On May 22, 1928, my grandfather, Dane Rukavina, received his passport in Karlovac, Croatia. On June 2nd, 1928 he boarded the Empress of Australia in Cherbourg, France and he arrived in Quebec City on June 8th, 1928. And so started the history of one branch of my family in Canada.

Tomorrow my father and I will take a trip in the opposite direction, flying first to London, then on to Ljubljana. We’ll take the train from there to Zagreb, and then we’ll drive south to my grandfather’s birthplace in Konjsko Brdo.

There are many reasons for the trip. It’s an opportunity for my father and I to take a trip together, something that we haven’t done for 25 years (our last trip was a bus trip around the United States in 1979). It’s an opportunity to see if we can make contact with other Rukavinas in the old country. And a chance for me to see the where part of my roots lie (I was there in 1972, but I was only 6 years old, and remember only vague impressions).

I’ll report in from the road as often as Internet and inspiration present themselves. Back in Canada on October 15th.