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World Tour 2006
Vikki Vrettos Fraioli and I met up a couple of months ago through email correspondence. A couple of years ago I corresponded with her first cousin Katherine Alfieris-Stathis through Kythera-family.net, and Vikki and I started emailing as a result of that contact. We are second cousins through Chlentzos grandparents. We live about 6 hours apart, and have seen each other a couple of times. I was given a family history chart by my uncle Pete Clentzos, and Vikki and I are collaborating to fill in the gaps and bring the chart forward from its last update in the 1970s.
We have discovered new-found relatives and connections in the past couple of months, and I became inspired to write this idealistic itinerary of a proposed Kytherian Odyssey:
Itinerary for Terry & Vikki's World Genealogy Tour
On a mission to link all the Kytherians of the earth:
Day 1 thru Day 5: Stop in San Jose and spend quality time with 99-yr old Stamatoula Chlentzos. Find out about each photo in her archives. Take hundreds of hours of videotape to be edited into fascinating tales of days past.
Day 6: Stop in Los Angeles to interview 96-yr old Uncle Pete Clentzos. Hear thrilling stories of the Kytherian Diaspora in the early days in Salinas, San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles, California. Relive the 1932 Olympics.
Day 7: Drive to Las Vegas. Stop at the Mad Greek in Baker, California for some killer galaktoboureko. Check it out: http://www.roadtripamerica.com/eats/madgreek.htm Never mind that it is 120f (48c) in the shade; we're on a mission from God.
Day 8: Gamble through the night. Through sheer force of will, double our funds by playing blackjack, keno, and penny slots. Celebrate our big earnings with a $2.99 prime rib buffet.
Day 9-11 Drive to Utah and demand to view the Kytherian vital records. Fill in each birthday and vital statistic on Uncle Pete's chart.
Day 12: Onward to Kansas. Locate the missing Chlentzos relatives and solve the mystery of Koula Chlentzos Christian. Optional: church services with Kelly Chlentzos.
Day 13-14: North to Detroit to see the Sofios Boys. Stop in Chicago and visit Greektown. Opa!
Day 15-16: From Chicago head east on the I-40 to Pittsburgh. Stop in Indiana to visit Terry's friend Sula. Catch up with cousin Mike Murphy in Pittsburgh.
Day 17-18: Visit New York city and locate the missing New York Chlentzos relatives. Add them to the chart.
Day 19-23: Hop a red-eye to Paris. Visit with Ben and Vass Coulentianos. Take in the works of Costa Coulentianos. Catch a concert featuring cousin Ben.
Day 24-28: Fly to Athens. Visit with Babis Koulentianos and hear about the Koulentianos family castle. Spend quality time with the Athenian Chlentzos, Alfieris, and Koulentianos family.
Day 29: Drive to Peloponnesos. Visit the abandoned village of Koulendia high up in the Arcadian mountains. Find important clues about the family origins.
Day 30-45: Take the boat from Gytheio to Kythera. Spend hours each day poring over old records. After nap time go to the gerokomeio and videotape the residents. During the evenings, have dinner with our new-found relatives all over the island. Have our picture taken by Manolis Sofios, who turns out to be the boy in thephoto with Kyriani! Add everyone to the chart.
Day 46-48: back to Athens and on to Sydney. Hook up with the Coolentianos clan.
Day 49-55: Meet with the Australian Alfieris group and the kythera-family.net gang. Link them all to Uncle Pete's chart.
Day 56-60: On to Melbourne. Meet up with Manoli Galanakis and assorted other Kytherian cousins.
Day 61-65: Fly to Capetown to meet with the Coulentianos clan. Meet with Stelios and his family. Cousin Dion lends us a vehicle to tool around in.
Day 66-67: fly back to USA. Finish up the chart and discover we have 5,086 new cousins! Make a feature-length film of our travels, which brings us fame and fortune. We are able to retire and spend the days online at Kythera-family.net!
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Reply - World Tour 2006
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01.02.2006
Shirley Jenkins
You might have to add a stop over in Riyadh Saudi Arabia on your way to Sydney from Athens to meet other relatives. This is where my mother's (Yianoula Jenkins nee Coolentianos)first cousin Ourania (nee Coulentianos) lives with her husband & two children.
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01.02.2006
James Victor Prineas
Don't forget to catch the 50 EUR easyjet flight from Athens to Berlin to cool down after a long Greek summer in one of the coolest cities on earth. There you can savour my famous Greek cooking and give me the low-down on your journey so far.
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30.09.2006
Vikki Vrettos Fraioli
September 2006 Update
We completed our interviews with Stamatoula Chlentzos and Uncle Pete Chlentzos, and discovered the missing Chlentzos’ in New York.
We traveled to Kythera in August of 2006. We met Ourania and her family from Saudi Arabia, as well as many other members of the Coolentianos, Chlentzos, and Alfieris families. We attended James Prineas' birthday party in Mitata, and enjoyed Greek dancing with our cousin John Sofios at the Mitata Wine Festival and Potomos Panigiri. We met lots of Australians and “Discovered Our Roots” in Chora where we also met with Eleni Harou at the Archives. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet our cousin Manoli Sofios, but we did meet his nephew Theodoros who runs the petrol station outside of Potamos.
Then in September 2006, we traveled to Australia to attend the 2nd International Symposium of Kytheraismos. We met even more relatives (including Shirley Jenkins who posted above) and added many new friends to our family, including our wonderful host and hostess; George and Lorraine Poulos!
This World Tour started out somewhat as a joke but little by little we are checking off the places and faces on the list. Where are we going next Terry?
Thank you Kythera-family.net for providing the impetus for this fabulous World Tour!
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