Who Do You Think You Are?

My daughter and I were creating our own, “Who Do You Think You Are?”

Our ancestors, Michael Woods and his son Archibald Woods were born at Dunshauglin Castle in County Meath, Ireland in 1683 and 1706 respectively.  That seemed like a good place to start. 

I have searched the Internet, mailing lists and message boards and the best references I found to Dunshauglin Castle were in Google Books:

The Irish Flora: Comprising the Phaenogamous Plants and Ferns
By Lady Katherine Bailey Kane
Published by Hodges and Smith, 1833 - 220 page

The following is this from Cecilia L. Fabos-Becker:

[John] Woods had Dunshaughlin, Winter Lodge (both in Meath) and the descendants of his oldest son, acquired Milverton Hall at Skerries, on the coast between Dublin and Drogheda. Descendants live there to this day. Dunshaughlin Castle is now a ruin. It was heavily damaged in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Dunshaughlin Castle, County Meath, is identified as the birth place of Michael Woods, his brothers and sisters, and some of their children, in at least 4 Bible records set down by Michael's and his siblings children.  Therefore this is consistent with the McClenaghan compilation and transcription (he was Parish rector in the very early 1900's for Dunshaughlin Parish) of original parish and family records that the Woods siblings who settled in Virginia in the 1730's and early 1740's...

CommonSense: A Monthly Magazine for Everybody, to Promote Social ..., Volume 8
By E. MacDowel Cosgrave, 1900

Common Sense actually describes the route to take to pass the Castle.  

"One of the prettiest rides near Dublin, and one that is level and dustless, is to ride to Santry, and then bear to the left, crossing the Glasnevin Road, passing the "Clockhouse," the "Piers of Dubbar," riding almost into St. Margaret's, stopping short, and turning to the left at the little house pretentiously labelled on the Ordnance map as " Pass-if-you-oan." This leads past Dunshaughlin Castle. The Ashbourne road is then crossed, and soon the Ratoath road is reached; turning to the left along it. Finglas is passed to the left, and Cardiff's Bridge is reached. Passing through it, and bearing first to the left, and then to the right, the level crossing is reached, and soon Dublin is re-entered by the Cabra road. From the time Santry is left, until the top of the Cabra road is reached, every inch of the way is through delightful country roads, and between hedgerows gay with flowers: and there is no reason to dismount, unless, mishapiy, the level crossing is closed."

The cottage "Pass-if-you-oan," is on the 1901 map for Swords and there does appear to be a castle and grounds along that road. The only problem is that if you compare it with a current Google map, the location is Dunsoghly... not Dunshauglin. But a castle is there today. Unfortunately it has absolutely nothing to do with the Woods family.

Checking the 1900-1 ordnance maps for Ireland, I was able to follow the path described in the article.  You can see it on this Google map.

From what I can follow on Google maps, the actual location is closer to Dublin than Dunshauglin, so I've ruled out the location described in the 1900 book Common Sense.  

Finally there is this 55 year old photograph allegedly taken at Dunshauglin Castle.

Our wonderful guide, Michael Fox, informed me that the original Dunshauglin Castle (and it’s gardens) have been replaced by several stores.  Old ruins don’t last forever.  So rather than returning to the birthplace of my ancestors -- we’ll visit the town of Dunshauglin, Newgrange and the cemetery instead. That'll do.

The First Day in Dublin

We arrived in Dublin at 7:30 AM as scheduled; went through Customs very quickly and caught a taxi to the Anchor House Bed and Breakfast. Check in there was scheduled for 1 PM, so we dropped our luggage, got our bearings and headed out for a look around.

At the end of the block to the north was Talbot Street and we headed left along it a few blocks and found ourselves on O'Connell Street, looking at the statute of James Joyce on one side and the huge spire on the other. We stopped for a quick lunch and then headed back to the Anchor House to unpack. We had plans for the evening.

We could have walked, but since we were going across the river Liffey we asked our hostess at the B&B if she could call a taxi for us. She gave us the strangest look then just laughed and said. “There's no need for that. Just stick your arm out when you see a taxi coming. If they can't stop fast enough, they'll do a U-turn to get you.” We got to see the infamous U-turn on our first try.

We took a Ghost Tour. Go ahead – laugh! It was fun, and after a long flight we didn't want to do any serious touring or research. It was just the thing to set the mood.

We started at College Green across the street from Trinity College. The tour took us to Kilmainham Jail, all the while telling tales of plague ravaged Dublin. It ended with a drink at the Gravediggers Pub (allegedly the oldest pub in Dublin). Melissa even broke down and took a sip of Guinness at the pub. Then promptly wrinkled her nose in distaste.

When we arrived back at the Anchor House, Melissa noticed the Emergency Exit sign and just had to do an imitation.  

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Did I mention that I hate to travel?  I love being in new places, but the process of packing and getting there is one of my least favorite things to do. Every airline having different rules doesn't help. We knew we would be taking a plane from the USA, but we also had to fly from Dublin to Paris. Then a train to Zurich and Budapest. And we rented cars here and there.

The acceptable size for carry-on luggage in Europe is 21.75 x 15.75 x 8 inches. EIGHT INCHES! Sheesh. I finally found an appropriate piece at Kohl's -- a Samsonite Wheeled Boarding Bag 13"H x 17"W x 8"D -- a little smaller than necessary but it worked just fine. We found all sorts of gadgets to help shrink the size of the luggage. I used packing cubes and the Eagle Creek Pack-it folder. Melissa used compression bags.

My purse or camera bag had to be less than 13 x 9.84 x 7.87 inches. I skipped the purse and used a travel vest instead.  Everything had wheels, except my "electronics bag" which was actually a cooler disguised as a camera bag. The cooler doubled as a real cooler when we traveled by car. (I liked it so much, I'm still using it and have already purchased a second one at Walmart.) I found this lovely Travelon Bag Bungee at Amazon.com and it tied everything together nicely.

For the plane we both had a Travelrest "Ultimate Inflatable Travel Pillow." If you are on the fence about these, all I can say is they really worked well for both of us. I probably wouldn't bother for a short plane ride, but crossing the pond was much more comfortable. I actually slept most of the way and woke in Dublin relaxed, refreshed and ready to go.

Phones, Cameras, Tablets and Accessories!

I loved my phone -- Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but it wasn't a quad band phone so couldn't be used in Europe.  We were leaving on the 26th and my phone was eligible for replacement on the 25th with Verizon.  I considered everything, including biting the bullet and paying full price for a new phone.

I went phone shopping at Best Buy Mobile.  They told me that the International division of Verizon could often issue new phones sooner. So that's how I got a Galaxy S4 in plenty of time for the trip.

Melissa already had a quad band S3, but not to be outdone, she went out and added a Note 10" tablet.  I would be bringing my Nexus 7 for email, surfing, reading and reference. I also decided to take the old Nexus phone because it would take a photosphere picture. And the good Canon camera for its zoom.

We used every single gadget and in some cases really needed them. We also needed a suitcase just for the chargers! We had wall chargers and car chargers for each and even had extra chargers and batteries for everything.

We had an extension cord designed for European 220v current.  It was Melissa's idea to leave all the chargers plugged into the extension as we moved from city to city. All we had to do was change the plug in each country.

The extension cord featured a blue light so we could confirm there was power. This actually came in very handy -- but that's another story. 

Why bring extra chargers? Have you ever had a charger die on vacation?  I have -- on the third day of two week trip.  And it was for a camera that used proprietary accessories. We didn't find a replacement until the vacation was over.  

Melissa used an International sim card from One Sim Card that gave her a US phone number and a European phone number on the same card.  I went with Verizon's International plan.  The cost was about the same for both, but she used her phone extensively and I made one call per day.

I also erred by not turning off mobile data while in the airport in the US.  Something had a major update and used up the first 100MB of data before I even left but after I had switched over to the International Plan.

Traveling to Europe is different

Everyone knows you need a passport. You can't just hop a plane and go. Generally speaking you don't need visas within the Eurozone and even for some of the neighboring countries, but we checked all the countries we planned to visit. 

Planes within Europe are smaller and have a smaller luggage size and weight allowance. Check your airlines – all of them! Then adjust your baggage accordingly. Don't forget to check the weight limits too.

If you are renting a car you may need an International Drivers License. You can get that from AAA. You don't have to be a member, but if you aren't you pay a little bit more. Plan ahead if you will be crossing borders with a rental vehicle. Sometimes special advance authorization and paperwork is required. (We needed that for Serbia.)

People no longer use traveler's checks in Europe – just use an ATM and your debit card.

Credit cards are another story. Much of Europe has gone to PIN and Chip credit cards – especially in the UK, Ireland and France. I won't bore you with all the details, but if you are interested you can read more at CreditCard.com
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/american-travelers-guide-emv-chip-cards-1271.php

Also Flyer Talk maintains a list of banks and credit unions issuing PIN & Chip cards and PIN & Signature cards: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ani-u3tGk5hedGRvcE1ELVg5UmlGZk01SHZvTUMxdUE#gid=0

And then there is power,110 volt in the US and 220 volts in Europe. If you are taking electronic equipment, check each item. Most will work at either voltage. But hair dryers and electric razors are another story. You may have to buy a converter, new gadgets or do without.

Once the power problem is solved, you have to worry about plugs. Ireland and the UK use a three pronged monster; the EU a simple two prong; but the exception is Switzerland which has it's own special plug. UG!

More on plugs and electronics next...

Cave Baths

Of course, we couldn't just stop with waterfalls.  In her unending research of places to see, Mom kept sharing different sites she came across. For the most part, this was Mom's trip, so I was willing to go wherever tickled her fancy.  But a few of her suggestions caught my fancy, one of them being the Cave Baths of Miskolc Tapolca.  These I wanted to see!

We have the best travel agent in the world!

It helps that my travel agent is also my oldest and dearest friend.  

She spent Thanksgiving with us in 2012 while we were still in the talking phase of the trip. When she left we had a deadline.  The airline tickets had to be purchased by the end of January 2013.  Talk about planning ahead!  

That gave us two months to set our itinerary.  It was complicated.  I live in Florida and Melissa is in North Carolina, so we decided to fly to Atlanta and meet in the airport for the final leg to Europe. 

Initially we were going to Hungary and Serbia to search for information on my paternal grandparents and of course Plitvice National Park in Croatia, but we had to fly out of Paris so it seemed a shame not to arrange a stopover and see the Louvre. (Every time we've been to Europe we planned to go to the Louvre, but for one reason or another we never made it.) 

We then found it was better to fly into Dublin, which gave us an opportunity to search for the birthplace of Michael Woods who died in Albermarle, Virgina in 1762.  Instead of just a trip to Eastern Europe, our plans expanded even more to include Switzerland, the ancient home of our Felder ancestors.  

I have to give credit to Rick Steves for all the advice available on his website and in his books.  The tidbit that finally set the itinerary was his suggestion to start in the north if traveling in late summer, so as you move south the temperatures will usually be dropping. The result should be a fairly even climate.  Also to save the places where the water is iffy and the food unusual for the end of the trip on the theory that if you get sick, you don't ruin the entire vacation.

The itinerary was set:
View Vacation 2013 in a larger map

Fly to Dublin - stay 3 days
Fly to Paris - 3 days
Train to Zurich - 2 days
Night train to Budapest - 3 days
Drive to Miskolc - 2 days
Drive to Novi Sad - 2 days
Drive to Erdevik - 2 days
Drive to Zabreb - 2 days (includes trip to Plitvice)
Return to Budapest - 1 day
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