Cemeteries often provide details you won't find in public records such as place of death or previously unknown family members.
Family tree travel: Tombstones —
Cemeteries often provide details you won't find in public records such as place of death or previously unknown family members.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Before hitting the road in search of your family history, it's worth contacting officials to let them know you're coming. Here, the author's mother meets a priest in Candia Canavese, Italy to find out about their ancestors.
Plan ahead —
Before hitting the road in search of your family history, it's worth contacting officials to let them know you're coming. Here, the author's mother meets a priest in Candia Canavese, Italy to find out about their ancestors.
Aimee Cebulski/CNN
The author's mother stands in front of the house where her grandmother was born.
Candia Canavese, Italy —
The author's mother stands in front of the house where her grandmother was born.
Aimee Cebulski/CNN
During an earlier trip, the author visited Poland and was able to look through a family history records book.
Polish family records —
During an earlier trip, the author visited Poland and was able to look through a family history records book.
Aimee Cebulski/CNN
July, 1956: A woman traces her family tree in the UK's Public Record Office. Today, websites like Ancestry.com offer access to billions of records online.
Back in the day —
July, 1956: A woman traces her family tree in the UK's Public Record Office. Today, websites like Ancestry.com offer access to billions of records online.
arry Kerr/BIPs/Getty Images
Travelers are advised to build a family tree skeleton online before they journey to the homeland of their ancestors. It doesn't have to be as fancy as this French House of Bourbon one, circa 1600.
Now that's a family tree —
Travelers are advised to build a family tree skeleton online before they journey to the homeland of their ancestors. It doesn't have to be as fancy as this French House of Bourbon one, circa 1600.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images