As a first generation Australian I have lots of family in the U.K. One of the main reasons for all my backpacking trip way back in 1990s was to visit all the extended family, I had never really meet before and hopefully get some free accommodation.
The family did not disappoint was was able to stay and visit lots of the places my parents had grown up in.
I found travelling around and visiting all the relatives fascinating. It did not take long before I was trying to piece together my entire family history. It took a while back then with out all the computer tech of today. I really enjoyed visiting the Manchester library family history records section and was able find all 8 of my great grand parents on 1851 and 1841 census records and even applied copy of there birth and marriage certificates. My extended family loved the fact I was taking such an interest. Then off I would trot to visit some of the places where each branch had originated from.
There was nothing super exciting uncovered with all the family research but I found it really helped me to learn a bit more about the history of the places. Most of the family branches had a similar story, originating from small farming villages all over the country side in the 1800s and then moving to the Industrial centres like Manchester.
