Following The White Lotus and Rivals, The Odyssey becomes the latest set-jetting destination with Cookson Adventures’ superyacht voyage of the Aegean.
If Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca cost him a decade, his kingdom, and the lives of 600 of his crew, Cookson Adventures is betting today’s travelers would appreciate a few upgrades.
After all, we have never been more susceptible to a little screen-induced wanderlust. The White Lotus sent guests checking into Four Seasons resorts around the world, while Rivals inspired weekends in the Cotswolds on the search for country pubs and stately homes. Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming adaptation of The Odyssey, however, has inspired something rather more ambitious.
Launching alongside the film, Cookson Adventures has created a £2m (approx. $2.6m) sailing expedition that retraces Homer’s legendary voyage through the Greek islands. Designed as a bespoke seven-day adventure for a private group of up to 12 guests, it swaps shipwrecks and sea monsters for a sailing superyacht, opera singers and drone shows.
While spending your summers drifting between Santorini and Sifnos has been said and done a million times, this isn’t another itinerary built around beach clubs, Michelin stars or finding a quiet anchorage away from Mykonos. Instead of treating the Aegean as a glamorous backdrop, Cookson attempts to make the journey itself the main event, borrowing its vacation itinerary from the myth that’s underpinned Western literature for almost 3,000 years.
Guests first arrive at a private clifftop estate designed like its own Trojan Horse before boarding a sailing yacht and setting course for Ithaca. Rather than relying solely on GPS, they’ll chart parts of the route using ancient navigation techniques and traditional maps, guided by the crew. There’s an obvious irony in navigating back to Ithaca using ancient charts while a projected prophet appears on the sails and 500 drones hover overhead. Homer’s world has never looked quite so high-tech.
Then there are dinners beneath the stars as guests encounter sirens, accompanied by opera singers and strings as a drone display conjures the Cyclops above an ancient hillside. Afterwards, guests paddle by kayak into a sea cave transformed into the Underworld, where live performers and musicians reinterpret one of the epic’s most memorable episodes before Penelope’s voice calls them home.
A so-called ‘digital companion’ presents travelers with choices inspired by Homer’s poem, measuring qualities such as leadership, bravery, and loyalty. By the time guests finally row ashore in Ithaca, one traveler will be named the group’s leader, while everyone receives a personalized journal documenting the path they took through the story.
See also: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Is Putting Messinia on the Travel Map
Cookson Adventures hasn’t completely abandoned reality, however. Woven between the performances are marine conservation projects, from protecting loggerhead turtle nesting sites to assisting with dolphin research.
«The Odyssey is the founding text of Western literature, a journey that has captivated audiences for nearly three millennia,» says Dr Antony Makrinos, associate professor of classics at University College London, who will accompany departures with talks on Homer and the ancient world. «Bringing it to life in the very landscapes where the myth unfolds is an extraordinary opportunity.»
That idea perhaps explains why The Odyssey (the poem, not the film) feels like a more natural source of inspiration than another television filming location. Where The White Lotus sells a fantasy of checking into a beautiful hotel, Homer’s epic has always been about the journey itself: the detours, the impossible choices, and the stories picked up along the way. «Guests will not simply watch the myth unfold; they will live it,» says Cookson Adventures founder Henry Cookson. Whether travelers leave feeling like Odysseus at the end of the epic is another matter entirely.
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