Time Travel to Your Origin: Experience Heritage Traveling

Travel to the ends of the world and discover a new self Or you could just start from where it all begins, to your original roots. Time is ironic in so many ways. The more time passes the further away we move from our heritage and legacy in the urge of discovering more. Back in 2018 a trend emerged known as at-home DNA kits, with the said kit, one could find out all about their ancestry and lineage.

The idea rose from historical fantasy seasons and movies, which always makes the most audience curious about their lineage. The increasing popularity resulted in humorous and astonishing end interpretation and guess what? People took it on a literal level and planned for ancestry-based travel!

It does sound cool to go back to the place where it all begins. Travelers chose to visit places where their supposed ancestors used to live and got to learn more about their history.

DNA is not about biology anymore…it’s a travel thing!

People all over the world are far too enthusiastic about learning their heritage. For instance, you’d pack your bags, book a flight to Toronto and take a ride on a Toronto airport limo, to the old village town of Niagara-on-the-Lake to find out your ancestors, who settled down after the cold war. It does sound pretty amazing to be able to connect with your roots right? Not only you get to sightsee but learn about your ancestors and history as well.

Do you know what this brings on? A whole new adventure of learning everything from the very beginning will begin. If you have a little history nerd hidden inside you, then it’s a buffet meant for your fill of exciting new adventures.

Otherwise, a part of you’d never know where your family came from.

It’s a 3-way fun, to begin with

For a simpler understanding, one can say heritage tourism is divided into three main cores settings. It can be natural, cultural, and built.

Natural sites are all about the landforms and rural scenery, cultural tourism refers to the festivals and events involved within a region (like New Year all around the world) or even a marketplace that sells traditional products in foreign lands. While built heritage sites are all about monuments and historic times. Canada is home to popular museums being a safe zone for the old artifacts, war items, and whatnot. If you pay a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum or Canadian War Museum it will be built heritage tourism and so you get the idea.

Time flies! Be the Navigator of your Traveling Plans 

With the increasing popularity, DNA-mapped adventures are focused on your family history and ways to connect with your roots. So imagine If 50% of the Canadians travel to their ancestral settlements all over Canada, USA, or maybe some other place altogether.

Countries popular for historical immigration is known to be the most popular for the heritage travel experience. For instance, the USA and Canada are the two most prominent countries in this category. If you travel to Toronto, the main city hub, you will find various ethnic groups just even at a café!

It quickly became a trend of the year and it just gave an excuse for a fresh traveling adventure as well because;

a). Time to Bond over Turkey Recipe 

How important is your grandma’s recipe for a turkey on Thanksgiving? You’d probably didn’t give it a thought that maybe that specific turkey recipe was passed down from generations onto to your mother. That’s how heritage traveling feels like.

If you are a second-generation immigrant you can encounter strong connections with your parent’s or grandparent’s birthplace and appreciate a new identity of life.

b). Ethnicity can revitalize your ideas 

Where you originally come from plays a large role in one’s life. You may be a British born Indian but can you forgot your Indian heritage? How you behave not only is connected to your upbringing but your parents play an inevitable role too. If you find time to trace back your lineage you will have a peculiar understanding of your family background, customs, and beliefs, etc.

It helps you to understand their point of view for a change and what brought them to their current settlement.

c). Keeping your culture alive is important 

I grew up watching movies where an ethnic girl falls in love with a white guy and the trouble they have to go through to get accepted by each other’s families. Reality is not far behind either. It’s common to see people book airport limos on special occasions for two cultural themed weddings doubling their celebrations.

The stories about cultures and traditions passed down with a newfound sense of interest dating back to the family tree. This is pretty amazing. You can create memories and keep your cultural roots alive. Not only has this but you got to travel too besides enjoying an intercultural marriage in your family.

So a heritage wedding with a traveling bonus? Yes, please!

Want to find out more ways to do heritage traveling? Let’s take a look down below with some exciting ways like;

a). Plan a study

It’s a dream come true if your student visa gets accepted and you get a scholarship too, that’s the best thing right? Besides the opportunity to study abroad, this is also your chance to have practical experience in your study too. You have the opportunity to live what you study (which is pretty cool, especially for a history nerd).

Studying about Holocaust in a four-walled classroom back home is not that interesting but if you are in Europe your classroom will become your primary source ground for first-hand information! You can walk around, talk to people get to know what life was before the Holocaust, and so on. It will bring cultural heritage to the focus.

b). Be a volunteer

Different NGOs are always in need of volunteers. You can spend more time abroad considering the volunteering project you want to focus on.

This way you can assist the project and learn all there is to learn about protecting a heritage site like if you might be working in Quebec and you can learn all there is to learn about the Historic District of Old Quebec or even dig some real information on Joggins Fossil Cliffs etc.

c). Take a teaching position 

This is, fortunately, the best way to go if you plan to make it a long-term experience. you can craft your own experience and set up a teaching program even! It’s quite the initiative but it will do the trick to learn about your heritage and surroundings.

You can find time to experience natural heritage tourism, capture the moments or even better video blog them. There’s much you can do while teaching indigenous people at the heritage site.

So you see? These are just a few examples but there’s a lot you can do!

Also Read: 06 Things To Pack For A Solo Adventure bike Ride

Explore the world from Claire’s Point of View

Now it does explain Claire’s fantasy with the time travel in The Outlander! (Besides the one true love of her life, of course)There’s a lot more to heritage traveling then meets the eye. It’s an exciting and amazing experience one can ever have.

So are you one of the baby boomers? Or want to take a daring step for a new traveling adventure? Then be my guest and sign up for a cool time!