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.