Uncover your family history with genealogical travel
Betsy Goldberg writes for Virtuoso Luxury Traveller, the blog of a global luxury travel network, and she enjoys nothing more than taking a holiday.
Genealogical travel – sometimes called heritage or roots tourism – is a growing specialty. That’s due partly to resources that didn’t exist a decade ago. Sites like Ancestry.com and TV shows like Genealogy Roadshow and Who Do You Think You Are? ignite interest and give people the tools to research their heritage.
“These trips can be very simple, or very complex,” explains Marion Hager, a Virtuoso travel advisor in Scottsdale, Arizona, “but the result is the same: a sense of connection with one’s roots.” Hager partners with celebrity genealogist Megan Smolenyak, of Who Do You Think You Are? fame, to customize genealogical travel for people seeking their roots.
“For some people, that means a whole tour structured around their family’s history. For other travellers, it means an hour while they stops by an archive office to access paperwork – death certificates, birth certificates, marriage licenses, addresses,” says Ashley Ganz with Virtuoso partner Artisans of Leisure. Ganz’s company has arranged countless genealogical travel experiences.
“Genealogical tourism is growing in popularity simply because the world is becoming a much smaller place,” notes Laura Madrid, a Virtuoso travel consultant in Raleigh, North Carolina who specializes in family and multi-generational travel. “People in general are much more aware of the world because they are doing business globally and because they are now traveling more than ever. The annual trip to the beach is no longer satisfying more travellers and even places we have travelled to for years like Italy and France are no longer going to be enough for the intrepid traveller. So when coming up with our bucket lists, I think a place with particular meaning such as where our family roots sprung makes the list.”
Tips for Genealogical Travel
1. Research your family history before planning the trip. Sites like Ancestry.com make it easy to do so. Or hire a genealogist to do the sleuthing for you. “The more information the traveller has about where their family actually lived the better, we can often get travellers right there, and it makes it that much more personalized and meaningful,” says Ganz.
2. Have your DNA analysed. “You take your DNA with a swab, and there’s a company they use that will tell you what areas your DNA has come from, and also bring forth people who have had the same DNA done,” Rollins comments. “They say, according to your DNA, there’s a possibility of being third to fifth cousins with these people, then a lot of people get in touch with those people and try to figure out how they’re related. What’s been very interesting for us, my mother and myself, we found all kinds of cousins in the United States that we didn’t know about.”
3. Since a significant number of genealogical travel experiences are family vacations, they should be designed to maximize activities and bonding. “Whether clients are attending festivals, having a cooking class, or meeting with an art expert, keep it educational, but also fun,” recommends Ganz.
4. Work genealogical travel into a larger trip. For example, if you’re on a cruise, and it stops in a city or town where you had ancestors, take a few hours to explore your roots there.
5. Find guides, not just translators, who know the area’s history and can talk about what happened in specific neighbourhoods and buildings. “They can bring the history alive,” Ganz notes. “To actually be there hearing about it in the context of the place makes it much more powerful and meaningful.”
6. Talk with the locals. “When visiting a long-lost homeland, travellers tend to try to strike up conversations with locals and let them know they are from there,” Madrid points out. “They often end up establishing some type of personal connection or at least a feeling of brotherhood.”
7. If you don’t have enough information on your ancestors to do a detailed genealogical trip, consider a heritage tour instead. Explains Ganz, “Heritage tours are a little broader. Travelers may not have any specific information about where their ancestors used to live, but they want to visit the area, taste the food, without delving too deeply.”
8. Partner with a travel advisor who can help you plan the genealogical travel experience you’ve always envisioned.
Has this article triggered your interest in genealogical travel? Have you ever taken trip with a view to connect with your family?
Please share your thoughts/story in the comments below.
First appeared on Virtuoso. Click here to visit their website for more information.
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