In Unpacking for Greece, Sally Jane Smith wrote about how she rediscovered her love of travel after a terrible accident in Sri Lanka, when she followed her mother’s travel journal through Greece. In Repacking for Greece, Smith describes how she planned to visit her niece and nephew in Canada, but her trip is derailed by a legal complication from years ago. So back she goes to Greece instead, to visit a few sites she didn’t make it to the first time, and to revisit some friends and favorite places.
Smith’s plan is to visit the islands of Aegina, Poros, and Hydra. She also visits Delphi and Corfu (home of the literary Durrells) as well as Albania. In addition to temples and ruins, she explores Holocaust memorials. She’s also interested in seeing Ithaca because of its history with Odysseus (although this turns out differently than she expected).
I was most interested in her chapter about Mycenae, because my husband and I once toured the area, and its history is fascinating. This chapter gave me a good chance to “revisit” my memories of the day tour we took. I appreciated the way Smith writes about travelling, because she acknowledges that sometimes day tours are a good way to see places, even if it means you’re on a bus, while sometimes it’s much better to strike out on your own. She also weighs her desire to experiences places with being a responsible traveler and being respectful of residents. These can be tricky things to balance.
I also enjoyed how her book integrates history and literary references, and how she writes about the people she meets as well as the sites she visits. She meets one couple she takes an instant dislike to, and then after talking to them discovers how much they have in common. She also described her experience at a writing and yoga retreat. The first time she was there for the yoga and now she’s there as a writer. She describes the cats she sees and the food she enjoys along the way. Anyone looking for a straight travel narrative will find her style meandering, but I enjoyed it.
Finally, she incorporates a further description of her terrifying accident in Sri Lanka and how she was helped by some very good people to get to a hospital, contact her family, and begin the long healing process. This part is not for the faint of heart but it helped form a more emotional connection to the author. There was less discussion of the author’s family relationships in this book, although we do learn more about her nephew and niece, as well as the author’s great-great-grandmother who left a narrative of her own travels.
There are times when these different threads felt a bit disjointed, as the author begins with discussion of apartheid and her childhood in South Africa, and then goes into a fairly straightforward travel narrative about Greece. The first book felt like it had a bit more direction, as it was primarily about Smith’s emotional recovery from her injury. Still, this book was a quick read and I very much enjoyed learning about the history of the places she visited and recalling my own experiences traveling in Greece.
Much thanks to the author for sharing this book with me; these opinions are entirely my own. This book was released April 20, 2024 by Journeys in Pages.
