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!