He asked an internet stranger to be his European tour guide. Then they fell in love | CNN

Hank Nuwer’s previous trips to Europe hadn’t gone entirely to plan. Once, in Brussels, he’d stayed in a “terrible neighborhood” and then attempted to drive, got lost and struggled navigating a maze of side streets. “I got stopped by the police three times,” he recalls. A separate attempt to visit Poland, the home of his ancestors, failed before it even began. “I made a lot of mistakes and I never even got there,” Hank tells CNN Travel today. “I completely messed up that first planned occasion, lost several non-refundable deposits, and almost gave up that dream due to that fiasco and the not-so-swell Belgium visit.” But in 2015, in his 50s, Hank still dreamed of seeing Poland. He figured the answer to his travel misadventures was a tour guide who could help him navigate cultural differences, language barriers and connect him with his family history. “That was the idea — to see my grandfather’s Poland. To be moved by it,” says Hank. Hank’s grandfather had left for the United States in the early 1900s, when Poland was ruled by Russia. “All I knew from my grandfather about Poland and the Russian times was that they escaped with bullets all around,” s

Apr 3, 2026 → Apr 3, 2026