We didn’t know what to expect at the beginning of 2022. Covid restrictions were still around, a war in Ukraine broke out which also affected Poland both socially (millions of refugees, uncertainty about the future) and economically. Of course, the perception of safety in this part of Europe by people from the outside was also a factor in deciding to arrive in Poland.
Situation in Ukraine is still very difficult for all Ukrainian people. For those who stayed in their homes but also for those who fled and are separated for almost a year now from their people and homes. Dramatic experience for the whole nation and its people is still hard to comprehend and it, unfortunately, goes on. A year ago in January 2022 if someone told you that in the coming months we would witness such tragic events very few would believe it.
The fact that the invasion has been strongly opposed by the alliance of most of the world since the beginning, including NATO, is uplifting. We all hope that the war will end soon and we do what we can to bring some help and relieve those who suffer from that.
Of course, this means that until the war is over we will not travel with our guests neither to Ukraine nor to Belarus as we did in the past years on a regular basis. However, we are still continuing to do genealogy research in these two countries.
Despite all the circumstances we are very happy with last year’s tour season. At last, after a 2-year break, we could hit the road and make discoveries with our guests. In 2021 we had a few tours but it was less than 10% of our normal number. In 2022 it was about 1/3 of what we had before 2020. But for us it was like getting back to life.
At the moment this year looks promising. We have quite a lot of tour requests, many of them are from multigenerational families who are planning to visit their ancestors’ places together. Some people were postponing their plans through the last three years and now finally they are able to come.
This all means that our guides’ calendars are filling up fast. It is becoming a challenge for us because some of the tour guides needed to find a job outside of tourism and our capacity to organize many tours at the same time is reduced. The most popular months are as always May, June, September, and the first half of October.
Now details of our offer.
PolishOrigins Genealogy Tour – our flagship product. The shape of each tour is fully based on your expectations. In the tour request you answer a few questions based on which we can start to think about a specific itinerary for you. These questions include: number of the tour participants, dates of your visit, arrival and departure cities, places of your ancestors you would like to visit, (if you want) genealogy research you would like to perform, other tourist places/attractions you are interested in, accommodation standard, and a few more pieces of information.
Usually, after receiving your request we ask a few additional questions and we prepare for you a draft of a tailor-made itinerary. Of course, you can always contact us directly at our email: [email protected] before and during our work together on your tour.
There are no charges involved in this part of our work. You only pay if you decide on the tour. First, you make a deposit. The rest of the full price when the date of your arrival is close.
We also do other custom tours of Poland and neighboring countries that don’t necessarily include the family genealogy part. If you wish one of those you can also contact us by email or fill out the tour request.
Besides custom genealogical and historical tours we also have three group tours:
For this year we planned all three of them. The dates are:
Galicia Tour: June 25-July 5, and the second edition September 3-13.
Prussian Poland Tour: September 16-26
and slightly modified Kingdom of Poland Tour organized with the cooperation of the Polish Genealogical Society in America from Chicago in dates (details of this offer you will find here: https://pgsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Tour-PolOr.pdf ) in September (specific days to be determined).
Most people who decide for on group tours combine them with their custom Genealogy Tours.
Full offer of all our tours you will find here: https://polishorigins.com/tours
If you are interested to read stories of others who visited Poland with us see some of the dozens of blogs written by some of our guests and published here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/category/genealogy-tours-of-poland/ (We know that there are written more stories from the 2022 tours).
That’s about our PolishOrigins Tours offer and our plans for 2023
At the end of the tourism part, I want to share with you two links.
The first one is the CNN article: “Where to travel in 2023: The best destinations to visit”. You can see Poland is put second after Western Australia as the best travel destination: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/where-to-travel-best-destinations-2023/index.html .
Another report we found interesting is from a global organization A3M that monitors the security of traveling throughout the world. According to their assessment traveling to Poland entails a low risk (the same level as e.g. Australia, US, or Italy). You will find the full report here: https://www.global-monitoring.com/en/corporate/risk-map/ .
And now promised at the beginning gift for you. This is a full version of a cult Polish comedy trilogy from the 1960s and 1970s about the families of Pawlak and Kargul. I think many of you will find it not only very funny but also interesting from a historical and social perspective. It presents the history and a “fight” of two families who were resettled from the Eastern Borderlands of Poland to western Poland after WWII. An important part of the story includes a relationship with a family member that emigrated to the US. The third part of the trilogy is almost entirely shot in Chicago, USA.
Have fun! (to turn on English subtitles click on the ‘Available subtitle icon” in the lower left corner).
Part 1: Our Folks https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/our-folks
Part 2: Take It Easy https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/take-it-easy
Part 3: Big Deal https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/big-deal
Best wishes from Poland! Pozdrowienia z Polski!
Zenon and the PolishOrigins Team