Jul 2022 Helena was a very responsive correspondent in the weeks leading up to my visit. We spent a full day (eleven hours) traveling from Brno to villages in the Trebic area where my ancestors once lived. I knew of two houses in one village where my family members had been born and raised, and Helena contacted the current owners ahead of time. One of them made a feast to welcome us for lunch, and her brother helped us contact the owner of the other house, who was similarly generous. We struck out on finding family in cemeteries (this is more complicated than either of us realized, I think), but it was an unforgettable day that answered many of my questions about family origins and gave me forever memories.

Client from Tripadvisor - review

We where a group of 7 who wanted to go see where our grandmother immigrated from. We contacted Helena based on other reviews. Helena did a fantastic job locating relatives, arranging a visit to the relatives, translating for us and showing us around the area. She even arranged for the small town to open their community museum, and a visit to the local church with the local priest. She did a fabulous job and our family is very grateful to have had her with us. Highly, highly recommend her. Written 9 May 2019 

Client from Tripadvisor - review

Helena is a fantastic guide and I can not recommend her enough. Me and my father had an amazing day.
We had personalised tour as we had a few places we wanted to specifically see (we have some Moravian heritage). Planning with Helena was very easy - I told her a few things I thought I wanted to do and she came up with an excellent itinerary tailored to what we wanted.
Right from the start Helena was very dedicated to making sure we had a great time. We went to the home town of my great great great grandfather and thanks to her hard work was able to see his place of birth! We were also able to liaise with the local priest who was able to show us some other records from that era related to my family. He was also kind of enough to give us some bottles of wine.
Soon after - we went to the nearby wine cellars. Sadly however, because it was in the morning none were open. There were a few locals around and Helena struck up a conversation and asked if two Australians would be able to see what one was like. Well Helena's charm really comes through here because we had a guy invite us into his wine cellar, and then let us sample his wines for free. And we had a lot of wine. His generosity was outstanding and this experience wouldn't have happened without Helena!
We spent the rest of the day seeing sites and throughout Helena was very friendly, kind and knowledgeable. She really went out of her way to make sure we had a great time.
I cannot recommend Helena enough - I had such a fantastic and unique time. THANK YOU Helena you're an amazing guide and I hope to see you next time for another tour!

Date of experience: May 2018

Client from Tripadvisor - review

I have been asked several times to act as an interpreter, driver and a contact person when looking for the family roots and the relatives in the Czech Republic. I would be very happy to assist you in this matter.

The people send me some info about the family members who were born in Czechoslovakia, their names, dates of birth, maiden names and other info if possible.

Then I contact the local authorities and with a piece of luck we manage to trace the relatives back. I also contact the local priests who might help me to arrange a visit since they know lots of people from the parish. Then we go to see the local cemetery or a church.

The Czechs who are distant relatives of my clients were always were nice and were nicely surprised to discover they have some relatives abroad. The local people were hospitable and my clients left the newly discovered relatives with some home made cakes .

It is a fun job, very emotional, brings people together and this is what I enjoy doing.

Price:

I charge CZK 500/hour / interpreting/guiding + 15 CZK / km.

Please fill in ALL info, since sometimes my e.mails with replies to you end up in the SPAM FOLDER and then I can phone you. Thank you for understanding. 

TESTIMONIALS:

Helena, October 2014

It's now two weeks since our wonderful visit to Brno and Nosislav. We completed our vacation with a few days in Amsterdam, returned home, spent several days adjusting back to our time zone, took care of all of the clothes to be washed, and paid bills that arrived while we were gone for 18 days.

We've now had some time to reflect on what a great time we had with you, although it seemed very rushed. We realized we made a big mistake not allowing more time in not only Nosislav, but Brno and the whole southern Moravia region. We are already thinking of how and when we might return. We would love to spend some time in Brno and see the many UNESCO sites in the area. Both of us enjoy wine and have come to realize the area is also a great place to find locally made wines.

When I first contacted you, my only expectation for Nosislav was to be able to spend some time looking around the cemetery and maybe walk around the town for a few minutes in order to fill in some blanks in my genealogical research. Little did I realize there were so many of my relatives in the area. We believed my great grandfather's brother only had 1 child and it turned out he had 5 children!!

Everyone was so kind and generous to meet with us and spend time talking to us. The time and effort Milena spent preparing the meal as well as the treats in the afternoon was so thoughtful, although you prepared us for the potential of such generosity. I hope we didn't come across as rude foreigners for having to rush out of there so quickly.

Your help with not only the transportation, but contacting the minister ahead of time as well as your translation assistance made the day very special. It must have been exhausting to have to listen to and translate so many different conversations. We cannot thank you enough. We are going to post our recommendation on Trip Advisor as well as on a forum for Rick Steves Tours (www.ricksteves.com), a very popular tour company in the US.

Thank you again for helping to make the most memorable day out of our entire trip to Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Carolyn and Mike Dupre, USA