Trip Planning Jun 24, 2009

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Trip planning usually starts with D sitting at his computer, searching possibilities. However this trip had been rumbling around in D's mind for many years. He'd often thought that attempting to trace the history and route of his ancestors would be a good excuse to travel to places he might not go otherwise.

This is to be that trip. A trip to trace the path of the V's that came before him. He only knows for certain that his grandfather W.V. was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Beyond that he has only his research and a lot of speculation.

The Vs have traditionally been described as Scotch-Irish which is a polite way of saying that they were Protestants from Scotland that the British encouraged to help colonize the north of Ireland. There are many Vs in Scotland but the origin of the name is neither Scottish nor Irish. The best guess is that it comes, after a few variations, from Normandy at around the time of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

The vague plan so far is to start from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and fly to England, purchase a motorhome and travel with it across southern and south western England up through Wales and ferry over to southern Ireland, up to Dublin, on to Belfast and Northern Ireland, across to Scotland and up and down it, back down through England, across to northern France and back to England.

This trip will be scheduled to take three months. The motorhome will be stored in England afterward for subsequent trips in the following years. D hopes to arrive in the UK by the end of July of this year but nothing is quite tied down yet. A is skeptical about them ever getting off the ground but D is confident that things will proceed as planned.

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