PolishOrigins

Testimonials

These testimonials have been written and shared with us by our Tours’ and Genealogy Services’ clients. We have collected them in this place after more than a decade of providing genealogical, historical, cultural tours and genealogy services. There are a few more of them on our Google, Facebook  or TripAdvisor profiles.

You can also check our the complete offer of PolishOrigins’ tours, blogs written by our guests or photos from our tours to understand even better what we do and how people react to it.

 


Jennifer (Wooden Treasures of Southern Poland )

April 2018

It was a wonderful tour and my family enjoyed it so much. We were all very grateful to Pawel who had a lovely energy. He took such good care of us and made so much effort to give us the best trip. It was the perfect balance of culture, history and nature. We will remember it for the rest of our lives.

 

(more…)


Bill (Genealogy Tour)

October 2017

Review from Facebook and Tripadvisor

Last month, my wife Dorothy and I took an eleven day genealogy/history tour of Poland with PolishOrigins. I highly recommend them. They worked tirelessly, even before Dorothy and I arrived in Poland, to find genealogy records and living relatives. They went way beyond the usual genealogy research. For example: I have a letter from Poland that was written to my maternal grandmother in Chicago during the 1960’s. Zenon, our guide, had me scan the letter and send it to him before we arrived in Poland. He actually was able to find the author of the letter, Janina, a 77 year old second cousin of mine. He telephoned her in the little village of Zdrochec which is located about an 1 1/2 hour east of Kraków. By the time we arrived in Poland, he had set up a lunch date with Janina and her family. When we arrived at Janina’s house, we shared photos and stories (by the way, we don’t speak Polish and Zenon was also our translator). Among the photos I brought to Poland was a picture of my grandmother’s sister. Janina had the exact same photo! Pretty cool! Then the food came out. All I can say is WOW, what a feast. We even sang a merry version of “Sto Lat.” After lunch, several of us visited the local cemetery. After saying goodbye, Dorothy, Zenon and I headed to the next village, Sikorzyce, where the house from which my maternal grandparents emigrated in 1912 was located. Unfortunately, nobody was home. Zenon spoke with several neighbors and even the mayor’s wife in an attempt to find some living relatives. No luck. Still, it was a great, great day.

(more…)


Pati (Genealogy Tour)

October 2017

We spent the day with Marek in Warsaw and he was an exceptional guide.  Very knowledgable and such a pleasure to be with.  Our local guide in Vilnius was also very good.  Our genealogical guide for the bulk of the trip was Zbigniew Stettner and, to us, he is a rock star.  His ability to unlock the past and find answers in a maze of old documents goes without saying.  That he did this while keeping company with 7 crazy American ladies – all with good humor and patience – speaks to his kindness and professionalism.

(more…)


Eugene (Genealogy Tour)

October 2017

Our guide, Lucjan Cichocki, was just great. He was well organized and well informed about where to find information about the family. He also knew how to go about finding relatives and he did a great job of informing those relatives about who we were and what we were trying to accomplish. These relatives seemed to be at ease with us (total strangers to them) after talking to Lucjan and they opened their doors to us. A great job by Lucjan.  Finally, Lucjan did a great job organizing and transmitting to us all of the documents that were found during the research process. He has made it very easy for me to add all of this data to my Family Tree.

Thanks again to Lucjan for the wonderful research experience and his guidance  during our site seeing part of the tour.


Russel and Pamela (Genealogy Tour and Galicia Tour)  

September 2017

Dr. Peter Nagy was very professional and absolutely knew where to go to get the information necessary for finding out my genealogical connections. He persevered  when he thought that there were no living relatives left in Devicany.  Peter set up a meeting with town mayor and historical author, Mr. Milan Batovsky, in regards to finding my family’s home. Interestingly, that meeting led to the discovery of Milan being my 3rd cousin. Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled that I have family there now and we are beginning to communicate via email.  I hope to return to Slovakia next year and seek out Peter’s assistance in looking further back in to my family’s ancestry.

(more…)


David (Genealogy Tour)

September 2017

In my view, Pawel, Zbigniew, Ivanka, and Hubert were all knowledgeable, personable, excellent English speaking guides.  Each had also reviewed the Zbigniew’s genealogical report well enough to bring a personal touch to the tours.

Zbigniew did a remarkable job of finding genealogical records on individuals relatives who lived in Lviv and the surrounding towns and villages to the east and south of Lviv.  We learn history of the family and was new to the relatives we met with in Warsaw and Krakow – giving the experience additional significance.

(more…)


Kristin (Genealogy Tour)

September 2017

We had the most amazing time in Europe, but particularly in Poland.  I have to admit that I was not prepared for all the emotions and feelings that I experienced in Poland.  I was so overwhelmed that I can’t even put it into words.  It is easy to read a book about history or watch a film or google the internet to find information, but when you are standing where that history took place and it is actually family members lives explained, then it is very confronting.  It also makes you realize that those historical events have given us the lives that we have today and we are grateful for that.

(more…)


Jocelyn (Genealogy Tour and Galicia Tour)

August 2017

Lucan was the perfect guide for us.  He really understood what we were looking for, was extremely proactive in doing the initial research and talking to priests, town hall officials, and people we met.  We could not have asked for a better guide!

Our expectations were more than met, both with the amount of information Lucan was able to find for us and the added bonus of actually getting to meet some relatives.  We look forward to continuing our research by incorporating all of the information we gathered on this trip.

(more…)


Joe (Genealogy Tour)

July 2017

Our tour guide Pawel was excellent. He was very professional and personable. He was an excellent liaison between the tour guests and our new found family. He explained all matters very well and made sure that we understood the various customs and traditions that may have influenced our family. While on our tour Pawel even was able to find more of our existing family while we visited the site of my father’s birthplace. We all treasured having Pawel as our guide.

We were very satisfied with the research. When we first started with PolishOrigins our hopes were to just find some few pieces of information. The genealogy report was very detailed and complete.

All communication with Anna and Magdalena were prompt, thorough and professional. They met our expectations in all ways.

Read more on Facebook


Kathleen and  Donald (Genealogy Tour)

July 2017

Zenon was everything we had hoped for in a guide.  Friendly, fearless and undaunted in his efforts to connect us with the persons, places and locations of our ancestors.  Part genealogist, part  undercover detective in his ability to approach civil servants, store keepers, church officials and possible neighbors to gain more information to help unravel the whereabouts of our living relatives. He carefully studied all of the research we had completed before our arrival and provided us with a well thought out journey to each of the villages and churches contained in our family tree. His demeanor was so non-intimidating and approachable that most strangers immediately wanted to help us in our quest to find living relatives.

(more…)


1 7 8 9 10 11 18