I have a love/hate relationship with the planning stages of a research trip. At first there seem to be unlimited possibilities. Well, if I'm going to the south of England why don't I add, Bournemouth, Winchester, Dorchester and London to the mix, oh and a little side trip to Jersey on the way. After all, it is close. Then reality and logistics set in.
Unfortunately, time and money are limited and, since I can't wrap my head around crossing the street in a place where traffic shows up on the opposite side of the road, I think it is best that I not drive there. That limits me to public transportation. The public ways to get around Britain may be much better than the transportation systems which cover the vast distances in North America but they don't take in remote places where far flung relatives once lived. However, if there are convenient genealogy cousins with cars, things can turn out differently. But sometimes it's hard to factor that into plans.
So, from the possibilities comes the whittling down to find what is physically doable in one trip. That not only means pinpointing a few destinations to explore, it also means finding if there are ways to get there and available places to stay. Once the framework of the plan has been determined; the hotels booked and the airline tickets bought, the real spade work begins - the pre-research research. That's what I'll start next.
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