Check out this schedule from our past 24 hours!
8:00am Breakfast in Amelia, Italy
1:00pm Lunch in Naples, Italy (more on that amazing pizza in this blog post)
7:00pm Dinner in Bari, Italy
7:00am Breakfast in Dubrovnik, Croatia
To say that we were on the go is an understatement! The impetus for this was to catch our overnight ferry from Italy to Croatia. Here's a break-down of the fun trip:
Bustling Bari
We arrived into Bari with enough time to stroll its pedestrian shopping streets & grab a quick bite to eat. This port town was bustling! This surprised us because it was a Sunday evening and virtually every other place (every country) we've been on a Sunday is a complete ghost town. I can only imagine Bari on a Summer weekend evening!
Ferry Check-In
Our overnight ferry departed Bari at 10:00pm. Instructions stated latest port check-in at 8:00pm. After some confusion over where exactly to go, and the gracious help of an Italian port security officer, we found our way to the correct spot shortly before 8:00pm.
It was just like an airport . . . There were ferry-specific check-in lines where you had to show your passports & boarding passes. Only difference was that our car also got it's own boarding pass and ticket for the windshield :) We were told to stay in the gated parking area and that we could proceed to ferry gate 3 at 8:30pm. That was just the right amount of time for the girls to finish eating their dinner (Doug & I passed on dinner; we were still stuffed from the amazing pizza lunch), use the restroom and re-pack a few things in our luggage.
Confusion!
Any "normal" person would get in their car at 8:29pm to be ready for 8:30pm departure; the parking lot was peanuts size. But, being me, I insisted we get a head start (when it's travel related logistics; I like to be early, not on time). We rolled up to the parking lot exit area at 8:25pm. (For the record, that's not absurdly early!) The Italian man controlling traffic saw our "Bari-Dubrovnik" windshield sign and proceeded to tell us very emphatically that the doors to our ferry were closed (+ hand motions to indicate as much) and that we could not get on. We interpreted this to mean that the ferry doors had closed & the ferry was departing without us! In the heat of the moment, we started going nuts saying things like "But we've been here the whole time! We were told we couldn't get on before 8:30pm! We need to be on that ferry!" And he just kept repeating that the doors were closed (still hand motions) and we could not get on. We could see this conversation was quickly going no where :)
I decided to take matters into my own hands, haha. I bolted out of the car (literally left the car door open), sprinted over to the check-in counter and tried to explain the situation. The woman behind the glass window (same that we'd checked in with less than an hour prior) looked exasperated by the whole thing. Didn't help matters that I speak no Italian and that she & the traffic dude speak only basic English. She explained that the boat had in fact not left, and that we can't exit until 8:30pm like she told me before. As she was literally finishing her sentence, an announcement was made on the overhead speaker that cars could now depart for the Dubrovnik port departure gate. A mad dash ensued, with cars peeling out of the parking lot and me racing back to Doug & the girls in the car.
Rush to Wait
We exited the lot amidst a long line of cars, drove another 2 km and then sat in another line for more boarding & passport checks. As we debriefed on what the heck just happened, we determined it was all just a matter of crossed wires; crossed by two-way broken language. Us not fully understanding the traffic control man's intended message & jumping to conclusions, and him not understanding our question/point of view. Our crazy came out because in the confusion of it all, we thought we had missed our ferry. Had we stayed calmer and/or rolled up to that exit gate not 5 minutes later (aka *exactly* when she told us & not a minute earlier), all would have been crystal clear. As were waiting in that second line to finally drive onto the ferry, we all giggled and talked about how incredibly grateful we were that we didn't miss it. The whole thing was a good reminder to stay calm in situations that are made trickier by language barriers.
All Aboard!
Car parked and room keys secured (we had 2 cabins, each of which slept 2 people), we went up to explore the Jadrolinija boat. This was seriously exciting stuff for the girls! And it was already way past their bedtime, so a double wow! There was a proper restaurant and a bar filled with all kinds of characters. Best part was seeing all the set-ups people had for getting a good night's rest. Clearly some people were pros at this, having staked out prime corner locations or booths and making sleeping arrangements. Some people had blankets & pillows; others pack'n plays for their kiddos, and still others just sprawled out in the middle of the area, blocking passerbys. It was all quite amusing & impressive, really. The girls were intrigued by the whole thing, but said they would never do that (sleep on the floor in the common areas) because people would see you sleeping & that was totally embarrassing :)
Hit the Deck, Then the Sac
Planned departure time was 10:00pm. There were two other ferries at the Bari dock, also bound for Croatia. Those ferries headed out first, so by the time we actually pushed off it was closer to 11:30pm. We were all super tired, but we were running on adrenaline up on the deck watching the boats leave (guided by the mini & mighty tugboat), talking about how the lighthouse helps the boats, and glancing up at the stars. Once the Bari city lights were behind us we could appreciate better the darkness of the water + sky surrounding us. All zonked, we headed back down to our cabins. There was some last minute scrambling, but in the end me & Paige had one cabin; Doug & Sadie the other. We gave big hugs, said goodnight and made a pact to meet for breakfast at 7:15am.
After our teeth were brushed, Paige said to me "Mommy, let's go have an adventure. Let's go back upstairs and have another look." We bound back upstairs - in our pajamas! - just to take one last look around. Paige was fascinating by the whole scene of people sleeping on the floor in common spaces. It was pretty fun to be sneaking a little moment just the two of us :)
Good Morning Croatia!
Within minutes our alarms were going off (in our respective cabins) and a Jadrolinija worker was pounding on our cabin doors to collect our keys. It was 7:00am and we were arriving into the port of Dubrovnik early. Doug hustled our luggage to our car - we weren't about to leave our year's precious belongings in unlocked rooms! And then scarfed down a few bites of bad breakfast.
It was pretty trippy to go to bed in a dark vast sea, and wake up to beautiful views of Croatia all around! All of us slept well and agree it was a super fun & unique experience! My favorite excerpts from the girls writing entry about the overnight ferry:
"It was so fun and adventurous!" (Paige)
"I really liked that we stayed up until 12:30am yesterday!" (Paige)
"I liked the ferry because the beds are comfortable! I also liked the rooms!" (Sadie)
"What I did not like about the ferry was breakfast and the confusion. They thought the ferry left so my Mom ran to get help. She said the same thing when we checked in so she ran back and realized the man meant you could not board yet. Why they got into a little fight was the man barely spoke English."
"Hope you get to go on a boat too!" (Paige)
To cap it all off, when we got our passport stamped upon arrival in Croatia, we realized the stamp shows a boat!! Honestly hadn't realized passport stamps show an icon of your mode of arrival transport. A boat passport stamp is an official "first" for all four of us :)
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