALERTS HERE!
 

  5. KIDS STAY FREE! Take the family to Britain/Ireland. ......Pay for the adults' lodging only.

   HOME AT FIRST's Editor's

 COMMENTARY

              ---------------------------------------------------

 family travel

The Time is NOW!

Jackie in Paris, Spring 2012.
"Most travel lessons are fun."
Photo © Home At First.

— EXCERPT: "HERE'S THE WORLD AND HOW TO IMPROVE IT" —

          When they travel abroad, danger is the companion of young people. No, not the danger of parental nightmares. The danger I write of is the danger that your young people — like my 12-year-old granddaughter, Jackie — may come home spouting some unpatriotic heresy born of positive experiences and new ideas they experienced in a foreign culture. A 98-year-old song still warns us: “How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?”

          The “heresy” rarely comes as dogma. Mostly it comes as dialogue, and you’re invited to play. “Why don’t we have better public transportation?” “Shouldn’t we be producing more organic food?” “Why is college (or health care, or the cost to get into a museum) so expensive in America?”

          Of course, you run the same risk every time you travel abroad. We hear it from you. We say it ourselves. “Why can’t we have bakeries and fresh-baked bread in America?” “I love the cheese (or mustard, or selection of leaf lettuce, or pastries, or the gas mileage, or the duvets, or the outdoor cafés, or the local foods, or don’t get me started) here. We should have this in America.”

          When you travel, you learn. Same for the kids. And, happily, most of the lessons are fun. They’re the real souvenirs of your trip.

My granddaughter bought a snow globe in Paris that she may keep

  forever. But, it will serve to remind her of the trip’s most important souvenirs: that travel is positive, 
  that other cultures can teach us while they entertain us, and that she wants to travel again.

READ THE ARTICLE

• In recent weeks the dollar has gained significant value against the Euro and the British pound.
• Airfares to many destinations, including most in the British Isles, have not jumped as predicted.
• In fact, airfare sales have recently appeared that significantly reduce even
      high season travel to popular destinations including SCOTLAND and LONDON.
• Many European countries need the economic shot in the arm American visitors bring.
• The welcome mat is out.        • The cost is down.
• The tide of world tensions has ebbed.         • This is the year Americans have been waiting for.
• It’s time to check off one or two items on your bucket list.    • And on those of your kids, too.
  

          HOME AT FIRST's

ADVENTURE

              ---------------------------------------------------

 MÖJA

& Other Swedish Dream Islands

 
— EXCERPT: THE ISLAND'S COMMUNITY CENTER —

          Berg is the center of the island community, the
  closest thing residents have to a town. Berg was busy:
  its boatyard was full of visiting craft and their sailors;
  its restaurant and café hummed with patrons; a group
  was readying the pavilion for an evening dance. We
  heard laughter and the music of glassware. We heard
  the percussion of hammers in the boatyard. A pen of
  sheep and goats bleated their tuneless song.
          Atop a hill on the southwest side of Berg
  overlooking the village from a grove of trees is Möja’s
  elegant wooden church. Built in 1768, it replaced an
  earlier church that was the only building on the island
  spared the torches of marauding Russians in 1719.
  Swedes, as a rule, do not regularly attend church. Nor
  do I. But, had I the chance, I would have gone to
  services here. Churches serve well remote populations
  at the mercy of the weather, the sea, and invading
  Russians.

READ THE ARTICLE
 

Möja's elegant wooden church at Berg.
Photo © Home At First
 

 
WE SAILED FROM STOCKHOLM 30 MILES EAST INTO THE HUNDREDS OF ISLANDS OF THE BALTIC
ARCHIPELAGO. WE OVERNIGHTED ON RUSTIC MÖJA ISLAND, HOPING TO EXPERIENCE SWEDISH
LIFE AT ITS MOST ESSENTIAL: SIMPLE, NATURAL, NAUTICAL. WE LEARNED ABOUT THE SWEDES,
AND, LEARNED ABOUT OURSELVES IN THE PROCESS. JUST LIKE AN INGMAR BERGMAN FILM.

     Exploring Scandinavia's extraordinarily scenic variety — from its remarkably livable cities to its starkly
     beautiful wilderness — enables your discovery of the Scandinavians, too.  Maybe, learn more about yourself
     en route. Home At First offers flexible travel itineraries that let you find the SCANDINAVIA of your dreams.

HOME AT FIRST's

PEOPLE

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Things You May Not Know About

QUEEN ELIZABETH II

QUEEN ELIZABETH II.
Photo © Home At First
 

—EXCERPT—
NAMED FOR 3 PREDECESSOR QUEENS,
ELIZABETH UNEXPECTEDLY SUCCEEDS THEM

         The girl who would become Queen Elizabeth II was born in a plain city house – albeit a house in Mayfair, LONDON’s poshest neighborhood – on April 21, 1926. Her parents, The Duke and Duchess of York led a relatively quiet life. Her likeable father was a shy man who, as second son to his father, King George V, did not expect to become King of England. The Duke and Duchess decided to name their firstborn daughter Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, after three successive generations of women in her family: her mother Elizabeth, her great-grandmother Alexandra, and her grandmother Mary. Great-grandmother Alexandra was the wife of King Edward VII. Grandmother Mary was the wife of King George V. Mother Elizabeth was the wife of the Duke of York, who unexpectedly would become King George VI when his older brother, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in so he could marry an American divorcée — a person-status ineligible and unacceptable to become the queen consort wife of a king of England.
 

READ THE ARTICLE
   

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: How English is her ancestry? How British is her husband?

Read all about her on our current PEOPLE page.

Like the British monarchy? Read these pages about: EDWARD I, HENRY VIII, CATHERINE OF ARAGON,
ANNE BOLEYN, JANE SEYMOUR, ANNE OF CLEVES, KATHRYN HOWARD, KATHERINE PARR, THE TUDORS,
and GEORGE III.

Want to get close to royal history on your next trip to LONDON? Stay at HOME AT FIRST's

Apartments at St. Katherine's Marina by the TOWER OF LONDON. See our selection here:

CATHERINE OF ARAGON APT.    ANNE BOLEYN APARTMENT   JANE SEYMOUR APARTMENT

ANNE OF CLEVES APARTMENT     KATHRYN HOWARD APARTMENT

 FEATURED GOLF COURSE

SITE OF THE 2012 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP - JULY 15-22

     ROYAL LYTHAM & ST ANNE'S GOLF CLUB, near Blackpool, Lancashire. Of the great cluster of golf courses that
     crowd the Irish Sea along west central England's Golf Coast, Royal Lytham & St. Anne's is also one of three
     courses in the region that regularly host the (British) Open Championship. In 2012 (July 15-22) the Open
     returns to Royal Lytham for the 11th time since 1926, when golfing's immortal amateur Bobby Jones won the
     first Open Championship played there, and the first of his three British Open Championships.  Royal Lytham's
     links is currently ranked #37 in the world outside of the United States by GolfDigest.com, and welcomes the
     public as visitors despite being an exclusive private club. Known for its many bunkers (averaging more than
     10 per hole), its distance from the sea (.5 mile), and its placement between a rail line and a housing
     development, Royal Lytham offers none of the scenery of other classic links courses in Britain and Ireland.
     What is offered, however, is a challenging course often subject to changing wind and weather, and a welcoming
     membership delighted to share the great history and tradition of the course and club with visitors. Can we
     arrange your tee-time as part of your next visit to Great Britain?                 Photo courtesy VisitLancashire.com.

READ THE ARTICLE

- FEATURED LODGING -

     New Zealand compacts the Exotic with the Familiar. Take the COROMANDEL PENINSULA:
     all the remoteness of a South Pacific paradise but less than 40 air miles east of New
     Zealand’s singular sprawling metropole, Auckland, and as close as 50 driving miles
     from Auckland International Airport. A region distinctly unto itself but easily explored
     in 1-2 days: two very different coastlines divided by a rugged mountainous spine;
     rain forest clad; rimmed with sheltered bays, hidden coves, sunny beaches, and
     crashing surf. Native Maori live here, and have for over 1,000 years. Captain Cook
     first set foot on New Zealand here in 1769, heralding the arrival of miners,
     lumbermen, farmers, artists, craftsmen, sportsmen, retirees, and dropouts from all
     over the world, creating society of its own: multi-counter-cultural. Visitors discover
     fascination on the Coromandel: geography, activity, artistry, gastronomy. They learn
     to expect surprises – pleasant surprises. Like remarkable places to stay.
     Like Home At First’s Coromandel Treehouse.

READ THE ARTICLE

 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

AT HOME AT FIRST DESTINATIONS IN

THE BRITISH ISLES, SCANDINAVIA, BERMUDA, & NEW ZEALAND.

SPRING-SUMMER 2012

SEE THIS MONTH'S WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR OF EVENTS

It's not too late to plan your 2012 vacation!
Contact Home At First for an Instant Discount Trip Proposal.

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 HomEzine

 VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 1, 2012

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