Day 12.5: Ferrying from Italy to Greece

We decided when planning the trip to ferry from Italy to Greece.  This allowed us to see Rome, Pompeii and Athens and skip driving through some of the smaller countries(maybe next time, Macedonia!).

We arrived 2 hours ahead to load the car and waited a bit. As other large families know(and as 1 of 7, I don't even count four kids as large, more of a medium), most situations are not designed for us. The ferry was a case in point. To load a vehicle you must unload all baggage at the door on the side that you see there. Only one person can drive the vehicle onto the ferry, all others must go in the little door. So Bek stayed with the van as she is a dainty flower and didn't want to carry four bags and a baby, hold onto Joel across the gangplank, ensure Elijah didn't collapse from the exhaustion of carrying a 5lb tent and Judah didn't wander through the open door of the engine room and create a Titanic moment.

So the four boys and I went through said door and waited for the elevator. I had the opportunity to teach an object lesson in courtesy when a 40-something Italian lady cut in front of us, the Dad and four small boys, who had been waiting for 10 minutes and jumped on the elevator with her two teenage sons.

The ferry was a budget option- and I chose this route NOT because I'm cheap(though I am).  Unfortunately, it was the only boat that had reasonable times(disembark in Greece at 0500? Nope. Sleep in the airline-style seats? Negativo. Grimaldi it is! 700 euro for 6 people and a van and breakfast and lunch isn't TOO bad.

The staff did a nice job of making you feel like an inconvenience, and made sure to institute on-the-fly rules for safety to prevent the boys from having TOO much fun. The rooms were cooled off to a comfortable 87 degrees, but it's ok, because there is a 50 euro fine for opening the windows to let in the sea breeze. If you needed to cool off you could always take a shower, but had to step through the puddles leaking onto the bathroom floor from the toilet to get there.
Breakfast was fun as I navigated with four little boys and, despite having explicitly explained that I had paid ahead for the business breakfast, was still upcharged for the eggs that were included, then not included.
Bek was sick when we got on the boat and stayed miserable for the whole trip. It wasn't seasickness, and we aren't sure what it was, but she was out of it most of the time, and was bummed to have missed some of the scenery.

Traversing the hallway to our rooms, which double as saunas- no extra charge!

Judah: "watch me give Mama a heart attack!"

The sun sets over Brindisi

Soon to be interrupted by a ferry employee who hand motions something like: "you're a terrible parent- you're taking pictures and your son is going to fall into the water! I'm going to start aggressively sweeping the puddle towards all of you now as a subtle hint to go away!"

Legos are a go-to sanity tool! And that window is NOT open...

Running off some energy while traversing the Adriatic.

Beautiful water amongst the Greek islands!

While Mama and Luke took morning naps, we went exploring sticky playrooms that smelled like urine. Just bathe in hand sanitizer when you're done and you'll be fiiiiiine.

On the whole, the boys and I actually had a great time, mostly because of the adventure of it all. It was a beautiful approach into Greece as we sailed through the islands and the water became a brilliant shade of blue. In the morning, Joel got up and looked out the illegally opened window, laughed with pure joy and said "thank you for taking us on the ferry, Daddy!".  So I suppose I'd do it again in a heartbeat, though I might try a different ferry line.