The Hidden Value in Blogging your Genealogy Tour

(article originally posted in PolishOrigins Forum here by Shellie)

In June 2009 I had one of the greatest adventures of my life when I traveled to Poland for the first time and visited my ancestral village with Zenon.

Everyone who takes a Forefathers Traces Tour (FTT) with Zenon is given the opportunity to post daily updates – using Zenon’s laptop if you don’t bring your own. Blogging your trip gives your family and friends regular updates during your trip. Sure, you could update your facebook page on a daily basis, but let me tell you why blogging your trip might be a better idea….

Trip blogs are posted on Polish Origins and will remain there indefinitely and comments can be posted months and years later. This is the link to my blog:
http://blog.polishorigins.com/2009/07/12/11-shellies-tour-to-ancestral-places-day1/

Even now, 2 years after my trip, I am getting wonderful messages from people who are interested in my family surnames and my ancestral village. I met dozens of people who share my interest and are eager to make family connections. I have even met a distant cousin who was about to depart for my ancestral village. She was interested in getting family records and after several emails, she was able to plan her record collecting so she wouldn’t waste time looking at records that I already had. She was able to focus on finding records that I did not have. Now I have a new cousin and more records to help my research. Thanks to her I now have birth records for my great-grandmother’s sister and brother!

When I blogged my trip, I never thought that it would bring me together with Polish friends and family. Just a few days ago, I got a great comment from someone from my ancestral village who now lives in Chicago. I’m anxious to meet my new friends in person some day soon!

If you have blogged your FFT tour with Zenon, please tell me if you have had some surprising comments and messages left on your blog.

Shellie

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