For those of you who are able to trace their ancestry back to another country...

[H2O Man]

57. Recommended.

My grandfather came to the US in 1879, as a small child. His father brought the family as the last wave of siblings that settled in upstate New York. Until 1952, a number of the extended family visited back and forth. Contacts then stopped for decades, then started back up. A number of cousins began visiting the hamlet from which the family had come from in County Limerick. Through records I had, one was able to find where my great grandfather's small farm once stood. (I have a few stones from it in my garden.)

My brother went. For reasons far beyond my understanding, his goal was to play golf. He got into a debate with a gentleman there about which government was more corrupt -- the US or Ireland. Although the other guy had the hometown advantage, obviously my brother won. Finally they introduced themselves, and found they were relatives from across the Atlantic & a few generations.

All four of my children have visited at least once. My daughter attended Cork University, not far from where my family lived. Both daughters looked for a cottage for me to move to. I haven't been, though I've had the opportunity. (As mopinko could attest to, I am a stick in the mud of rural, upstate New York.)