Yes, Boyd's videos were very helpful to me. And by all means, do LOTS of research BEFORE you go to Ireland!  Ally From: mmarion via <cotyroneireland@rootsweb.com> To: COTYRONEIRELAND@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2015 7:28 PM Subject: [CoTyIre] Do your research before you go I have to add my comments about going to Ireland to do research first. I used the '10 Step Guide to Researching Ulster Genealogy' when I seriously started my Irish research.  It became my Bible.  I still go to it when I wonder why is this so in Ireland. I have been doing my family tree long before the internet, mainly in England. I have learned that Ireland is whole different picture. I did my research before I went to Ireland.  I used the website askaboutireland to help me take the property I knew my family owned as per the Griffith's valuation in the 1800's and translated it to today's map. We had not done this, we had looked at map's and said, this looks like where we should go.  We were off by 5 miles. We were lucky and a man staying at the same bed and breakfast as us, helped us to locate the property I wanted to see on askaboutireland. Lucky us!  We went there and to this day, cousins of mine are farming there.  That all happened this June. I have come home and done more research and now in October, I am going to Belfast, to spend a few days at PRONI and see more new cousins. In short, 1) watch Boyd's video's on research in Ireland 2) Print out and memorize the 10 step guide 3) Get to know Griffith's valuation. 4) familiarize yourself with the site, askaboutireland. 5) Go through the CoTyrone site and look at EVERYTHING available there. 6) try to find out the Townland your family is from.  Just knowing the county is too big, if you want to see where they actually lived etc. If you have not done this before going, go to Ireland, enjoy your trip, you will, the people are fantastic, the scenery is like no where else in the world. Get a feel for the people and the country.  When you get home start your research. Don't let the frustrations of trying to do research while on vacation, ruin your vacation.  You will be disappointed. Ireland is too beautiful not to enjoy. Speaking from experience, here in Canada. Margaret Marion ------------- Our community web-site: http://cotyroneireland.com/