A TRIP TO IRELAND

I've had to wrestle a bit mentally with the topic of this edition of the Carnival of
Irish Heritage & Culture, which deals with what place I would like to visit on a
vacation in Ireland. The first obstacle is that I've never flown, and have no intention
of starting now. I fear the struggle of just getting myself into an airplane would
at the very least make it an unpleasant trip where all I'd remember would be the plane
ride!

But let's say I could use some sort of transporter beam and make that trip. I'd want to visit
Kiltrustan in Roscommon, My great grandmother Annie (Kelley) McFarland was born
there and probably her husband John McFarland as well. Annie's mother was named
Anne Byrne. I noticed recently on a website about Kiltrustan that two of the most common
surnames there in 1857 were Kelley and Beirne and I'd certainly want to investigate the
records and graveyards to see if I could find family members.


And of course I'd then look for living relatives. Although I sometimes wonder if the native
Irish ever tire of the returning descendants of long ago relatives showing up at their front
door? ("Mother of God, Patrick, it's another 5th cousin!")


I'd like to see the rest of Roscommon as well, such as Loch Key, and then travel further
afield to see Dublin and Limerick.

I'd like to visit both the eastern and western shores of Ireland, to stare across the English
Channel towards England, the source of so may struggles for the Irish, and then
look out over the Atlantic towards America, the source of so much hope.

I saw a show on cable once about the canals of Ireland. I'd like to take a slow trip on
one of those canal boats and be able to stop along the way to visit the towns and
villages that line the canal.


I know the topic said to pick one place, but that was the second problem I had in writing
a post for this, because I just couldn't pick just one place. I'd want to see it all. I might be
like poor "Charley on the MTA" and "never return."

But luckily for me, I suppose, I don't fly, so it's all academic, isn't it?

Written for the 14th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture