Odyssey

Etymology

From Homer’s epic "The Odyssey," which recounts Odysseus’s ten-year voyage home from the Trojan War, beset by monsters, shipwrecks, and delays. The hero’s name gave English the noun for any protracted, trial-filled quest, literal or figurative. It carries the sense of a homeward struggle, not just travel.

noun · /OD-uh-see/
A long, eventful journey marked by trials and wandering.
What it names
A journey defined less by distance than by the ordeals and detours along the way.
Example
Getting the drug approved was a regulatory odyssey that stretched across seven years.
Related idea
A pilgrimage is a journey toward a sacred goal; an odyssey is defined by its wandering and its trials, whatever the destination — purpose versus ordeal.