Testimonials

April 2017

Zbigniew was terrific. Nice personality and good driver. His passion for genealogy was obvious (“it’s not his business it’s his passion.”)

Local guides (Lviv, Warsaw) were excellent too. Very knowledgeable and interested in their cities.

The research exceeded my expectations. In addition to my grandfather Z was able to get info on my grandmother and about 80 relatives. He kept working even after we left and has excellent suggestions for follow-up.

PolishTours was very professional and exceeded expectations in many respects. You get personal service unlike any other tour I’ve taken. Their passion for family history makes it come alive. You get a sense of how your ancestors lived. And it was fun.

October 2016

I never thought I could fall in love with a country like I did.  I do love Poland. The genealogy was very thorough and so much fun to find birth certificates of my grandfather’s family.   I will never forget all of the kindnesses we experienced along with the out of the way little things that I requested (such as finding great yarn that was grown and spun in Poland). Great trip, great guides, all were very helpful and knowledgeable that my mind is still reeling with all of the information and fond memories that I will hold close to my heart always. I have and will tell family and friends about using PolishOrigins.  Just loved all of it.  A big hug and thanks to all of you.

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October 2016

Both Pawel and Lucek were excellent guides and, through informal conversations, gave me insights to contemporary issues in Poland.  Pawel was tireless in driving and keeping up a conversation about sights, issues, and history. Lucek gave me valuable cultural information on meeting people, including my relatives.  Both were open to answering questions.

I was pleased with the research I was able to do, especially since the priest in my great-grandparents’ village (Dobra) seemed recalcitrant about offering help.  Lucek patiently followed up with a lead the priest gave us and we found a young archivist who had put the parish records in order and who worked well with us.

I highly recommend this tour and will advertise it by word-of-mouth.

October 2016

Very happy with my guide Zen. Very dedicated, thorough, flexible and kind.
The city tour guide in Warsaw was excellent. Very nice, and well versed and knowledgeable. Not that I asked hard questions, but he always had the answer when I did.

Very happy. Found relatives on 2 different branches of my tree. One PO had helped me contact before, so we had made plans to meet. The other we found after 2 days of playing detective and pounding the pavement. It was amazing.  Really unbelievable that we really did find them like that.  Couldn’t be happier.

Overall happy and satisfied with the tour and my experience. I would gladly and happily recommend.

September 2016

Kasia is not only quite knowledgeable about the areas we visited – Krakow, Zakopane and the Bieszczady, but also she is very enthusiastic.  Her love for Poland is catching!  She took into consideration all of my requests.  In fact she builds on information one shares with her and makes it even better.  I loved her tours in Krakow of the castle, the church, the salt mines, the underground city, and just walking around and exploring with her.  She always made sure we were settled in at our hotel before leaving us for the night. The traditional restaurants she chose in Zakopane were fantastic, especially the one with the country band playing!  I thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Bieszczady – seeing the small things – little shops, little museums, kind people.  From the beginning Kasia was a super guide.  In the end, she became a friend. Thank you so much, Kasia.

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September 2016

We could not have asked for a better guide than Zenon.  He worked very hard to help us find the information that we were seeking, translated conversations with people we had met and helped me with my Polish when needed.  I am still working on two words that he taught me…I think I ALMOST have it right !  (I will know it by the time I return to Poland).  He was very respectful to everyone we met and I believe that was why they were so willing to help us.

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September 2016

Most aspects of our tour were coordinated by Anna at PolishOrigins. They did a great job pulling it all together. This was a totally custom tour designed to see cities and locations where Greg’s father Eugene was born and lived before 1939. Secondarily, we wanted to find out as much as we could about Eugene’s military service in WW2 and also to identify any living relatives.We also wanted to see the Kamedulski monastery and see if we could understand the connection between our surname and the monastery.

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September 2016

You have two great assets to your company in Pawel and Adrian. They went above and beyond which should have been expected of them. As you are aware of some of the situations that arose, they handled them with professionalism and compassion. I honestly cannot say enough good things about those two gentlemen.

I will say Lucjan was wonderful. He was a great interpreter and a big help in locating Jack’s family.  

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September 2016

Zbigniew did an excellent job in locating my ancestor’s village and gravestones of Ziemniak cousins in the parish cemetery.  Although we located the homes of several cousins, we were unable to find the house of my great- grandfather, perhaps because it does not exist today.  We were unable to talk to the parish priest because he was out of town, and due to the short time available, could not wait for him to return.  However, we left a message for him regarding records of older ancestors, and are presently waiting for a reply.  The pre-tour work done by Zbigniew proved invaluable, as he found that my great-grandfather had moved to another parish after my grandfather had left Poland.  As a result, we were able to obtain a copy of his death record by visiting the USC in Staszow.  A similar search for my great-grandmother’s death record between 1931 and 1916 proved negative, but followup work by Zbigniew found that she was alive in 1912, based on the marriage record of her daughter.  Thus, I have now bracketed the year of her death as being between 1913 and 1915.  This range is consistent with our oral family history which recollects that the Ziemniak farmhouse was destroyed during World War I.  As USC moves its records older than 100 years to an AP, additional followup work is needed.  Without the assistance from Zbigniew, none of the above would have been possible.

September 2016

Extensive research done with amazing results.

Hotels were all very good and in great locations.

We loved Zbigniew.  He is very knowledgeable and resourceful and has great tenacity.

We also appreciated Marek’s assistance in Warsaw.  He responded and adjusted well to our group’s interests.

We love you Zbigniew and miss you.  We had a great time. It was a trip of a lifetime for us.  We’ll meet in Minsk next!

See also post Marie on FB.