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dgawell



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Replies: 63

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Post Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:17 am      Post subject: Spring travel to Poland
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Hello,

First, I want to share my good progress. I sent an English letter and the Polish translation with a family tree to the postmaster of a village in Poland with the names of the distant relatives I had been given. I received a call from a man related to these people. He immigrated to the USA 50 years ago but returns yearly to a home he has in that village. He was so excited to make a connection to the lost family and very much wants us to visit for a few days. Also another wonderful stranger secured my grandparents' and other ancestors records from the parish and he sent them to me as jpg files. It made me so happyt to see that my interpretation of the microfilms fro FHC was correct. How wonderful of him. Polish people are the best!

I have some questions for my spring trip. This new relative has caused me to change our plans now that I know we will have contacts in Lutcza. Here is my itinerary and I value your opinions on the practicality of my plans:

Day 1- fly into Warsaw, rent car, drive to Rzeszow
Day 2- Drive to Lutcza to meet husband's family, hotel in Rzeszow
Day 3- Visit Lancut and Blizne (All Saints Church) hotel in Rzeszow
Day 4- Drive to Kolbuszowa and visit skansen- hotel in Kolbuszowa (Hotel Dworek)
Day 5- Visit family in Niwiska (Hotel Dworek)
Day 6- Visit local area/family in Niwiska (Hotel Dworek)
Day 7- Drive to Warsaw, return rental car, hotel in Warsaw
Day 8- Tour areas of Warsaw
Day 9- Flight home from Warsaw

I had hoped to visit Malbork but that is a long drive and I don't see how we can fit that in. Are there any other wonderful sights close to the area we are traveling?
We are trying to keep this trip focused on family and the ancestral villages but I want to have some options if we have time. The ancestral villages are Niwiska, Trzesn and Lutcza.

Another question is the rental car. We think the best option might be AutoEurope and we know how to drive a manual. We also added all the collision wavers and will get a car with GPS. We also have our international driver's permits. Any other advice on renting a car and driving in Poland?

Also, what would be a suitable gift for these people? I am lost about that issue. FYI- we have been to Krakow, Poland once before and Europe in general several times but speak no Polish, although we are slowly working on the basics. This is our first real "relative" visit.

Thank you for all your help,
Donna
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annatokaj
PolishOrigins Team


Joined: 01 Apr 2015
Replies: 25

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:06 am      Post subject:
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Donna,

We very often organize and travel together with our guests to the area that you are planning to visit. This is region from which a great number of people emigrated at the breakthrough of 19th century. Now their grand- and great-grandchildren return to uncover their roots and hopefully meet relatives as you do Smile.

Regarding Malbork, you are right that it is a long distance (about 6 hours 30 minutes' drive from Kolbuszowa).

If you are interested in castles you can follow the Eagles Nests Trail. It is a marked trail named after a chain of 25 medieval castles between Częstochowa and Kraków. We can show you 2 or 3 from all of them on the way back to Kraków. http://orlegniazda.pl/en-US.
Although these are castle of different character, old Polish forts built to protect Polish territory and trade tracks It is definitely closer than Malbork castle.

Even closer to Lutcza there are ruins of Kamieniec castle in Odrzykon: http://zamekkamieniec.iq.pl/ . For sure not so monumental and well-preserved as the one in Malbork but with a very interesting history. One of poests, Aleksander Fredro, was owner of it and based on true story which happened in this castle he wrote one of his best known comedies "Revenge": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zemsta .

From our experience we know that hand-made gifts, family trees, old family pictures are very welcome as gifts by families in Poland. Even simple things like alcohol for man and sweats for woman are good idea.

To get other ideas you can read blogs written by some of our guests: http://blog.polishorigins.com/

We are also working on an article about how to prepare for trip to Poland (with focus on genealogy trip). It should be ready by the end of February.

If you need any assistance just contact us either via forum or direct email: [email protected] .

Best,
Anna
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