Featured Current Travel Bargains —
• BERMUDA: Early- to Mid-Spring Escape! Save 26% ($702/prs). 6-Night Full-Packages. MAJOR SALE! ENDING SOON! (MAR–MAY 2026).
• SWITZERLAND: Prime Time! Save 21% ($694/prs) off 1-week fly/rail full-package travel: LATE-SUMMER/AUTUMN SEP–NOV 2026.
• SCANDINAVIA: Copenhagen, Oslo, or Stockholm! Save 34+% ($1,339/prs) off 1-Week Full-Packages during TRAVEL SEP-OCT 2026.
• IRELAND: Limited Time! 35+% – $1,292/prs off HIGH-SEASON 1-Week Full-Packages to any of 4 Irish regions. Travel 31JUL-19SEP, 2026.
see details
Realizing Your International Travel Dreams —
Home At First makes travel dreams come true with high-quality, excellent-value, full-service, personalized, custom, independent, international travel planning. Next time you plan to travel from home, travel with HOME AT FIRST.
Your journey begins in the immense sky.
Over the vast ocean, you sleep
high above the storm.
Begin Your Dream Journey Here…
SIX STEPS TO MAKING YOUR Custom, INDEPENDENT, international Travel DREAMS COME TRUE —
1. DREAM
Do you dream of custom, independent, international travel?
• Maybe stories you have read or movies you have seen have inspired you.
• Or, maybe tracing family roots is your ambition.
• Or, maybe music, theater, or sports are your focused goals.
Whatever your reasons to travel overseas, your travel dreams can come true. This is where the travel experts at Home At First come in.
2. DESIGN
Tell us your custom, independent, international travel dreams. We design a free trip proposal for you, with all the right flights, lodgings, & ground transport you need to turn your custom, independent, international travel dreams into realities. When you accept your personalized trip design, send us your deposit payment. Then we arrange all the elements to make your dream trip come to life.
3. DAYDREAM
Read & daydream about your trip! Before your trip begins you receive a comprehensive guidebook keyed for your destinations. Thirty days prior to your departure you receive all necessary trip documents (tickets, vouchers, passes) plus detailed arrival information, including your overseas addresses, contact information for your lodgings and your hosts, and specific meeting plans for arrival day.
4. DEPART
Departure Day. Check-in and Security and two hours of Waiting-to-Board (sorry). Then the big bird soars, and the wise flier snores. Too soon breakfast interrupts rudely, signifying the approaching landing. Terra Incognito appears out the cabin window. A new world appears as if out of your airplane slumber. Dreams begin to transform into first impressions, but not yet hardened enough to be considered realities.
5. DECOMPRESS
Arrival Day. In some prearranged way — train, bus, taxi, rental car — you find your foggy way to your first night’s lodging. Bed’s invitation wrestles with your curiosity to explore, and bed mostly wins, at least for a couple of hours. You wake in a new place where you barely remember arriving. Time seems as fuzzy as your mind is groggy. You are hungry. Your first meal will help reestablish order. Relaxation begins, and Peace happens.
6. DISCOVER
Your custom, independent, international travel dream begins. A new morning — the first day of your new life. Take a walk. Eat a fresh pastry with a reassuring coffee or a change-up tea. Watch & listen closely. Hear strange language: even English words now sound foreign. Observe all around you. Dare to speak, to order, to shop. Can you find your way home? Home. Your new home. Comfortable. Roomy. You’re Home At First.
FIND YOUR CUSTOM, INDEPENDENT, INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL DREAM DESTINATION HERE:
Home At First Destinations
Our World of Custom, Independent, International Travel
Featuring Quality Hosted Lodgings in a large number of set destinations.
• 1-Week Full Packages • Ground Arrangements Only • Lodging Only
Jump ahead to see our Current Travel Bargains.
SUPERBLY LOCATED CENTRAL LONDON APARTMENTS:
• Tower Bridge North
near historic Tower of London & Tower Hill tube.
• Tower Bridge South
in fashionable riverside Bermondsey.
• London Bridge North
near Monument tube station.
• London Bridge South
near London Bridge station.
COTTAGES IN FOUR
ENGLISH REGIONS
Heart of England
The West Country
Northwest England
North Yorkshire
& by SPECIAL REQUEST:
• Cambridge • Oxford
• Cheshire & Shropshire
• The Midlands
Central England
LODGINGS IN THREE SCOTTISH REGIONS:
Scotland’s Heartland
Scotland’s Historic Capital
The Northern Highlands
& by SPECIAL REQUEST:
• Glasgow
• The Borders
• Isle of Skye
• Mull & Iona
• Outer Hebrides
• Orkney & Shetland
COTTAGES IN TWO
NATIONAL PARK REGIONS OF WALES
Brecon Beacons Nat’l. Park
Snowdonia Nat’l. Park
& by SPECIAL REQUEST:
• Southwest Wales
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
COTTAGES & APARTMENTS IN FIVE IRISH REGIONS:
Tipperary & Clare
Cork & Kerry
Donegal & Sligo
Antrim & Londonderry
Dublin
LEFT & RIGHT BANK
PARIS APARTMENT LOCATIONS:
Central Paris
Apartments
in safe, attractive, desirable neighborhoods near attractions, the Métro, restaurants, and services:
Arrondissements 1-8, 11, & 18.
& by SPECIAL REQUEST:
• Provence
• Normandy
• Alsace
APTS. & CHALETS ACROSS THE SWISS ALPS:
Locarno & its neighbors
The Matterhorn & Zermatt
& by SPECIAL REQUEST:
• Eastern Switzerland:
Pontresina, the Bernina Alps, & the Upper Engadine
PORTUGAL
Fly/Drive or Fly/Rail
Choose 1, 2, or 3 Regions:
Apartments in central Porto with choice of rental car or rail pass
Apartments in historic Lisbon city or in seaside Cascais town. Choice of rental car or rail pass
Apartments right for the beach, for golf, or touring by rental car.
LODGINGS IN THREE DANISH REGIONS:
• Zealand: Copenhagen & Roskilde
Classic lodging locations in Copenhagen & Roskilde. Special request locations throughout Denmark.
OSLO, BERGEN, &
THE FJORDS
Plus Stavanger, Kristiansand, Lillehammer, Ålesund, Trondheim, Lofoten, & Tromsø
Lodgings at 8 classic & 5 special request Norwegian locations including the World Heritage Site fjords.
NORTH & SOUTH ISLANDS — A ROAD TRIP OF DISCOVERY:
Individually planned itineraries using boutique lodgings with outstanding hosting in:
• 6 North Island regions
• 6 South Island regions
BETWEEN BRITAIN &
THE CARIBBEAN:
Bermuda offers much
more than its famed pink sand beaches. We offer cottages & inns across the island.
AMAZING ROAD TRIP
Small Hotels & Inns along Iceland’s Ring Road, starting from Reykjavik. See volcanoes, geysers, glaciers, waterfalls, & black sand beaches.
Independent fly/drive itineraries combine with most European destinations.
Do you have a unique travel goal for Europe? Home At First researches and custom-plans individual itineraries to your specific dream destinations, with all the lodgings, flights, and ground transportation needed to accomplish your goals.
WE CUSTOM-PLAN DREAM TRIPS TO:
• England • Scotland • Wales • Ireland • Isle of Man
• Austria • France • Germany • Greece • Italy
• Netherlands • Portugal • Spain • Switzerland
• Iceland • Denmark • Finland • Norway • Sweden
d
A Letter from Home…
Searching for Shangri-La —
Where in the World Do You Wish to Travel in 2026?
Mürren, Switzerland, is my slice of Heaven. I found it long before I knew I was on the hunt. I’ve been traveling professionally since I was 32. Traveling professionally used to mean a rapid-fire itinerary, alternately working with guests or visiting one or two destinations each day, lots of meetings with suppliers, hotel stays, and frequent restaurant meals. Free time was when I slept, or when I hung around airports, or stared out the window of a train/bus/ferry. There was little time for activities like hiking or biking, or visiting museums or historical places like castles. My camera was always busy shooting accommodations and their immediate surroundings, regardless of the weather. Precious rare were the days when good weather corresponded with the chance to photograph thematically: Nature, People, Action, Sport, Drama, Transportation, Culture, Adventure, Animals, Peace, Risk, or the New/Unusual/Bizarre.
A day-trip introduced me to Mürren – mostly to its extraordinary setting atop a remote terrace a vertical kilometer above the floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland’s Yosemite. I had been working in the Central Switzerland heartland, a couple of hours from the drama of the Bernese Alps. My wife and colleague, Judi, was also in Switzerland on assignment, west of me a few hours, working with guests in the exceptionally pretty Lake Thun and Kander Valley region. Somehow, we both got a Sunday free, a Sunday as beautiful as today, the last Sunday in August, 2025. We railed from our respective work regions, met in Interlaken, and headed up by train and funicular to alpine Grütschalp, then walked along the isolated, cliff-hugging BLM railway line 90 minutes to the village of Mürren. We walked Mürren’s main street, bought a drink at the grocery to go with our packed lunches, reversed our course and walked back to Grütschalp. We stopped at a bench with an especially stunning view of the Bernese Alps and the deep Lauterbrunnen Valley, and enjoyed our lunch, one another’s company, and our day off. We had been exhausted, but the 3 hours walked from Grütschalp to Mürren and back invigorated us and reminded us why we were working in travel. Neither of us told the other that one day we would come back here, and stay longer. Our travel dream had been born, but necessarily filed away for future pursuit. We had a family to raise, with graduations, weddings, and then grandchildren, too.
More than 15 years into the new millennium our opportunity to return to Mürren occurred. We owned our travel company. We had become empty-nesters. We had put away a few dollars. We had first-hand knowledge of some of the world’s great destinations. Away from the office we were still traveling separately, only occasionally meeting when our paths crossed and gave us the chance for a few days together in Wales, Scotland, England, Italy, Scandinavia, Paris, and Italy. After many years, our paths again crossed in Switzerland, where a shared a short familiarization visit to Zermatt by the Matterhorn was an easy tie to the arrival of our first grandson in nearby Geneva. It was during this visit that a discussion of favorite Swiss memories brought up Mürren. When we compared notes, Mürren was at the top of both of our wish-to-return lists.
It took another ten years before Judi and I could squeeze a week’s visit to Mürren into our busy schedules. It wasn’t enough timeto settle in, and Mürren, unlike most every place we had ever been, made us want to settle in. We began planning visits to Mürren each summer.
Now, after visiting several times, Mürren has become like a second home for us. We have neighbors there who call us by our first names. The ladies at the grocery store brighten when they see we’re back. Some restaurants greet us as regulars. I have hiked almost all the trails in all kinds of weather. Nature’s wonders come to me as I sit on our chalet apartment’s balcony. I keep a camera ready for new visions that appear nearly every day.
Judi and I are not alone in our regard of Mürren. The village is small, with a limited number of visitor apartments. We have learned to request reservations for next year as soon as we can project our travel dates. This year, we made our reservations for our 2026 visit before we left for home. We’re hooked on Mürren and do not want to face the disappointment of not getting the time slot we want for the year to come.
* * * * *
Haven’t found your Mürren, your Shangri-La yet? Maybe 2026 will be your Year of Discovery. Still have lots of travel goals on your wish list? Maybe 2026 will be a Year of Accomplishment. Why not book early so you can get the right reservations for your needs? Why wait? Now is the perfect time to start your search. We can help.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Importantly, vacationing successfully and/or traveling well — and affordably — begins with a phone call (800-523-5842 US & Canada) or email (info@homeatfirst.com) to Home At First.
— Ron Fahnestock, Editor
Sign up for Travel Bargain Alerts!
We’ll send you breaking news of special bargains for custom, independent, international travel to your favorite Home At First destinations — like the ones in the right-hand column. Notices come as we discover them — usually 1-3 times monthly — and typically offer savings of 17-30% off full-packages with flights, lodgings, and land transportation.
FIND OUR BEST VALUES HERE:
4 OUTSTANDING DEALS
FOR CUSTOM, INDEPENDENT,
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL IN 2026!
• Swiss Prime Time Special! SWITZERLAND: SEP/NOV
• ENDS SOON!! BERMUDA ESCAPE: MAR/MAY
• Saints Be Praised! IRELAND – SUMMER: JUL/SEP!
• Copenhagen/Oslo/Stockholm! SCANDINAVIA SEP/OCT
SUPER NEW BARGAIN!
$AVE 21% – $694/person!
Prime Time in —
CHOOSE FROM 3 SPECTACULAR REGIONS:
• Kandersteg: gorgeous (& flat!) village surrounded by high Alps; excellent touring center by rail or car.
• Mürren: car-free, chocolate-box, alpine village; amazing views; superb cheese; cows with bells!
• Locarno: small lakeside Swiss city; Italian flair, style, climate, food, & fashion; quick access to the Alps.
7-Day Independent Full Package:
Independent Fly/Rail Travel with Transatlantic Flights + Chalet/Apartment Lodgings + TransPass
TRAVEL 11SEP – 06NOV 2026
Friday Departures 11SEP – 30OCT
PRIME TIME for TOURING & ACTIVITIES!
To Get This Swiss Travel Special
BOOK BY MARCH 3, 2026
SAVE 21%! SAVE $694/prs!
$2,615
PER PERSON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
Hurry! Sale Ends Soon!
EARLY- to MID-SPRING
6-Night Independent Full Packages
Escape!
— TRAVEL MAR. 24–MAY 12, 2026 —
• Extremely Rare Bermuda Sale: Save 26%
• 2-3 Hours Non-Stop Flight from Newark
• Warm/Cool: Daily High: 70º; Low; 60º
• Beaches, Golf, Boutiques, Restaurants
• Touring, Swimming, Boating, Fishing
• Lodgings: small inns with daily breakfast
• Lodgings: helpful concierge services
• Airport Car Transfers coming & going
• Travel by bus, ferry, taxi, scooter, buggy
• Includes helpful Bermuda Activities Guide
Last Days!
ESCAPE TO BERMUDA!
$AVE up to 26% – $702/person!
$1,999
PER PERSON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
BOOK BY FEBRUARY 19, 2026
RARE: HIGH-SEASON TRAVEL
at an EXTRAORDINARY SAVINGS!
$AVE 35.5% – $1,292/person!
Ireland in Summer!
27 MUST-DO ACTIVITIES IN IRELAND:
Come as a Couple. Bring the Family.
Play through as a Foursome!
TRAVEL 31JUL – 19SEP26
CHOOSE FROM 4 IRISH REGIONS:
• Central Ireland (Clare & Tipperary)
• Dublin (in the capital city center)
• Northwest Ireland (Donegal & Sligo)
• Southwest Ireland (Cork & Kerry)
7-Day Independent Full Package:
Independent Fly/Drive Travel
with Transatlantic Flights
+ Cottage/Apartment Lodgings
+ Car Rental or Dublin TransPass
HIGH SEASON BARGAIN!
BOOK BY MARCH 1, 2026
• Friday Departures 31JUL–11SEP
IRELAND — THE HIGH HOLIDAYS!
$2,350
PER PERSON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
2026 IRELAND HIGH SEASON DETAILS
september • october
COPENHAGEN • OSLO • STOCKHOLM
DENMARK • NORWAY • SWEDEN
SAMPLE LIFE IN A ‘MOST LIVEABLE’ CITY!
Life’s Good in
Travel between 08SEP–04NOV26
— 7-Day Independent Full Package —
Select 1 of 3 Scandinavian capital cities in Denmark, Norway, or Sweden. Discover why Copenhagen, Oslo, & Stockholm always rank atop “most liveable”, “safest”, & “happiest” city lists. Choose a Full-Package Week in one of THESE 3:
Royal Capital & Foodie-Favorite Cultural Center
Norway’s Vibrant Royal Capital on the Oslo Fjord
Sweden’s Trendy Royal Capital on 14 islands
INCLUDED IN THE INDEPENDENT FULL PACKAGE:
• 7 Total Nights Hotels/Inns in one of three Scandinavian capital cities: Copenhagen (Denmark); Oslo (Norway); Stockholm (Sweden).
• Flights USA to/from Copenhagen, Oslo, or Stockholm.
• City TransPasses for Copenhagen, Oslo, or Stockholm.
• A Detailed Printed Guide geared for your trip.
LIFE’S GOOD in SCANDINAVIA!
BOOK BY MARCH 3, 2026
Departs Tuesdays 8SEP-27OCT
SAVE 34%! SAVE $1,339/prs!
$2,653
PER PERSON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
HOW TO BUILD, PRICE, & BOOK YOUR CUSTOM, INDEPENDENT, INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL —
Contact HOME AT FIRST: (800) 523-5842 (toll-free USA & Canada) • +1 610 543 4348 (worldwide) • info@homeatfirst.com