October 1, 2025 • 15 mins
Travel advisors Ryan and Julie explore Kensington Tours' Personal Heritage Journey programs - unique travel experiences that trace your family ancestry through customized, private guided tours. Learn how to turn genealogical research into meaningful travel adventures that connect you with your personal history.
What Are Heritage Journey Programs?
- Fully customized ancestry-based travel experiences designed around your specific family history
- Partnership between Kensington Tours and Ancestry.com for in-depth genealogical research
- Private guided explorations with local experts and destination specialists
- Ongoing flexibility to adjust itineraries based on discoveries during your journey
Featured Heritage Itineraries
New York City Immigration Heritage Trip (7 Days)
- Trace immigrant ancestors through NYC neighborhoods
- Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty visits with genealogical context
- Brooklyn culinary tours and cultural neighborhood explorations
- Private ancestry genealogist consultations
- National Archives research opportunities
Northern Italy Heritage Journey (11 Days)
- Perfect blend of traditional Italian landmarks and personalized ancestry sites
- Rome, Florence, and Milan with customized village visits
- Medieval town explorations in Tuscany
- Lake Maggiore region discovery
- Upgrade options for detailed family tree research
Real Heritage Journey Success Stories
- European gentleman reunited with childhood friend in Africa through Kensington's research
- Surprise ancestral village visits during Sicily tours
- Multi-generational family bonding through shared heritage exploration
Planning Your Heritage Journey
- Best for: Couples, retirees, and multi-generational families
- Customization: Every itinerary tailored to your specific ancestry
- Research depth: Basic to comprehensive genealogical packages available
- Travel style: Luxury accommodations with authentic cultural immersion
Expert Travel Tips
- Heritage journeys work best without young children for deeper cultural engagement
- Consider as retirement celebration or milestone anniversary trips
- Start with regional heritage research before international travel
- Combine traditional sightseeing with personal family discovery
Keywords: heritage travel, ancestry tours, genealogy trips, Kensington Tours, family history travel, Italy ancestry tours, NYC immigration history, personalized travel expe
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to All Things
Travel.
Sometimes travel is more thanjust booking a ticket and
reading restaurant reviewsonline, and it's definitely not
just sightseeing, it's personaldiscovery and connecting with
your own story.
That's what we're discussingtoday as we highlight a very
special Heritage Journey programwith our friends at Kensington
(00:21):
Tours.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (00:23):
Listen in with travel advisors and
destination experts, Ryan andJulie.
He is your travel professorteaching you everything you need
to know to have a magicalvacation, and I am a Disney
loving Maryland mom of three anda specialist in family travel.
Whether we're discussingincredible destinations, top
vacation tips, or sharingpersonal stories, it's always
(00:47):
all things travel.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (00:50):
So Julie, I know on the show you've
talked about your.
Italian heritage, has thatimpacted where you want to
travel with your family in thefuture?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (01:01):
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, Italy is number one onmy list for when we go to
Europe, and where my family isfrom.
And then a very close second isthe Scandinavian region where my
husband has heritage.
So, you know, when we thinkabout going to Europe, that's
what comes to mind.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (01:21):
Well, I definitely have Scandinavian
Heritage.
Headstone is a Swedish name.
I know from some of the workthat my dad's side has done I've
got connections that led to theChicago area.
my dad grew up on the Indianaside of, of Chicago, my mom's
side I'm not as clear on.
I think overall I'm probably,you know, like a European mutt.
(01:42):
Like a lot of folks when theylook back at their ancestry, I
even joked with Shane many moonsago on this podcast.
We were planning on doing likethe, the, uh, ancestry tests
like the 23 and Me, and thentalking about traveling to those
locations.
I definitely would like to getto know a little bit more.
I just think as I'm gettingolder and I'm thinking about
(02:02):
family and all that kind ofstuff, I think it'd be neat to
have a little more information.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:06):
And that will tie in perfectly to this
episode.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:10):
I am super excited to talk about this
program with Kensington.
you know that we loveKensington.
We've talked about them a lot onthe podcast.
We've had guests come on andtalk about their experiences
with them.
They're just top notch and theyhave this really cool program
where they.
Base a trip around yourancestry, and so I'm excited to
(02:30):
talk about that.
But first, a very different typeof podcast.
Last week, if you did notlisten, Julie and I, reminisced
about this year's food crawlthat we did around Disney
Springs.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:43):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:45):
So what are these personal heritage
journeys?
These are unique, private guidedtravel experiences that are
fully customized around yourfamily history.
So not even just the region orthe country, but your specific
family.
Heritage designed to offer adeeply emotionally meaningful
(03:06):
exploration of your roots, and apartnership between Kensington
Tours and ancestry.com, whichreally gives you the power to
get as much genealogical insightand information, as they put
this together to inform thetrip.
Doesn't that sound fun?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (03:23):
Yeah, I was just thinking, I did not
realize they made this, thatpersonal and that's amazing.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (03:29):
Yeah, it's, based around you.
And I know from, speaking withfolks at Kensington, a story
that plays out is, there was aEuropean gentleman that was on
one of these trips and they wentback.
To Africa.
Uh, his parents weremissionaries and he had lived in
an African country, and theywent back to that place and
(03:49):
unbeknownst to him, they hadactually set up a meeting
between him and his childhoodfriend who he had not seen
since.
They moved away when he was aboy.
they sat and they talked andthey reminisced, it was one of
those magical moments.
He wasn't expecting it.
Kensington was able to make ithappen through this program.
(04:09):
really cool.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (04:11):
That is crazy.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (04:12):
So how do they do this?
Well, first they do an initialdiscovery and genealogical
research.
they work with ancestry.com withancestry powered insights to
trace your lineage, yourancestral locations.
I'm sure there's a lot of, youknow, detective work kind of
going on behind the scenes here,to really nail down where you're
(04:33):
from, who you're connect.
And then they take thatinformation and they customize
an itinerary, with destinationexperts.
they say, okay, this person isfrom this village in Sicily.
How can we design a trip aroundthis?
This person is from this regionin Vietnam, and their family was
there until this time.
How can we get them to know?
(04:55):
Vietnam better.
And then you go on thisprivately guided exploration.
you have, your driver guides.
Kensington does a great job withthat, that work with local
experts where you will bevisiting Villages, historical
sites, places with personalmeaning, kind of like what I
just talked about with, thatolder gentleman and his
(05:15):
childhood friend.
and then they're going to weaveinto that on the ground
experiences.
real world visits to ancestralsites, giving you cultural
immersion, storytelling.
I really think it's one of thosethings where you say.
This is what I wanna focus on.
I want to know about X, Y, andZ, and they're really gonna take
that and run with it.
(05:37):
Because one of the thingsthroughout all of these steps,
Julie, is really ongoingflexibility, as the journey
unfolds.
Kensington is going to adjusttravels based on what you find,
the different things that areinteresting.
maybe you're in a small villagesomewhere and you realize that
you have a cousin, two villagesdown, you're gonna pivot and go
see that person, right?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (05:58):
Wow.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (05:59):
what a cool way to organize a trip.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:03):
Yeah, can you imagine that being a
multi-generational trip and justthose experience would be
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:10):
the storytelling, the memories, the
intimacy, the connection thatthat family would have after
going through that, absolutely.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:19):
So cool.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:20):
I wanna talk about several of
these specific trips thatKensington highlights, but first
I wanna talk about where in theworld is Wonder and Beyond
Travel.
I have a client going on a tripthat really has a little twist
with this.
I have a couple that are goingon the best of Holland and
Belgium River crews with Ammawaterways.
(06:41):
The fun thing about this, Julie,is the thing that started this
whole conversation is havingrelatives in Brussels that they
wanted to meet up with.
So they are traveling fromChicago to Brussels, spending a
couple days with theirrelatives, and then taking the
train up to Amsterdam and.
(07:05):
Meeting up with the river crewsin time for it to leave.
This is a seven night roundtrip, Amsterdam cruise.
So they are going to, a lot ofreally fun things.
An example is, doing thatclassic Amsterdam canal tour,
walking tours through Amsterdam,cruising into XXX Sea, which is
(07:27):
a medieval harbor town.
seeing the Delta works, you canobviously do bike tours because
it's the Netherlands and there'smore bikes than people there.
You're gonna be in Gantt, Whichhas a walking tour.
Or you can do a full day inBruge, which would be funny
'cause then they can meet upwith their family members again.
(07:47):
then they're gonna be doing acapital of Belgium tour.
Then the City of Diamonds inAntwerp.
We talked about Antwerp just afew weeks ago.
And then we're gonna end thetour with Rotterdam Holland's
oldest city.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:03):
Wow.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:04):
And then they're gonna take the
train back down to Belgium,spend some time with their
family members and head back toChicago.
So I thought that was a fun tripto share today specifically.
'cause we talked about that, andthis is an example of the type
of trips that Julie and I do.
These folks will be doing thisin just a couple weeks from when
this show comes.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:25):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:27):
All right, so I want to talk about
two trips today.
I'm gonna highlight one and thenyou're gonna highlight one.
I'm gonna talk about the NewYork City Immigration Heritage
Trip.
this is a seven day trip.
Obviously focus, focusing onancestry of folks that came into
the United States through NewYork City.
(08:48):
So not all of this is going, youknow, out to the far flung
village of this, that, or othercountry.
You're going to explore New YorkCity's neighborhoods while
tracing your roots through keyancestral sites.
You're gonna customize youradventure with special stops
based on you.
So what does this trip looklike?
(09:08):
Well, the first day you aregoing to start with a city
Origins walking tour, where themoment you get into New York
City, they're gonna starttalking about you and your
family.
You're gonna do a taste andtraditions of New York City,
hitting Little Italy andChinatown.
I can tell you, a really gooddumpling place in Chinatown.
(09:29):
You're gonna walk through thepast.
You're gonna do a a BrooklynCulinary tour.
You're gonna explore a city ofcontrast, Harlem and Bronx Tour.
Then you're going to head to theStatue of Liberty.
You're gonna go to Ellis Island.
you know you're gonna have achance to see where your
ancestors came in, maybe evensee where they signed the books
(09:52):
And then on day six, you'regonna have an exploration with
an Ancestry, genealogist.
you're gonna have a privatedriver to take you to all the
sites.
You're gonna go to the NationalArchives if there's anything
that connects you to your familythere.
What a really cool trip, Julie.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:11):
Yeah, and you don't have to go very far,
right?
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:14):
You don't have to go very far.
it's all within New York City.
you're getting that focus onyour family and what it was like
for them to immigrate to theUnited States.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:23):
and it sounds like that could be a
great starting point to thenjump on to your Europe trip or
whatever you find out about yourfamily,
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:33):
So let's switch gears into going over to
Europe, This is the NorthernItaly heritage journey.
What I love about this itineraryis it is a perfect marriage of.
Seeing traditional Italy sitesand landmarks that you wanna go
see, but then that switch tothat personalized trip.
(10:56):
So I love how it combines bothof those into one trip.
this is an 11 day trip and,remember, everything with
Kensington is completelycustomized, I'm gonna walk
through what this sampleitinerary looks like, but if
this was your family and yourtrip, obviously the towns would
be catered to you,
ryan_2_09-05-2025_1 (11:18):
Absolutely.
And the same with New York Citytoo.
everything can be changed basedon what they find with the
ancestry.
Maybe you're spending more timein the neighborhoods.
absolutely.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (11:28):
you're going to explore the charm of
Northern Italy while tracingyour roots through your key
ancestral sites.
the way you're gonna do that isby customizing your adventure,
having curated stops guided bythat pre-trip genealogical
research you're gonna do.
You're gonna be able to uncoveryour Italian story with a
(11:49):
genealogist who has created anentire day.
Or more for you in your family'sregion.
You can also upgrade theresearch package.
to receive an additionalin-depth report and detailed
family tree.
And just like all otherKensington packages, you're
going to be able to stay athandpicked hotels, and have
(12:13):
these bespoke tours that arethoughtfully curated by your
destination experts.
Let's talk a little about, likea day by day so you can get that
idea of how you're gonna meshseeing, the landmarks, but then
also seeing your familyheritage.
you're gonna arrive into Rome,You're gonna be doing the best
(12:33):
of Rome tour, going to theVatican Museum, the forum, and
the coliseum.
now that is a long day.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:41):
Yeah.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:41):
that's your second day
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:43):
Whew.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:43):
so you do get that first day to adjust at
least.
From there.
The next day, you're headingover to Florence, and you have
some free time to exploreFlorence.
The following day, you're doinga walking tour with Academy
Gallery.
And then you're also gonna havea whole day where you're going
to those countryside, smallertowns in Florence, and that
(13:05):
sounds like you could reallyhave a lot of in-depth
experiences there because thosetowns are smaller, they're very
historic.
You're gonna have a lot ofleisure time, which I'm thinking
would probably be filled bywhatever you have found within
your heritage.
gonna keep going to some lesserknown places.
There's Nia in here.
you're gonna be going up towardsthe islands of Lake Majeure Uh,
(13:26):
it just sounds really beautiful.
You're ending the whole trip inMilan and then flying home from
there.
I love that this.
allows you to see so many partsof Italy, but you can then
customize it the way that youwould prefer.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (13:41):
That's really cool.
I had to kind of chuckle tomyself as you were talking about
this.
I had forgotten about, thisexperience when I put this
together for today, A gentlemanreached out several years ago
and he wanted to do a trip toSicily for him and his wife.
he wanted to do a tour ofSicily, but during the trip,
surprise her by going to thesmall villages that their
(14:03):
families were from.
Okay.
So I started to do some work.
we've got some partners that doreally good Sicilian trips, so I
reach out to them saying, Can weadd this on and everything?
And I sent him some quotes andhe said, this is perfect.
This is exactly what I want.
I feel like I kind of need tosee, you know, I wanted to
surprise my wife with some ofthis, but not all of it.
(14:23):
So I wanna see if she'sinterested.
Nope.
She wasn't interested at all.
I guess we're not going toSicily.
I thought it'd be really cool,and she just was not interested
at all.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:32):
We will, I'll go to Sicily.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:33):
Well, I don't know, Julie, I mean,
this is kind of a, uh, anobvious question maybe, but
would you do a trip like this tohelp understand your family
better?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:43):
I think absolutely.
I think this is like a trip thatyou kind of do.
I know we talk a lot about don'twait to travel, don't wait to do
those things.
But I do think this is a tripthat doesn't go well with little
kids.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:55):
Sure.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:55):
I think this is a trip that goes better,
as like a retirementcelebration.
that sounds really amazingbecause you do have the time to
sit and get in depth with yourancestry at that point.
The world is full of wonder andyour next great adventure is
waiting at Wonder and BeyondTravel.
We work with you to create a oneof a kind journey, taking the
(15:16):
stress off your plate so you canfocus on the joy of exploring
and the memories that will staywith you forever.
If you are ready to startplanning or just want to dream a
little bigger, head over toWonder and beyond travel.com.
We'd love to help you getstarted.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (15:32):
We look forward to talking to you
next week on all Things Travel,when we discuss some of the best
shore excursions in theCaribbean when you take your
next cruise.
Hello and welcome to All Things
Travel.
Sometimes travel is more thanjust booking a ticket and
reading restaurant reviewsonline, and it's definitely not
just sightseeing, it's personaldiscovery and connecting with
your own story.
That's what we're discussingtoday as we highlight a very
special Heritage Journey programwith our friends at Kensington
(00:21):
Tours.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (00:23):
Listen in with travel advisors and
destination experts, Ryan andJulie.
He is your travel professorteaching you everything you need
to know to have a magicalvacation, and I am a Disney
loving Maryland mom of three anda specialist in family travel.
Whether we're discussingincredible destinations, top
vacation tips, or sharingpersonal stories, it's always
(00:47):
all things travel.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (00:50):
So Julie, I know on the show you've
talked about your.
Italian heritage, has thatimpacted where you want to
travel with your family in thefuture?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (01:01):
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, Italy is number one onmy list for when we go to
Europe, and where my family isfrom.
And then a very close second isthe Scandinavian region where my
husband has heritage.
So, you know, when we thinkabout going to Europe, that's
what comes to mind.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (01:21):
Well, I definitely have Scandinavian
Heritage.
Headstone is a Swedish name.
I know from some of the workthat my dad's side has done I've
got connections that led to theChicago area.
my dad grew up on the Indianaside of, of Chicago, my mom's
side I'm not as clear on.
I think overall I'm probably,you know, like a European mutt.
(01:42):
Like a lot of folks when theylook back at their ancestry, I
even joked with Shane many moonsago on this podcast.
We were planning on doing likethe, the, uh, ancestry tests
like the 23 and Me, and thentalking about traveling to those
locations.
I definitely would like to getto know a little bit more.
I just think as I'm gettingolder and I'm thinking about
(02:02):
family and all that kind ofstuff, I think it'd be neat to
have a little more information.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:06):
And that will tie in perfectly to this
episode.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:10):
I am super excited to talk about this
program with Kensington.
you know that we loveKensington.
We've talked about them a lot onthe podcast.
We've had guests come on andtalk about their experiences
with them.
They're just top notch and theyhave this really cool program
where they.
Base a trip around yourancestry, and so I'm excited to
(02:30):
talk about that.
But first, a very different typeof podcast.
Last week, if you did notlisten, Julie and I, reminisced
about this year's food crawlthat we did around Disney
Springs.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:43):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (02:45):
So what are these personal heritage
journeys?
These are unique, private guidedtravel experiences that are
fully customized around yourfamily history.
So not even just the region orthe country, but your specific
family.
Heritage designed to offer adeeply emotionally meaningful
(03:06):
exploration of your roots, and apartnership between Kensington
Tours and ancestry.com, whichreally gives you the power to
get as much genealogical insightand information, as they put
this together to inform thetrip.
Doesn't that sound fun?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (03:23):
Yeah, I was just thinking, I did not
realize they made this, thatpersonal and that's amazing.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (03:29):
Yeah, it's, based around you.
And I know from, speaking withfolks at Kensington, a story
that plays out is, there was aEuropean gentleman that was on
one of these trips and they wentback.
To Africa.
Uh, his parents weremissionaries and he had lived in
an African country, and theywent back to that place and
(03:49):
unbeknownst to him, they hadactually set up a meeting
between him and his childhoodfriend who he had not seen
since.
They moved away when he was aboy.
they sat and they talked andthey reminisced, it was one of
those magical moments.
He wasn't expecting it.
Kensington was able to make ithappen through this program.
(04:09):
really cool.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (04:11):
That is crazy.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (04:12):
So how do they do this?
Well, first they do an initialdiscovery and genealogical
research.
they work with ancestry.com withancestry powered insights to
trace your lineage, yourancestral locations.
I'm sure there's a lot of, youknow, detective work kind of
going on behind the scenes here,to really nail down where you're
(04:33):
from, who you're connect.
And then they take thatinformation and they customize
an itinerary, with destinationexperts.
they say, okay, this person isfrom this village in Sicily.
How can we design a trip aroundthis?
This person is from this regionin Vietnam, and their family was
there until this time.
How can we get them to know?
(04:55):
Vietnam better.
And then you go on thisprivately guided exploration.
you have, your driver guides.
Kensington does a great job withthat, that work with local
experts where you will bevisiting Villages, historical
sites, places with personalmeaning, kind of like what I
just talked about with, thatolder gentleman and his
(05:15):
childhood friend.
and then they're going to weaveinto that on the ground
experiences.
real world visits to ancestralsites, giving you cultural
immersion, storytelling.
I really think it's one of thosethings where you say.
This is what I wanna focus on.
I want to know about X, Y, andZ, and they're really gonna take
that and run with it.
(05:37):
Because one of the thingsthroughout all of these steps,
Julie, is really ongoingflexibility, as the journey
unfolds.
Kensington is going to adjusttravels based on what you find,
the different things that areinteresting.
maybe you're in a small villagesomewhere and you realize that
you have a cousin, two villagesdown, you're gonna pivot and go
see that person, right?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (05:58):
Wow.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (05:59):
what a cool way to organize a trip.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:03):
Yeah, can you imagine that being a
multi-generational trip and justthose experience would be
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:10):
the storytelling, the memories, the
intimacy, the connection thatthat family would have after
going through that, absolutely.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:19):
So cool.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (06:20):
I wanna talk about several of
these specific trips thatKensington highlights, but first
I wanna talk about where in theworld is Wonder and Beyond
Travel.
I have a client going on a tripthat really has a little twist
with this.
I have a couple that are goingon the best of Holland and
Belgium River crews with Ammawaterways.
(06:41):
The fun thing about this, Julie,is the thing that started this
whole conversation is havingrelatives in Brussels that they
wanted to meet up with.
So they are traveling fromChicago to Brussels, spending a
couple days with theirrelatives, and then taking the
train up to Amsterdam and.
(07:05):
Meeting up with the river crewsin time for it to leave.
This is a seven night roundtrip, Amsterdam cruise.
So they are going to, a lot ofreally fun things.
An example is, doing thatclassic Amsterdam canal tour,
walking tours through Amsterdam,cruising into XXX Sea, which is
(07:27):
a medieval harbor town.
seeing the Delta works, you canobviously do bike tours because
it's the Netherlands and there'smore bikes than people there.
You're gonna be in Gantt, Whichhas a walking tour.
Or you can do a full day inBruge, which would be funny
'cause then they can meet upwith their family members again.
(07:47):
then they're gonna be doing acapital of Belgium tour.
Then the City of Diamonds inAntwerp.
We talked about Antwerp just afew weeks ago.
And then we're gonna end thetour with Rotterdam Holland's
oldest city.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:03):
Wow.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:04):
And then they're gonna take the
train back down to Belgium,spend some time with their
family members and head back toChicago.
So I thought that was a fun tripto share today specifically.
'cause we talked about that, andthis is an example of the type
of trips that Julie and I do.
These folks will be doing thisin just a couple weeks from when
this show comes.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:25):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (08:27):
All right, so I want to talk about
two trips today.
I'm gonna highlight one and thenyou're gonna highlight one.
I'm gonna talk about the NewYork City Immigration Heritage
Trip.
this is a seven day trip.
Obviously focus, focusing onancestry of folks that came into
the United States through NewYork City.
(08:48):
So not all of this is going, youknow, out to the far flung
village of this, that, or othercountry.
You're going to explore New YorkCity's neighborhoods while
tracing your roots through keyancestral sites.
You're gonna customize youradventure with special stops
based on you.
So what does this trip looklike?
(09:08):
Well, the first day you aregoing to start with a city
Origins walking tour, where themoment you get into New York
City, they're gonna starttalking about you and your
family.
You're gonna do a taste andtraditions of New York City,
hitting Little Italy andChinatown.
I can tell you, a really gooddumpling place in Chinatown.
(09:29):
You're gonna walk through thepast.
You're gonna do a a BrooklynCulinary tour.
You're gonna explore a city ofcontrast, Harlem and Bronx Tour.
Then you're going to head to theStatue of Liberty.
You're gonna go to Ellis Island.
you know you're gonna have achance to see where your
ancestors came in, maybe evensee where they signed the books
(09:52):
And then on day six, you'regonna have an exploration with
an Ancestry, genealogist.
you're gonna have a privatedriver to take you to all the
sites.
You're gonna go to the NationalArchives if there's anything
that connects you to your familythere.
What a really cool trip, Julie.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:11):
Yeah, and you don't have to go very far,
right?
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:14):
You don't have to go very far.
it's all within New York City.
you're getting that focus onyour family and what it was like
for them to immigrate to theUnited States.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:23):
and it sounds like that could be a
great starting point to thenjump on to your Europe trip or
whatever you find out about yourfamily,
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (10:33):
So let's switch gears into going over to
Europe, This is the NorthernItaly heritage journey.
What I love about this itineraryis it is a perfect marriage of.
Seeing traditional Italy sitesand landmarks that you wanna go
see, but then that switch tothat personalized trip.
(10:56):
So I love how it combines bothof those into one trip.
this is an 11 day trip and,remember, everything with
Kensington is completelycustomized, I'm gonna walk
through what this sampleitinerary looks like, but if
this was your family and yourtrip, obviously the towns would
be catered to you,
ryan_2_09-05-2025_1 (11:18):
Absolutely.
And the same with New York Citytoo.
everything can be changed basedon what they find with the
ancestry.
Maybe you're spending more timein the neighborhoods.
absolutely.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (11:28):
you're going to explore the charm of
Northern Italy while tracingyour roots through your key
ancestral sites.
the way you're gonna do that isby customizing your adventure,
having curated stops guided bythat pre-trip genealogical
research you're gonna do.
You're gonna be able to uncoveryour Italian story with a
(11:49):
genealogist who has created anentire day.
Or more for you in your family'sregion.
You can also upgrade theresearch package.
to receive an additionalin-depth report and detailed
family tree.
And just like all otherKensington packages, you're
going to be able to stay athandpicked hotels, and have
(12:13):
these bespoke tours that arethoughtfully curated by your
destination experts.
Let's talk a little about, likea day by day so you can get that
idea of how you're gonna meshseeing, the landmarks, but then
also seeing your familyheritage.
you're gonna arrive into Rome,You're gonna be doing the best
(12:33):
of Rome tour, going to theVatican Museum, the forum, and
the coliseum.
now that is a long day.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:41):
Yeah.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:41):
that's your second day
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:43):
Whew.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (12:43):
so you do get that first day to adjust at
least.
From there.
The next day, you're headingover to Florence, and you have
some free time to exploreFlorence.
The following day, you're doinga walking tour with Academy
Gallery.
And then you're also gonna havea whole day where you're going
to those countryside, smallertowns in Florence, and that
(13:05):
sounds like you could reallyhave a lot of in-depth
experiences there because thosetowns are smaller, they're very
historic.
You're gonna have a lot ofleisure time, which I'm thinking
would probably be filled bywhatever you have found within
your heritage.
gonna keep going to some lesserknown places.
There's Nia in here.
you're gonna be going up towardsthe islands of Lake Majeure Uh,
(13:26):
it just sounds really beautiful.
You're ending the whole trip inMilan and then flying home from
there.
I love that this.
allows you to see so many partsof Italy, but you can then
customize it the way that youwould prefer.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (13:41):
That's really cool.
I had to kind of chuckle tomyself as you were talking about
this.
I had forgotten about, thisexperience when I put this
together for today, A gentlemanreached out several years ago
and he wanted to do a trip toSicily for him and his wife.
he wanted to do a tour ofSicily, but during the trip,
surprise her by going to thesmall villages that their
(14:03):
families were from.
Okay.
So I started to do some work.
we've got some partners that doreally good Sicilian trips, so I
reach out to them saying, Can weadd this on and everything?
And I sent him some quotes andhe said, this is perfect.
This is exactly what I want.
I feel like I kind of need tosee, you know, I wanted to
surprise my wife with some ofthis, but not all of it.
(14:23):
So I wanna see if she'sinterested.
Nope.
She wasn't interested at all.
I guess we're not going toSicily.
I thought it'd be really cool,and she just was not interested
at all.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:32):
We will, I'll go to Sicily.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:33):
Well, I don't know, Julie, I mean,
this is kind of a, uh, anobvious question maybe, but
would you do a trip like this tohelp understand your family
better?
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:43):
I think absolutely.
I think this is like a trip thatyou kind of do.
I know we talk a lot about don'twait to travel, don't wait to do
those things.
But I do think this is a tripthat doesn't go well with little
kids.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:55):
Sure.
j_2_09-05-2025_134942 (14:55):
I think this is a trip that goes better,
as like a retirementcelebration.
that sounds really amazingbecause you do have the time to
sit and get in depth with yourancestry at that point.
The world is full of wonder andyour next great adventure is
waiting at Wonder and BeyondTravel.
We work with you to create a oneof a kind journey, taking the
(15:16):
stress off your plate so you canfocus on the joy of exploring
and the memories that will staywith you forever.
If you are ready to startplanning or just want to dream a
little bigger, head over toWonder and beyond travel.com.
We'd love to help you getstarted.
ryan_2_09-05-2025_134942 (15:32):
We look forward to talking to you
next week on all Things Travel,when we discuss some of the best
shore excursions in theCaribbean when you take your
next cruise.
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