I am trying to piece together my mother and grandmother's story and they have long passed this world. They lived in Gdynia at the start of the war. Family lore states that they left Gdynia on foot (Dziadek was a merchant seaman and was away at the start of the war). My grandmother gave birth to my uncle in the woods near the Hungarian/Romanian border in December 1939. They left for Liverpool from Lisbon in October 1940 by ship. In December 1940, they left Glasgow for Canada. Where could they have reasonably gone between the start of the war and leaving from Lisbon the following year? Dziadek's family were in Lwów, so it's unlikely they went there. Would appreciate any knowledgeable thoughts on this.
It seems they liked traveling by the sea so I'd focus on countries with access to the sea / ocean, but it's a long stretch. I'd exclude Italy for obvious reasons.
@Ron2 Thank you for your thoughts on this. I think they were traveling by sea as it was the only option to get to North America. Lisbon was a neutral city, so it was relatively safe for them to leave from there for Liverpool and I believe their ship from Glasgow to Canada was part of a convoy. Poland had pacts with both Hungary and Romania, at least at the start of the war, but both reneged. So maybe the quest is for the "safest" countries?
If it was me and I was really afraid of the war, I'd try to go to another continent. From Europe the choice is Africa or the US/Canada, then maybe Australia. Canada or the US would sound really good to me.
