TRIP OF A LIFETIME

As a semi-retired travel agent, I often heard clients refer to “the trip of a lifetime” when discussing big vacation plans. I never cared for that term since I love to travel all the time & have gone on many trips all over the world which I plan to continue doing for a long time to come. I never wanted to differentiate between trips by labeling them, BUT that being said, this trip we are leaving on tomorrow just might be “the trip of a lifetime” for me.

Way back in the dark ages, in the mid 1960s, when I was a high school student, we studied Greek mythology. In the 1990s I recall my son taking a history class in his high school titled “America in the Sixties”. “Oh, good Lord,” I remember thinking, “I lived them, that’s not history!”

But I digress, back to my point. In my high school history class (or maybe it was English, I don’t remember) I was captivated by the stories of the Greek gods & goddesses of Mt. Olympus in ancient Athens. My fascination with Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, Poseidon & Ares, among others, made mythology my favorite subject in school.

Although I have long since forgotten most of them, the stories of the gods & goddesses whose legendary temples were built on the Acropolis intrigued me like none other. The most famous is the Parthenon, erected almost 2500 years ago & dedicated to Athena, the goddess of Wisdom & War. I vividly remember telling my 15 year old self that someday I would travel to Athens, climb the Acropolis & see the Parthenon with my very own eyes.

Well, that “someday” is less than two weeks away! Almost 50 years after first thinking I would love to visit the Acropolis with its ancient temples & rich history, it will become a reality for me. One of the last stops on our cruise of the Black & Aegean Seas is Athens, Greece, where I will finally realize my high school dream. How frickin’ cool is that?

The term “bucket list” is a fairly new one. It was popularized in the 2007 film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman. The story follows two terminally ill men who are exact opposites but set out to do as many things as possible on their respective “bucket lists” before their demise.

A “bucket list” is defined by the Urban Dictionary simply as a list of things to do before you die. It comes from the term "kicked the bucket" which is used to say someone died. If I had a “bucket list” (which I don’t) visiting the Acropolis & the Parthenon would be at the top.

Second on that list would be visiting the ruins of Ephesus (the city where the Ephesians of Biblical times lived) in what is now the country of Turkey. Well, as luck would have it, this cruise also stops in Kusadasi, Turkey, which is the closest port city to Ephesus. For the past 30 years, I’ve wanted to explore the ancient temples of Ephesus. And I will get to do that, too!

It sort of takes my breath away to realize that I will be seeing the TWO absolute top of my list travel destinations! I can’t even imagine what it is going to be like to actually stand there, gaze at the sites & take it all in. BUT now at 63 years old I’m going to find out. I kind of want to jump up & down, wave my arms & scream really loud.

I love to travel & have devoted a lot of the second half of my life to seeing as much of the world as I can. Fortunately, I found Lou who had a pretty big head start on me with all the places he’s already visited. Together we keep finding more & more places to explore. This cruise will also visit Odessa, Ukraine, where Lou’s grandmother was born, which is high on Lou’s travel bucket list. The cruise makes three stops in Ukraine & also visits Bulgaria & Mykonos, one of the Greek Isles.

In the weeks to come, I will do my best to describe the thoughts, feelings & emotions I experience when I finally see the Parthenon, in all its ancient glory, right in front of me.