Creating an ancestry travel bucket list with LivingDNA

I love adding a bit of culture and history into my travel where ever I go and I’ve always had an interest in family history! When I was at university I even managed to trace a bit but as the strains of work and life take over, my ancestry hobby fell by the wayside. Now, step in Living DNA – a new test that can help reveal your ancestry! I decide to take the test to try and combine my interest in ancestry and  my love of travel in the hopes that taking the test would help inspire a an ancestor travel bucket list! Here’s what happened why I took the test! 

About taking LivingDNA  test

When the kit arrives, there are simple instructions and everything is marked and numbered so it is really easy to follow. You use a swab on the inside of your cheek and then put that into a  specimen bag and send it off with the envelope included. All you have to do is register your kit online before posting then in roughly 8 weeks time your results will be emailed to you!

So fast forward 8 weeks –

My LivingDNA results

When I imagined putting my ancestry travel bucket list together I thought that maybe I would find some exotic destinations thrown in the mix somewhere. I know we are a pretty homogenous lot in my family, but the fact that the test can reveal DNA back 10 generations I thought that somewhere along the line there would be a family secret or exotic stranger. I opened my results and this came back:

100% Great British and Irish – I am as Irish and British as I thought I was!

Now – you may look at this and think – well that is a bit disappointing but the Living DNA analysis doesn’t stop at a country level when you get your UK results! LivingDNA goes further and can analyze your DNA down to 21 regions of the United Kingdom! So my story wasn’t over

Now unsurprisingly given my grandparents, I am over 50% Irish but my other 49.5% is made up from a variety of regions. I was surprised that the next largest grouping for me was South Central England (Oxfordshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire), then Northumbria and the North West – which I was expecting given some of my Wirral ancestry! I have no idea where the Northumbria lot come into it but this is something I want to now go investigate – especially as I love Northumbria – particularly Alnwick!

So what does my Ancestry Travel Bucket List Look like?

Ok, I may not be booking a flight to Scandinavia, Persia or Asia but what this has done is to reignite my passion for traveling round the UK! Having so much heritage on my doorstep, I think it is time I got the old family tree research out and perhaps make some trips around the UK to go on the hunt for my ancestors!

And  with over 50% of my ancestry being Irish, then I really need to get my Irish travel bucket list started! I got married in Ireland and have visited family in Ireland many times but as usual when you travel to see family, I haven’t actually explored the country outside of my ancestral home of County Mayo – who knows – maybe 2019 will be the year of Irish travel! The place I am most keen to visit is Dublin as it looks like such a family friendly city!

Overall review of LivingDNA

What I love about Living DNA is just how easy it was to use! When you hear DNA test you think that there will be complicated instructions but this literally took me minutes to do! The test costs 99GBP which I think is reasonable for a DNA test! Yes, my DNA isn’t the most expcpic but I love the fact that I can see regionally in the UK where I came from and it has definitely left me wanting to explore my ancestry and ancestral homelands more!

Have you done a DNA test – what were the results? What do you think a DNA test would add to your ancestry travel bucket list?

You can buy you LivingDNA test online HERE!