Testimonials

December 2024

Our experience with PolishOrigins was exceptional in every way. We made our journey to Poland to explore our family roots, specifically that of my grandfather who had immigrated to the US in the early 1900’s.

I’ll start by offering a thumbnail version of our experience with PolishOrigins (PO). The communication from the moment we reached out to PO was excellent. Kasia, our tour/research manager, curated a trip that encompassed all that we wanted to do, on our own timetable. This included sightseeing and a journey to our family village with a genealogist. The transfers went well, with kind, English speaking drivers and vehicles in good condition. The private tours and excursions were top notch. I had a medical crisis, and PO came to our aid, answering the call to their emergency contact at midnight and arranged for medical care. And our genealogist was extremely knowledgeable and resourceful. He took us to local archives to help fill in our family tree, and to our delight, helped us locate distant relatives, who even invited us into their homes. We have begun relationships that we are confident will continue. We cannot recommend PolishOrigins more highly.

On to the longer version of our review. I have a passion for genealogy and had come to a place in my research where the only way to extend our family tree was to go to Poland. We found the Polish language to be daunting and were not sure that we would ever make the trip. Until we found PolishOrgins online. Tour/research manager, Kasia, responded to us promptly and we began planning our trip. She had excellent good communication with us throughout the entire planning of our tour. We quickly discovered that the language barrier would not be a concern at all. This diminished our anxieties, and we became excited to begin our adventure. Before we left the US, we were confident we were in good hands.

We began our tour with sightseeing in Krakow. Our accommodations at the Queen Boutique hotel were clean and comfortable, with the most fresh and delicious buffet breakfast. We went on a walking tour with Paulina, who was so very kind and great at sharing her knowledge. She brought us to the wonderful sights in the city and showed us the best places to eat and shop.  We became so comfortable with the city that we thoroughly enjoyed our free time wandering and exploring.

We went on a tour of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, which was an incredibly moving experience where we had a chance to honor the multitudes who suffered and died in the Holocaust. The driver who took us to and from Auschwitz shared his knowledge of the area and Polish history. He dropped us and picked us up at the perfect locations. The day went smoothly, and it was very meaningful to us.

The unexpected happened while in Krakow, a worst-case scenario, I had a medical crisis. We called the PolishOrigins emergency contact at midnight and they responded immediately, making arrangements with the front desk to get us emergency services, if it became necessary. Kasia made an appointment with a private English-speaking doctor first thing in the morning. I received the best medical care, and I felt comfortable continuing on to the genealogy part of our tour.

Zbigniew, also known as Mr. Z, was our extraordinary genealogist, interpreter, and guide. He took us to my grandfather’s village and to local archives to locate family documents, successfully adding more details of the family tree. Mr. Z is extremely resourceful and spoke with people in the village to locate family members of our generation. Through his hard work, our goal was achieved to meet our distant relatives. We were even invited into the homes of two separate cousins, enjoying an evening of dessert and sharing photographs of my grandfather, his parents, and his siblings. We began relationships with cousins that we know will last a lifetime, including with a younger cousin who has connected with our children via social media. We truly could not have asked for a better experience. We will forever be grateful for all that Mr. Z did for us.

Our final destination was to sightsee in Warsaw. Our private walking tour with local guide Kasia was amazing. We enjoyed seeing the beauty of the city in autumn and learning about the tumultuous history of the area. It was the perfect ending to our journey.

Thank you to all of the PolishOrigins staff, especially Kasia and Zbigniew, who went above and beyond to make this a trip of a lifetime.

Review published on TripAdvisor.

November 2024

(this review appeared originally on Google):

My grandmother’s parents were both born in Poland. She always felt a connection to her Polish heritage, but both of her parents died when she was in her teens, and the details of her Polish family died with them. The information she had on her parents’ families was minimal, if that, and most of her family’s Polish records have not been published to any websites (Ancestry, Geneteka, etc).

I then stumbled across Polish Origins. I was hesitant at first, but my grandma and I decided to try them out. Our main point of contact, Aleksander, immediately took interest in our case. He answered every question in depth and laid out various options for research. Within a short time, his researcher, Daniel, located the exact village my grandma’s father lived in, as well as his birth certificate. My grandma and I were floored. Daniel then went door-to-door in the village asking about my grandma’s father, and soon discovered a few living 1st cousins of my grandma. Her cousins shared many stories of the family and several pictures of my grandma’s parents she had never seen before. To say we were amazed would be an understatement. Since then, we’ve kept in contact with our newly discovered family in Poland and hope to visit them someday. We had very similar research done on my grandma’s mother’s side and made similar exciting discoveries.

We went from knowing nearly nothing about our Polish family, to now knowing almost every detail. I give full credit to Polish Origins and Aleksander’s team, it would not have been possible without their help. They were very fair with their pricing, they communicated well, and each project was well organized, professional, and concise in details. I trust them completely and would highly recommend them to anyone wanting to know more about their Polish ancestors.

My grandmother recently passed away, and while I’m forever going to miss my research buddy, I am so thankful we made these discoveries while she was still alive. Learning more about her parents’ family brought her great joy and fulfilled a missing piece of her life that she’d always wondered about. It was an ultimate grandma-grandson bonding experience. Thank you, Polish

November 2024

The tour was wonderful!! It was certainly a tightly packed few days and I appreciated how well you kept to the schedule but also allowed for last minute changes! I’m very happy with what we accomplished!! I was grateful to be shown where my relatives lived and were buried. Thank you all for giving us such a memorable trip and for all your patience in handling our questions and comments.

October 2024

There are not enough words to describe the incredible service and attention that PolishOrigins provided.

We initially contacted PolishOrigins about one year before actually taking the trip. We gave them our timeline and our mission to explore my father’s and mother’s side of the family. Alexander, the tour manager, put together a tour that would take us to Northeastern and Southern Poland to explore both sides of my family. The amount of information he provided was incredible and we hadn’t even booked the trip! After Alexander was sent the genealogical information we had, PolishOrigins furthered the research in a much shorter time frame than the years it had taken me.

Our first night was spent in a vintage Polish hotel that had old world charm. We stayed there on three separate occasions and frankly wouldn’t have picked anywhere else. Our driver, a genealogist, drove us to northern Poland and began our research. We visited church archives, cemeteries and spoke to locals who provided us with valuable information on our family tree. Our guides were not bashful about knocking on people’s doors to ask and gather information. They eventually found relatives living on a farm that has been in the family since the 1700’s. Just incredible!! Our new found relatives invited us back the next day to continue an exchange of family information. The same experience happened on our trip to southern Poland.

Both of our genealogical guides went above and beyond to reunite us with our past. They both had Sherlock Homes capabilities to the max. The experience was nothing short of amazing. After the trip we received reports from both guides’ giving us detailed information on our experiences and new-found family history. Thank goodness as there was so much information that it was overwhelming to try and remember it all. There are not enough superlatives to describe this once in a lifetime trip! Thank you PolishOrigins!

October 2024

I had PolishOrigins do research for my paternal grandparents history. They were able to find and tell me more about my grandfather, great grandparents siblings. This led me to want to visit Poland, visit the villages that my relatives lived before they immigrated to the US in the early 1900’s. After initial booking, then a few postponements, that delayed my trip by a couple years, was finally able to take my tour in September 2024. What an amazing trip, experience with Zbign1ew and Daniel of PolishOrigins. Both of them were great with the research they did, prior and during our tour. They did an amazing job in reaching out to the villagers, asking about possible relatives in the area. I am so grateful for them, they found relatives for me to meet. I did not expect to find, let alone meet relatives. It was a very memorable experience and I will treasure. The tour has been a long wish of mine to find, visit villages of my grandparents that lived in Poland and I am so thankful, appreciate PolishOrgins for everything they did to fulfil this wish. Everything was communicated to me in a timely manner, accommodations were great, in wonderful locations in the small villages, Krakow and Warsaw.
PolishOrigins organised, researched, and did an amazing tour guiding me around Poland visiting my grandparents villages!!
An experience that I will always treasure!!

October 2024

All of your guides were wonderful and beyond knowledgeable, they were walking encyclopedias. Joanna provided so much information that I hope she doesn’t give me a test. Kasia went extra to help me find that perspective on Nowy Swiat Street in Warsaw from an old WWII photo of the damaged street to compare with the same perspective today. In both cases, the experience was enjoyable.

My goals were achieved and am highly satisfied with the results. I admire Daniel for his persistence and diligence in tracking down family members. I was really happy to meet both families.

October 2024

Daniel Paczkowski, our guide, exceeded our expectations. His professionalism, kindness, and ability to adapt to the various personalities within our group, including all of my cousins, made for a truly enjoyable experience.

October 2024

Everyone affiliated with PolishOrigins that we encountered throughout the time we were in Poland was polite, friendly, prompt and conversational. We gave an extended family with Polish origins who are interested in our experience and hoping to duplicate our trip. We were absolutely pleased with our experience and will recommend to any who may be interested. Thank you for making this trip so easy!

October 2024

Thank you very much for such an amazing time. The tour was perfect, and a bucket list item of many of our tour members. I look forward to my next opportunity to book with PolishOrigins Tours!

September 2024

Kasia was by far the best guide we have ever had! She was amazing! knowledgeable, friendly and patient. She did research on our genealogy before we arrived, and was therefore able to organize a very exciting, efficient and helpful genealogical tour of both sides of our family—the Jewish side and the Catholic side. She was amazing with her know how finding genealogical details in the digitized records and take us to the registrars of non-digitized genealogical information in various towns. She even helped us track down and meet cousins that we had not seen for 35 years and with whom we had lost all contact! Her winning personality opened the door to the house and hearts of our cousins. She knows the history of Poland and of the Jewish people of Poland very very well. She answered every question we asked about any and every topic. She did not shy away from the difficult discussion. She gave us memorable tours of Treblinka and the Museum of the History of the Jewish people in Poland, accompanied by clear and comprehensive explanations. We highly recommend Kasia as a top genealogical guide in Poland! and PolishOrigins to organize such tours.