Aga was wonderful in arranging the trip for us. I was so happy to see her the day we arrived because I not only had no luggage but my husband had to fly out of Canada on a different flight due to his passport needing a quick update prior to leaving. Aga was awesome. She responded to our e mails in a timely fashion. She informed us all the time on how our trip was being planned and considered everything. She was available throughout our trip for advise and in need of help. When I met her on my first day alone in Krakow she was incredible. She took me banking and shopping. She even handled an emergency call from our daughter in the middle of the night. She was amazing.
Paul was our guide in Krakow. We appreciated his passion for Poland. He was extremely knowledgeable and provided a wonderful tour of Krakow. We were happily exhausted!! Paul even managed to get the security in Wawel Castle to allow me to take a picture of my ancestor, Adam Sapieha plaque. That was awesome. Paul was a great guide.
Zbyszek, our guide from Krakow to Ukraine and back to Warsaw. We had an amazing trip with Zbyszek. He did some prior research on my family before we arrived. Our travels took us to the Ukraine. Zbyszek’s driving was super. We had many great laughs with him while negotiating the terrible roads in Ukraine. He is very knowledgeable and the tour is all about us and our heritage. We want to give him the nickname Mr. Z because we could never pronounce his name correctly no matter how many times we tryed. We were glad that he ate sausage on the trip just like we do!!! Zbyszek is highly recommended by us. He is a wonderful genealogy guide!!! One of the many highlights was visiting my ancestors church in Tartakow! That was stunning!!! Thanks Zbyszek for taking us there. He was caution and responsible. His poor car had to go through lots of pot holes in the Ukraine.
In Warsaw we had Elzbieta, she was very accommodating to us. Her passion for Warsaw was well received by us. One of our highlights was viewing the Sapieha Palace, which was part of my heritage. The unexpected interview with one of Poland’s ex political leaders (Lech Walesa) was memorable. Thanks, Elzbieta for waiting for us while we took pictures of that event!
I do wish we would have spent more time speaking with people from the villages that my ancestors were from. I guess that is what we will have to do the next time we go on the genealogy tour. Although my goals were not totally achieved, I did get further ahead in my research. We have much work ahead to complete my research. New questions popped up on our journey which we hope to have answered in the future as we continue with the research. We had an amazing journey! My personal regret is that we didn’t plan more time in my ancestors villages in the Ukraine.
PolishOrigins did a remarkable job handling our personal tour. We are very happy that we booked with them. Aga was amazing in planning it. All the tour guides were great. Zbyszek was exceptionally good! Our tour was terrific! It was the first of its kind for us. We hope to do it again!
Sincerely, Sharon Sapieha-Latimer and Tim Latimer