Although I am specializing on tours around Slovakia, I received a request for a tour in Ukraine (and later in Slovakia too). Because I am based in Eastern Slovakia it was not my first journey to Ukraine. Erika was born in Mukachevo (UA) 80 years ago and her grandparents lived in Berehovo (around 30 km south from Mukachevo). Both of these towns were for almost 20 years part of former Czechoslovakia, now they are part of Zakarpattia Oblast (province) in western Ukraine, near the border with Hungary and Slovakia. Before Erika moved with her family to United States, she spent some years in Košice (Slovakia) too.

Rebecca and Bob are cousins from 3rd generation. They met personally first time in Vienna this year before their first visit of Slovakia in their life. Rebecca and Bob wanted not only to trace their family's roots, but they also wanted to visit some of the nicest places in Slovakia. We spent 5 days together and traveled more than 1630 km (1021 mi) in multifarious Slovak counties: Šariš, Spiš, Zemplín, Liptov, Orava, Považie. Before we met in High Tatras National Park, they visited with my colleague other Slovak towns (the capital Bratislava, UNESCO town Banská Štiavnica or UNESCO village Vlkolínec).

I was contacted by a nice couple, Cathy and Mark from Virginia some weeks before our tour. They found my profile on TripAdvisor. Marks grandparents came from small villages from north-eastern Slovakia and Mark with Cathy wanted visit all of them. We only had one incomplete day for our exploring, so the itinerary and time management had to work well. We met in the sunny morning in Prešov and continued to the north-eastern part of the region.