The Stowaways (Cyril's Story)

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Stowaway
[ stoh-uh-wey ] noun
a person who hides aboard a ship or airplane in order to obtain free transportation or elude pursuers.

The concept of stowaways has been around almost as long travel has been but the phrase didn't get coined until 1848.  The first stowaway of note was the 16th-century Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who traversed America. Balboa travelled from Spain to the New World around 1500, and after looking around, chose to stay put on the island of Hispaniola.  Although stowaways have been around forever it hit its peek in the 1920s; teenagers such as Billy Gawronski, Rose Host, and Lillian Bass hitched a ride on any mode of transportation they could find in hopes to see the world and get their names in the paper.

I, Cyril Orson Donnelly, am a Stowaway...

Just like the teenagers of the roaring 20s and Vasco Núñez de Balboa, My friends and I fled our drab and monotonous lives in Ohio to achieve a sense of adventure and fame in the fabulous Greece.

Growing up, I had always wanted to do something meaningful with my life, something that bettered society, something that impacted someone's life for the better. But now as I sit on the porch in my friends beachside villa, I realize that the only life I impacted was my own.

I am a part of history, whether I want to be or not, and just like the stowaways who came before me I will my life to the fullest in the name of adventure and fame.