Genealogy River Cruising in 2024 - Sun, 27 Nov 2022

I’ve paid my deposit and my wife Cheryl and I will be going on the Find Your Roots on the River Cruise with Blaine Bettinger and Judy Russell from October 17 to 24, 2024 (yes, almost 2 years away), from Amsterdam through Germany to Basel, Switzerland.

This is an opportunity no genealogist should miss. With a capacity of only 156 passengers, we’ll be a close-knit group and it will be a delight. Blaine and/or Judy will be giving a talk each day. Blaine and Judy give superb presentations and both have been Keynote speakers at many genealogy conferences around the world.

Don’t wait because available cabins are being snatched up fast. For more information about the cruise, see their subscribe page at: Find Your Roots on the River (subscribepage.io). If you’re on Facebook, this cruise has its own page at:  https://www.facebook.com/FindYourRootsontheriver

There’s an early booking bonus of $500 per person if you sign up before Dec 31, 2022. If you tell them that I referred you, then both you and I will get a free airport or hotel transfer.

Judy Russell – The Legal Genealogist

I have had the pleasure to be at several genealogy conferences with Judy.

The first was the 10th Unlock The Past Genealogy Cruise in 2016 that took us around New Zealand and Australia. Judy was part of our Hobbiton gang who ventured off together in the land of the Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbiton gang together in Middle Earth, Tauranga, New Zealand. Left to right: Judy Russell, Allyson Luders, my wife Cheryl, myself, Helen Smith and Lyn Hudson-Williamson. Photo courtesy of Lyn Hudson-Williamson.

Following one of Judy’s talks on this wonderful cruise, Judy implored me to get my 93 year old uncle DNA tested, so she really got me started in DNA.

Just 4 months later, I saw Judy again at the Ontario Genealogical Society’s conference in Toronto, and I got to introduce the moderator of Judy’s panel on “the Future of Genetic Genealogy”

Then we met again at RootsTech in Feb 2017 in Salt Lake City, where Judy was a Keynote speaker and I was a finalist in the Innovator Showdown.

Then in Nov 2017, I spent time with Judy again at Family Tree DNA’s 13th International Genetic Genealogy Conference in Houston.

I’m looking so forward to spending time with Judy again in 2024.

Blaine Bettinger – DNA Expert

Every genealogist who has done DNA testing will know the name Blaine Bettinger. Blaine literally wrote the book on DNA testing. Here is my own well used copy:

I always wanted to get the opportunity to meet Blaine, and when I found out he’d be the Keynote speaker at the Kelowna District Genealogy Conference in Sept 2018 in Kelowna, British Columbia, I jumped at the chance to go. I was accepted as a speaker which allowed me some wonderful one-on-one time to talk with Blaine at the speaker’s table at the buffet dinner following the conference.

Photo courtesy of Blaine Bettinger.

European River Cruising

It was the 3rd Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise in February 2013 that got Cheryl and me hooked on cruising. Including our two genealogy cruises, we have now cruised 7 times on large ships, the last being in February 2020 just before Covid hit.

We have always wanted to try river cruising on their smaller more intimate ships, but had never found the perfect cruise to go on. When I saw Judy’s post on Facebook a few days ago, I realized that this was the one.

I was planning to go to the MyHeritage Live event that was to take place in Tel Aviv, Israel in the Fall of 2020. But that was kiboshed by Covid. So this cruise in 2024 might be the first live genealogical event that I go to since Kelowna in 2018.

Genealogy and cruising. There’s nothing like combining pleasure with pleasure.