Getting Ready for Your Research Trip to Scotland

Although May still seems like a long way off, it is not too early to start getting ready for your research time in Scotland. Now is the time to start deciding how you are going to spend your time in the research facilities.

Here are a few tips to get you better organized:

1. Make sure that your Family Tree is up to date. If you can, make it portable. Have it on a laptop, iPad, tablet or smartphone so that you can access the information in Scotland. If you are not tech savvy, print off Family Group Sheets and write down what you are missing and hope to find when you are in Scotland.
2. Make a list of all of the documents you already have copies or originals of. This will prevent you wasting time searching for information you already have. Remember, you will be able to see births newer than 100 years, marriage records newer than 75 years and death records newer than 50 years, so you will want to make a list of the more recent records you want to have a look at while you are in Edinburgh.
3. Write out your brick walls and think about what you want to find out to help break those down. Do you need to look at parish records, voters rolls, apprentice records, maps, directories, newspapers? This will help to focus and guide your research time.

It is also not too early to make sure that your passport is valid and up to date. If you are traveling from Canada, the US, or Australia, you do NOT require a visa. Your passport is all that you will need and it must not expire before you return to your country of origin.

I am looking forward to our time together in Scotland.