Somewhere in your family there’s a story that starts with a boat. A harbour. A long look back at a shoreline that was getting smaller by the minute.
If you’re one of the more than 33 million Americans who claim Irish ancestry — or the millions more with roots in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland — you’ve probably thought about going back. Tracing the route in reverse. Standing where they stood.
But where do you actually start?
We’ve helped hundreds of travellers plan their first heritage trip, and the questions are almost always the same. Here’s the practical guide we wish someone had given us.
Step 1: Start with what you know
Before you book a flight, gather what your family already has. Talk to the oldest relatives willing to talk. Look for documents: birth certificates, baptismal records, immigration papers, old letters. Even a scrap — a county name, a parish, a ship’s name — can unlock an entire branch of your family tree.
If you have nothing, that’s fine too. Ireland and Scotland have extraordinary genealogical resources, and Celtic RnR partners with local historians and genealogists who can help you start from scratch.
Step 2: Use the online resources
Before you travel, do some detective work from home. For Ireland, the National Archives and local county heritage centres hold census fragments, church records, and land valuations that date back centuries. For Scotland, the national records office in Edinburgh is one of the most comprehensive genealogical archives in the world.
Your Celtic RnR heritage tour can include guided visits to these archives, with experts who know how to navigate them efficiently.
Step 3: Decide what kind of trip you want
Heritage travel sits on a spectrum. At one end, there’s the deep genealogical dive — visiting specific parishes, graveyards, and townlands connected to your family. At the other, there’s a broader cultural immersion — experiencing the landscapes, music, food, and traditions that shaped your ancestors’ world without necessarily finding a specific headstone.
Most of our travellers want both. Celtic RnR builds flexible itineraries that balance personal research with group experiences, so you get the emotional depth and the shared adventure.
Step 4: Consider going with a group
Heritage travel hits differently when you’re not doing it alone. There’s something powerful about standing in a medieval churchyard with twenty other people who are all, in their own way, looking for the same thing — a connection to where they came from.
Celtic RnR specialises in group heritage tours for alumni associations, cultural organisations, and affinity groups. We handle all the logistics — transport, accommodation, guides, genealogical appointments — so your group can focus on the experience.
Step 5: Manage your expectations — then let Ireland exceed them
Here’s the truth: you may not find the exact cottage where your great-great-grandmother was born. Records from the famine era are incomplete. Some townlands have disappeared entirely. But what you will find is context — the landscape, the community, the culture that your ancestors carried with them across the ocean.
And more often than not, you’ll find something unexpected. A distant cousin still farming the same land. A pub where the owner recognises your surname. A moment of connection that no database could ever deliver.
Step 6: Let Celtic RnR do the heavy lifting
Planning a heritage trip — especially for a group — involves a lot of moving pieces: genealogy prep, local contacts, accommodation near ancestral sites, transport between rural parishes, and guides who can make the history come alive.
That’s what we do. Every Celtic RnR heritage tour is custom-built around your group’s roots, interests, and pace. We connect you with local experts, historians, and communities so that your trip isn’t just a tour — it’s a homecoming.
Start planning your heritage journey with Celtic RnR.
— Mike Healy, Celtic RnR Tours
