OUR MODERN ODYSSEY
I don’t know why, probably because I’ve never read them, but I had heard of them. Thinking that Homer wrote a poem about the Illiad and the Odyssey. I thought he was talking about his boat (the Iliad) and his adventures (the Odyssey)….silly me – I did some research and it’s NOTHING like that.
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are epic poems from ancient Greece. Apparently they’re the corner-stone of Western literature and full of heroics, adventure, and gods.
The Iliad
- Focus: The final weeks of the Trojan War.
The Odyssey
- Focus: Odysseus’ 10-year journey home from Troy.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are traditionally divided into 24 books each, making a total of 48 books across both epics. Each book covers different events and adventures:
- The Iliad’s 24 books capture the intense and dramatic final weeks of the Trojan War, with detailed accounts of battles, heroic feats, and the whims of the gods.
- The Odyssey’s 24 books detail Odysseus’ adventurous journey home and his encounters with mystical creatures and gods, ultimately culminating in his return to Ithaca and reclaiming his home and family.
SO – you may think the ‘introduction’ to our travels is pretty epic – but you have NO idea how TRUELY EPIC our adventures ARE….. Let’s go…
The Genesis of the Journey: (this is OUR ILIAD)
It all started with the other three couples (Tom and Helen, Di and Jim, Vicki and Brian) and myself, discussing over the past few years that we would like to go on another trip together – our first Magnificent Seven adventures were in 2012. Some of them have travelled together recently and although I arranged their cruise in 2017 or was it 2019?, for one reason or another I decided to join them for only one day in Edinburgh (the 7 of us). So as I was also up for another big trip next year (2025)- which is now THIS year, and so were the others, we then started looking for cruises that didn’t repeat some of the destinations we’d already visited.
The Great Compromise:
I found one, but the others didn’t like the fact that it was the same cruise line that I’d travelled on previously where the food had been simply abysmal (please refer to my other blog for insane commentary). I wasn’t prepared to repeat a cruise I’d done before, so, one of the others (I think it was Tom) found an alternative cruise and even though I’ve been to a couple of the destinations, I was agreeable too. So we locked this cruise in with the Travel Agent and this is where the work (research) started.
We had to work from that cruise backwards, because we all wanted the ‘cruise’ to be the last thing on the trip so we could relax before coming home, and also we agreed that September would be the latest we’d want to be in Europe. Therefore the next item on the agenda is destinations and accommodation:
We decided to stay in Athens for two nights prior to boarding the cruise which leaves from the Port of Piraeus – Accommodation booked!
The Ultimate Preparations:
A couple of meetings later and some brainstorming/researching by Di, Tom, Brian and myself – and we’ve now booked our accommodation in Porto, Lisbon, Sorrento, Paros and Athens (which I should have put in reverse order – but you get what I mean). We are going to be meeting again soon to discuss the accommodation in Ireland – which is where we will all be meeting up.
We haven’t decided where we are going to travel to in Ireland at the moment – I’d considered “kissing the Blarney Stone” but in hindsight, not only could it be ‘germy’ to add my lips to that rock (I’m not saying MY lips are germy!), but I’m thinking that I probably don’t actually need any boosts to my already existing use of the English Language! I could be accused of having a touch of ‘verbal diarrhoea’
All four girls met up in the pub next to the waxworks and we had a couple of drinks there. VERY reasonable. I had a Dubliner (honeycomb). 5 Euro as it was on special. I had TWO. The guys arrived back and we had another couple of drinks. It was time for dinner and the Chinese restaurant on the other side of the waxworks was recommended by the nice bar manager girl. It was a little plain but everyone liked their meals. I sadly had chosen a nice meal but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
Just before our booking time of 6:30 we walked the five minutes to the pub in classic English drizzle (thank you, England, for matching Ireland’s weather despite the so-called drought). Nestled into our little alcove, we ordered drinks and food, had the waitress snap a photo, and soaked up the last bit of the day. (Get it- ‘soaked’).
I have created a massive spreadsheet (a page for each traveller) so that once it’s all filled out, we can share with our relatives so that they know where we will be at any one time, contact details, flight numbers, departure & arrival times, names of accommodations, booking numbers etc etc (even the estimated temperatures for the time of the month in each country)… We’ve even organised our drop offs TO and FROM the Tullamarine airport – well in advance. The only thing at the moment that is a little troublesome is watching the constantly bouncing value of the Australian Dollar….. more to come after our next meeting.
It’s now May 2025 and we’ve all been quietly going about our lives whilst finalising flights and accommodation, contacting relatives to let them know we are coming and possibly arranging meet ups.
In MY case, as usual, nothing quite straightforward happens. Late last year or sometime earlier this year, I met up with one of my relatives from my Father’s side who I’d never ever met before. They were here on a trip from England and they were dropped off at my place, we had afternoon tea, then I dropped them back to where they were staying with relatives in Sommerville. ALL lovely and we exchanged details etc. They knew I was going to be coming over to England this year so I contacted them and have arranged to stay there for two nights. Originally I thought I’d been talking to ‘them’ on Ancestry, so NOW I’m confused because I thought the Cousin I was talking to wasn’t the same person with whom I’m staying – but NOW it appears I’ve actually done the right thing and I HAVE met these people before. OMG I think I’m going MAD
Day 24 – Porto here we come
For MY trip – I’ll be flying to London first (with Helen and Tom), then travelling with them up to Newcastle for a few nights, then on to Scotland – Fort William and Sterling to be precise. Then I will be dropped at the Newcastle Airport where I will fly over to Belfast. My Cousin and his wife will pick me up and take me ‘home’ (I used to live there for 2.5 years back in the ’90’s) to Larne and will stay there for around a week or so.
Christine (who also lives in Northern Ireland – I met her on one of my OS holidays and then my last blog you’ll see we travelled together on a cruise. She is also bringing a friend and joining us on our Greek Cruise in September) and I am hoping to catch up for a couple of days before I head down South to Ireland to Bunratty for a couple of days then one last night in Dublin where I will fly to Heathrow – to meet up with my long lost relatives! They may or may not gather some of the local relatives so that I can meet them, but either way, I will be very pleased to meet up with them again.
We will have to pay the final payments for the Cruise this month, which makes it all seem like it’s becoming quite ‘real’. Once that’s completed, it’s just paying final payments for the accommodation and ‘voila’ WE ARE ALL BROKE BEFORE WE EVEN BEGIN!
Lady Boomer 