Recently updated on August 23rd, 2024 at 08:26 pm
Six sisters recently embarked on a whirlwind tour of Belgium, Luxembourg, and their ancestral homeland, the Netherlands. The ladies traveled to connect with each other and reconnect with their Dutch roots and explore new cultures.
As you can imagine, the trip was a riot of fun as the group of close-knit siblings made special memories on our Best of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg and welcomed their Travel Director Ilja into the sisterhood. This special adventure is a testament to the enduring bonds of family and the magic of shared experiences.
We caught up the youngest sister, Liz, who is based in Pennsylvania, and the Travel Director Ilja to find out what it was like on the trip…
So you’re a family of six sisters?
Liz: Well, there are six girls, so that’s who went on the trip. And my parents also had six boys, so there was an even dozen in our family.
There’s ten of us living, and I think altogether there’s like 49 grandchildren and great grandchildren now. It’s crazy [at Christmas]. We get together at a restaurant because no one’s house is big enough!
Was it your first time in Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg?
Liz: So four of the six sisters went to do the Best of Holland in 2017, and the reason we love Holland is because both of our parents were from the north of Holland, two different provinces.
We wanted to go back and see where they grew up and, you know, just be part of our heritage. So it was awesome. And at the end of that tour [in 2017], we rented a car and drove to two towns to see my parents farm and meet the people that are living in it now. So it was really cool.
But then the other two [sisters] were so jealous that they were like, “oh, now you have to go back with us”. That’s why we did the tour starting in Belgium and Luxembourg and then ended up in, you know, the best country in the world.
Was it your first time traveling together as a group of six sisters?
Liz: We get together twice a year. We live within three hours drive of each other. I live in Pennsylvania, while most of them live in New York State. We pick a spot and meet for a weekend together.
It was Rita’s first time out of the country. Gloria’s, second. She and I traveled when we were very young to a couple different places.
Why did you choose the BeNeLux tour?
Liz: It’s just a matter of seeing different cultures and architecture and people. And it was amazing to see the different culture, language, foods and history as you’re going from country to country.
Touring was the most convenient way to include Holland with what Trafalgar had to offer. It was very nice to be able to do three countries in a pretty short amount of time.
We picked April to make sure we got to see the tulips at Keukenhof. So that was amazing. While we had a bit of cold weather, we also had the benefit of the tulips hanging on long enough for us to enjoy them.
Any special memories from the trip?
Travel Director Ilja: We celebrated Kings Day! We happened to be there on the 27th April, we were in in Amsterdam. So that’s why in the pictures you see us wearing orange clothing.
And I remember you bumped into somebody you knew when we visited the windmills at Kinderdijk.
Liz: Yes! So my parents immigrated to the US separately with their families in the late 40s. They became part of a church where there were a lot of Dutch settlers. So we ran into the daughter or granddaughter of one of those people from the church. And you know, they recognize each other. I didn’t know her personally, but knew, you know, knew the name.
We also went to Delft, which is a very historical town in the Netherlands, famous for its royal history. On that day it was incredible because of the flea markets.
Was there any drama?
Liz: In Belgium we had a memorable day because – and I don’t know if Ilja and the driver Ben planned this – but the bus sort of broke down right outside a brewery.
Ilja: Oh, we will not forget that!
Liz: So we did the tour, and we had to have an extra beer while we waited for the repair guy to come fix the bus! I know that was stressful for Ilja, but you could not have had us in a better place for that to happen.
It’s always the things that are imperfect that tend to stick in your mind.
Ilja, tell us about what it was like to have the sisters on tour?
Travel Director Ilja: I felt so blessed as a tour director to have this bunch of sisters. From day one we called each other sisters.
And I remembered that I had another group of sisters the year before from Louisiana. It was the same situation but different. Different characters, different people, but all such beautiful souls traveling as sisters – and you kind of feel that magic between them.
There’s such a strong bond between the sisters. It’s really a sisterhood.
I asked Liz and her sisters to call or make a message for the Louisiana sisters, because I’m still in contact with them via Facebook, and then all of a sudden they started singing! They came up with this beautiful song.
Liz: We feel honored and well, you know, we just welcomed [Ilja] as a 7th sister easily. She was so amazing and warm and became a friend.
So Ilja became one of the sisters?
Ilja: I felt kind of embraced from the first day and I didn’t even realize it. When you meet your group, there are so many different people to shake hands with. It took a few hours to realize I’ve got six sisters here. I didn’t know as we get lots of different last names, of course.
There were lots of coincidences with me too. I was born in the municipality of one of the sister’s last names, so we sat and did some kind of geography to point out where your family or their family would be from. It was funny that I happened to be from that same area. My parents know people with these last names.
Where would you go next time?
Liz: I’m the youngest of the six, and the oldest is 70. So it just depends on health and whether the husbands will all let us leave again for another couple of weeks!
Where would we go? I don’t know. I’d love to go back to the Netherlands again and possibly go to France, Germany, and Portugal.
Looking for an excuse to get your family together? Why not join a tour and make memories on the road like the six sisters. Where would you choose to go? Leave us a comment….