GOING BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM

There is still time to register for this year's specialized tour to Ukraine (August 22-Sept. 8) with me as your "glorious leader" -- as one group named me. 

You can travel on your own (we all become friends and family) or you can bring a friend, relative, or significant other -- or a tribe -- as the Marykuca/Torbiak family did a few years ago.  This is Marvin's travel tale:

http://orysia.blogspot.ca/2012/03/my-good-friend-marvin-marykuca-wrote.html

please check out, and contact Martha:   

 http://www.greatcanadiantravel.com/europe-ukraine-culture-escorted-tour

GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM...

DO YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM?

Have you ever wondered about your baba’s and dido’s family back in Ukraine?  Is there anyone left after a century or more?  Where did they live?  What did their village look like?  Is Ukraine different now?

The answer to the last question is “yes” and “no.”  Your ancestral homeland is very modern, and yet quite traditional.  You will see both.  If you have no relatives there anymore, or are not Ukrainian, and just want to see and experience a beautiful part of the world, come along with me!

Join me on a specialized tour of Ukraine like no other.  We see people and places that will remain in your memories for a long time.  The scenery, the history, the culture, the people, the food, the drink, the art and architecture, the serendipity – all blend into a memorable journey.

If you’re interested in having family, extended family and friends go on “your” tour, we can customize it.  Not only will you see the highlights of Ukraine, but you will visit your ancestral villages and towns, meet relatives or people who remember them, and celebrate your ancestry.  If you want to join me on a regular tour, where we can visit your villages, that can be arranged.  And if you’re not Ukrainian, that’s fine, too – join us and become part of the family!

This will be my 15^th tour.  I have led folk art and culture tours to Ukraine almost every summer.  The folks who travelled with me are from all across North America, from the Northwest Territories to Florida and Iowa, and from California to Rhode Island and Nova Scotia.  Then there are the ones from Japan and Australia!  Now we are all friends, and I am blessed to have met and traveled with them.   We're off from August 22 to Sept. 8, 2013.  Enough time to plan.


Have added some photos --  urban and rural.  What a beautiful place!   More to follow.

The number in the tour is limited, so folks need to sign up with Martha Banias as soon as they can.

ORYSIA'S TOUR TO UKRAINE - 2013

The registration for this year's tour is closed.  

Start planning for 2013!  Families, friends, one and all -- plan on a family or friends' group together.  Dates have not been set yet, but usually we go in August.  If you have a large enough group, we can custom design a tour just for you, including the ancestral villages and sites you wish to visit at a time convenient for you.   

And please remember -- you don't have to be Ukrainian or know Ukrainian to go!  We've had folks from all across North America, and from Australia and Japan.  They all become honourary Ukrainians.  I interpret and translate all the time.  I'm the mother hen for the group.

Please see my previous post "WHAT A REUNION, WHAT A CENTENNIAL!  TOUR TO UKRAINE" with the article by Marvin Marykuca.  And do check my other postings about my tour.  Details here.

WHAT A REUNION, WHAT A CENTENNIAL! TOUR TO UKRAINE

My good friend Marvin Marykuca wrote this after his whole clan traveled with me to Ukraine on the occasion of his and Elsie's families celebrating their Centenary of settlement in Canada.  What a group of wonderful people, what a trip!  Truly memorable.  And they were all still speaking to each other at the end of the tour!  ;-}      My thanks to Marvin for permission to use this here.

Ukraine: Return to the Source                                    by Marvin Marykuca

Our intent to visit Ukraine germinated while Elsie and I were still living in the Northwest Territories.  During our long association with the Ukrainian community in Yellowknife we were often asked whether we had ever visited Ukraine.  Our response was always, “Not yet!” This gave our northern friends and acquaintances, only some of whom were of Ukrainian extraction, the sense that we would indeed make such a visit one day.  When at long last we decided to go, twenty-four relatives…, friends and acquaintances elected to join us.  This was particularly special for us as we knew closely almost everyone on the tour with us.  It gave us a marvellous opportunity to share a great experience with a group of wonderful people, friends and relatives alike.   The entire experience was further enhanced by the fact that Orysia Tracz, a dear friend of some 35 years’ standing and a veteran traveler to Ukraine, was our tour leader and guide.  In fact it is her expression   -- “Return to the Source” -- that we have borrowed as a title for this article.  The tour was absolutely chockful of highlights of every sort, -- the restaurants, the shopping, the cultural experiences, the churches, the museums, the entertainment, the views and the vistas --- selected by Orysia leave us fully satisfied that we could hardly have squeezed more activities and adventure into our trip.  Her constant good humour and tireless efforts to maximize everyone’s enjoyment of the experience was exceeded only by her dead-sure knowledge of exactly where we would find another good, cold Ukrainian beer, an absolute must in the high heat of a Ukrainian August…..    


(read more)

For those of you thinking about traveling to Ukraine with me, here are some "testimonials" (she said modestly....).   I am so blessed that now I have friends all over the world!

 
From Anna in Australia (toured in 2006):

"…Greetings from our family.  It is now a year since we joined with your group to visit Ukraine.  It was a most memorable trip, we still have many stories to share. So thank you very much for the opportunity of being part of your tour group…. You are a great wealth of knowledge. This made your tour so different and enjoyable.  And, you have so much energy. "

 

From Norma in Vancouver (toured in 2007):  

"It was an amazing pilgrimage and one I will never forget. Thank you again for the wealth of information with which you provided us all."

From Nancy in Yellowknife (toured in 2007):

"…It was a super tour & you helped to make it that way.  You have such a knowledge of the country. "

From Roman in Winnipeg (2010)

“I have to let you know that our trip  with you was unforgettable.  You are a patient, understanding , and a marvellous guide.  My wife and I are most pleased that we went.  I'll never forget our venture into the Karpaty.  Priceless memories… “

http://orysia.blogspot.ca/2012/03/tour-is-set-details-h-ere.html

 http://www.greatcanadiantravel.com/europe-ukraine-culture-escorted-tour