Chauffeurdrive vacations Ireland

Eileen, with her new-found cousin in Mayo. The cottage in the back-ground is Breda's mother's old home.

The restored family cottage
The family plot in the old graveyard

Sorry for being absent for the last few days but i have been more than busy as my present tour reached its final few days. On Tuesday we left Galway for Bunratty where the group celebrated their final night at the famous banquet. This turned out to be a great success and they all loved it. Early Wednesday i took six of the seven to Shannon airport where they caught their flight for the USA. Eileen, the remaining member, was now to set out on her journey of discovery to Mayo where her ancestors departed from in1849. Our information was scetchy and all we had to go on was the name of the townland where they lived. In previous searches there had been no further luck in discovering exact locations or names of any family members who remained behind when Eileen's great-grand parents left Ireland. We stayed in Ballina at the Ice House Hotel as it was quiet close to where our search would take us. This hotel is most unusual and was indeed an ice house located on the riverside in Ballina where the boats came for ice to freeze their catch of fish.The hotel is noted for it's fine cuisine and if you are in this area it is well worth a call. You can learn more by Googling this place.
After checking in we drove into our search area. I began to feel that our luck was in early on as it turned out that there had been only one family with Eileen's surname in this area even through in the wider area there had been many. Amazingly we were directed to a family member's old cottage which not only was still standing but had been restored (photo included). Yesterday we returned to the area for a much more detailed search and visited the local church where we met with the parish priest who introduced us to an elderly lady who gave us information of existing relatives. We found the ruins of the old church where the family would have been baptised or married or indeed where their funeral masses would have taken place and we visited the old cemetery where we found the old family grave. We were directed to Crossmolina, and to a lady who was related to Eileen, in another town not far from where they had lived, and met with this surviving relative who will now be able to help Eileen with her research with regard to relatives who went to the USA. This lady, Breda, was a really lovely lady, and our time with her, though limited, was special. This was an amazing day of discovery and by the time we got to our final destination in Kinvara in county Galway last night i felt that this had really topped off the tour for not only Eileen but also for myself.
As i write this, it is early morning in Kinvara and Eileen will be departing from Shannon hopefully with a feeling that her tour has been well worth while and is the begining of a new journey for her as she uncovers more new and exciting information on her long-lost family.
Thank you Eileen, and all of you ladies from Reno, and i wish you all the best in the rest of your life adventures.

Your friend

Dave.