Truckin Around Tunisia (Or "Clutch in, Nerd out!!")

So the road goes on forever and the highway never ends.  In Italy my eldest comes to and absolutely LOVES the countryside.  Lots of farmland turn into rolling Italian hills, and we even spot a few castles.

This is something I've tried to communicate to my European friends multiple times, and I've fallen short every time.  I just can not communicate how impossible it is that I'm seeing castles in real life.

Growing up in the US of course, we're told about castles.  We see them in Disney cartoons, and even study them in History or Architecture classes, but aside from the real lucky few, none of us are ever going to see one.  As a child born across the street from what would later become the county jail (Mrs. Hungary's family traces their ancestry to sharecroppers in a very short amount of time), there was never any question that I would never ever see anything off of the North American continent.  We caught a ferry to Canada once, I made the gigantic move from Washington to Texas, but all in all that was about as far as that ship was going to sail.

In fact, I remember being a senior in Highschool and being the only one in my group of friends that had a car.  The year was 1999/2000 and the car was a 3-colored 1985 Mazda RX-7.  I could afford nothing in the way of maintenance, or tires, and I still think I owe the city of Bothell Washington an apology letter for our behavior in that darn thing.  We were the poor kids, we had a car we thought was fast, and we had everything to prove.  That's why we were all surprised when my buddy "Vinnie" landed himself an absolute "Ten" for a girlfriend.

None of us could figure that one out and as much as we looked for something wrong with her to explain this situation, nothing was discovered.

Then one day we notice she's not around and ask what happened.  "ran off with some other dude" he explained.

"Some other dude?" we were all shocked, "we can't have that, man!  Why are we not messin this guy up???"

He explained that he was rich and his family was taking her to Spain over the summer on their family holiday...  We all agreed that we'd leave his a$$ too for a trip to Spain, pooled our money together, and paid a man with a cardboard sign to buy us a handle of the absolute cheapest vodka he could find.  Later I'd be the only person from that group of friends to graduate.

That's why when Mrs. Hungary and I moved out here and saw the castle ruins next to our hotel we absolutely lost our stuff.  I think we were up there every day that December with our dogs, just taking in the fact that we were here and this was happening to us.

This magic has never been lost on us.  That was in 2009 and we still live in absolute awe that we're in a place where we able to do something like this.  Our kids, though?  They think this crap is normal.  Not only have my efforts to explain how impossible this is to them fallen on deaf ears, they've grown up thinking that people do this every day.

(alternatively, I also have the privilege of working with many foreign aircrew members.  Let me tell you with absolute certainty that the national park system and the untouched beauty of nature that we have available to us in the states is unsurpassed by anything they've experienced in the rest of the world.  It's something I can honestly say I didn't appreciate as much as I should have while stateside)

We make our final stop for fuel about 45 minutes out from camp.  A Rolls Royce SUV parks behind me at the pump and hoo-dawgies do I think it must be the cheapest/gaudiest looking thing I might have ever seen!

There are also these "DR" automobiles driving around and we have to google those as we've never seen them before either.  Turns out they're re-badges Chinese cars that are sold in Italy?

I try, but have trouble thinking of any car that could have a worse reputation than that.

Camp tonight is just off the road, but it's an established campsite called "L'Isola Degli Ulivi".  The website is in Italian but I added it to iOverlander as well.  We end up getting there at 17:45 after abotu 10-hours of driving and it's pretty darn nice.

It's our first test of our camp setup and if I'm honest it didn't go well.

We're all familiar with how to set up camp, that isn't the issue, the problem is it just takes us so LONG to get everything out and in place.  Mind you, I'm comparing this to the last time I was in a tent, which was the Bamako Run, (and we were running 14-hour days non-stop, so camp setup time was VERY important to getting any rest), but still...

As I think back, the biggest problem wasn't the table/chairs/tent, but more our big black box.  our idea here was the same as it was on the B2B where we have all our camp gear in one box, and can just take it out of the back of the truck in one pull.

The problem is, the two heaviest items in the box (the pots/pans and our Coleman stove) need to sit at the bottom to keep them from squashing things which means EVERYTHING else needs to be taken out of the box as well.  Ultimately we decide to hoof it into town and go grocery shopping real quick and maybe pick something up from there. 

Everyone got their #3 Robertson Head Non-Slip Screwdriver?

Town is only a 5-minute walk away.  Once there we spot a grocery store that has a deli and thought that'd do us for dinner.  That turned out to be an expensive mistake!

Not only was the food "not very good", but it was SUPER expensive as well.  Plus we couldn't find an ATM anywhere either.  We're a bit worried that the campground is going to want cash payment, but that needs to be a tomorrow issue.

After dinner The kiddos break out the deck of cards.  Someone at school taught the eldest how to play poker and he spends some time with the youngest teaching him how to play as well.

Unfortunately whoever taught the eldest taught him wrong, and he proceeds to argue when I try to set him straight on how "Texas Holdem" is really played (this kid has to argue about everything, I swear.... just like his dad)

Listen kid...  I was in my early twenties when the Texas Holdem craze was all the rage.  I was there.  I saw the attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.  I played in the tournaments and actually did pretty well.  Can you just take my damn word for it?

Poker turns into Go-Fish, and eventually the sun is setting over that beautiful walled city you saw there perched up on that gigantic rock in the background.

We were out by 9pm that night.  Today we're up around 7am.  It was nice having those trees hear our table to give us some shade the last evening, but now their orientation is working against us as the sun is shining RIGHT into our tent.

Coffee and breakfast also are a bit of a camp-failure in my opinion.  Again, not an issue with our ability to cook but we just have to unpack EVERYTHING to get to what we need.  We're going to have to get better at this.  I also made the mistake of asking what everyone wanted.  Three of us want oatmeal, and the youngest wants eggs.

Afterwards the kids find sticks and have Harry Potter duels off in the background while Mrs. Hungary and I wake up a bit.  We also take some time to update our Road-Trip Bingo cards that I forgot to mention.  Three of us (two adults, and the youngest) took a day to fill out bingo sheets of things we thought we'd see on this trip.  I can't remember who picked what anymore, but we all placed them on different spots on our Bingo sheet.  We've been helping each other when we spot things so we can all check something off, but the eldest has opted not to play.

We had some fun making those.  Sarah took it the extra goofy mile by adding a passport photo from each of us (we generally have a small stack laying around for immigration applications, passport stuff, etc) and then laminating the whole thing.

The boys also have travel journals we're having them fill out.

The eldest isn't taking it very seriously and is rhyming his entry, and the youngest is struggling to make sentences.  They're 8 and 12 so that's about par for those courses.  Really though we're trying to keep busy and kill time right now.  It's 8:45 and we haven't seen the guy we're supposed to pay for the camp.

Eventually we DO catch him, but it's 9:25 at that point.  I caught sight of him while brushing my teeth and got lucky when I found out he had a small card reader attached to his phone.  I really did not want to drive around looking for a bank this morning.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Mrs. Hungary is in a mild panic because we can't find my razor.  It's a solid metal safety razor type and I like it a lot.  She's up in arms because she thinks she lost it (I'm pretty sure I've seen it recently, so I'm positive it will show up) and is worried because she was also the one who lost the paper that flew out of the window.  Both are absolute nothing burgers, but you can tell that it might have been some time since we've actually gotten out of the house to actually relax.  I tell her I'm sure I'll be ok without a razor on my vacation in the desert.  I don't think the camels will care.

From there I spend some time re-teaching her the art of folding a tent (it's been a while), we note that the fridge has reached its auto-shutoff sometime in the night (odd), and fire up the truck to hit the road!  GPS says the drive is 2:39 today, and for some reason we thought it should have been 4-hours...  It's a hotel in Salerno just 30-minutes from where we're going to catch the ferry tomorrow at 13:00.  We probably didn't need a hotel for this leg of the trip, but wanted to play it safe and NOT have to deal with traffic on a day with an important deadline (like ferry boarding).  By tomorrow we'll both be very happy with this decision.  For today though, we decide that we're going to spend today "just kicking around".

Oh yes, another Road Trip report from Bill!

Great read so far, can't wait to see what else happened on the way.

One note regarding keeping cool in a non-ac car:

After suffering a mild heatstroke (sunstroke?) last year after spending 5 hours in the Speedster, and the rest of the day in a field, I found the following solution works for me:

Use a cooler (or in my case an insulated lunch bag), add pre-frozen ice-packs and two wet towels.

While one towel cools you down, the other one is in the cooler for swapping later.

Worked a treat on a hot day in August, while I was doing a driver safety training with the top up.

And I think Douglas Adams recommended that as well

Interesting note about the castles around here - you are right, when you grow up around them they are nice, but nothing special. I'll try to keep my eyes (and mind) more open in the future!

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

"Not only is it ok to be exactly who you are, you should embrace it"

Second:  Travel (I don't care where to.  Next door, next city, next state, or next country) is necessary for a better future.  And do it now because there is no guarantee of a future.  This is a story I can't trim down, so you're going to have to chew through the raw version (and for that, I apologize)

 If people traveled, they would meet other people and realize they weren't so different.  If they did that, then maybe they would quit fighting. 

I believe in this very much.  Mark Twain had similar things to say:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

Absolutely agreed with every word!!!

Planet Earth is so beautiful and there are so many incredible places to see, you can meet so many interesting people around!!!

But for some reason, too many people don't take chance to do it. 

I've also been trying to avoid "later" since some time - it pretty much equals "never". Do you want something? Do you dream of something? no questions - do it!!! of course, it can take some time and some efforts, but you'll never regret what you've done but you'll regret what you haven't done - for sure, that's exactly!!!

Bill, thanks for your stories  they inspire me 

Ohhh, i love castles too and i have visited a few here - in Ukraine, one of the oldest of which is first mentioned in the 11th century!!!

Waiting for the continuation...

Gzwg said:

Great read so far, can't wait to see what else happened on the way.

One note regarding keeping cool in a non-ac car:

After suffering a mild heatstroke (sunstroke?) last year after spending 5 hours in the Speedster, and the rest of the day in a field, I found the following solution works for me:

Use a cooler (or in my case an insulated lunch bag), add pre-frozen ice-packs and two wet towels.

While one towel cools you down, the other one is in the cooler for swapping later.

Worked a treat on a hot day in August, while I was doing a driver safety training with the top up.

And I think Douglas Adams recommended that as well

Interesting note about the castles around here - you are right, when you grow up around them they are nice, but nothing special. I'll try to keep my eyes (and mind) more open in the future!

That is GENIUS!  Yeah, along with the cold liquids we also had a spray bottle as well, but I'm keeping the towel trick.

And seriously, how did I NOT think of bringing a towel (insert facepalm here)

In reply to VikkiDp :

You are very right about how easily "later" becomes "never".  Ukraine is a good example of that.  Since 2009, Mrs. Hungary and I have always wanted to travel all over Ukraine, but it was just SO CLOSE that we could always put it off until "later" (let's just do this place first, and then we'll...).  Now... well, we know what's happening "now"

There we were... Driving down the boot of Italy.

The eldest is playing his "rock/metal" playlist and Bon Jovi's "Raise Your Hand" fires up first.  I thought it fitting given the "Lonestar, Hero for Hire" logos on the truck and just like that we're "Eagle-5" and I start shouting for "Barf" 

Well, two things dawn on us pretty quick.  The first thing is, that we're getting pretty bored just blasting through Europe at 110kph (about 65mph) on this flat highway we're on.  The second is, we're betting that exactly NO ONE who sees that back window sticker is thinking "oh, I bet those guys are going to Tunisia!".

No.  Instead we're pretty certain they're thinking "oh my god, what did they do to that crappy truck???".

It gets embarrassing pretty quick and we notice people are looking at us.  Ah well, when I said "own it" I meant it.  So away we go.

But Mrs. Hungary does take the lead on the nav and gets us off this boring highway and headed towards the Italian coastline.  Almost instantly we're rewarded with a one-lane twisty that's barely big enough for the truck.  We LOVE it.

A few times I have to drop my wheels off the pavement to make room for oncomming traffic.  Once or twice I get stuck behind someone REALLY slow.  And every so often I'm overtaken by a motorcycle, but man is it worth it!

The little mountain towns, the views.  Definitely should have thought of this sooner.

From the back the eldest announces he came up with a challenge.  "Hey, what do you think about trying the whole trip today without stopping?"

We inform him of the short drive time and how we'd get to the hotel SUPER early if we did that and wouldn't be able to check in.  We let him know that Mrs. Hungary is already looking for possible areas to visit.  Rome is mentioned and I shoot it down beyond instantly.  This truck is HEAVY and sluggish and way to big to be driving in Rome.  I'd go nuts.  About this time though we've finally reached a coastal city and decide to stop for lunch.

The youngest is super excited because he's been wanting a Pizza in Italy.  We take a look at the menus and all decide on Pizzas.  Mrs. Hungary is a vegetarian and sometimes it's tough to find options at these places that don't have meat or fish.  The waiter comes by and panics when we tell him our order  "no no, only for dinner the pizza!"

well carp.

Ok, having that idea dead in the water we order some pasta plates and honestly they're pretty darn small when we get them.  I should note here that I have a bit of PTSD from my Bamako trip as I lost like 20lbs (and I am not someone who has 20lbs to lose).  With that in mind I'm watching our calorie intake (and water intake) and already making note that we're going to have to eat a big dinner or something to make up for this.

When we're done I have the maps cued up on my phone but we all need to use the restroom before punching out.  When we do, somehow the maps close on Mrs. Hungary and we're left without data...  Mrs. Hungary asks one of the waiters if they'd mind slinging a mobile hotspot for us and they do.  We get our maps, thank them, and head on out.  Back at the truck we can't believe our eyes.  This new route of ours is taking us through Pompei!

I mean seriously.  It can not get any better than this.  Visiting Pompei has been on Mrs. Hungary's bucket list for as long as I've known here.  And again, this is another one of those things that is just such a subtle and natural mental block that never once did we think "We should look up the details and see about heading over there".  Again, we just always grew up knowing we'd never see Pompei.

I mean, we visited a museum that had a Pompei exhibit once.  The same way we visited a museum with a King Tut exhibit once.  But again:  Never gonna happen in real life.

and here we are (not even knowing we were here).  Mrs. Hungary can't even be contained by her seatbelt at this point.  As soon as we're stopped, she's egressed and pointed towards the entrance to the site.  We have exactly 2hrs and 24 minutes to view this place before the lot we're parked at closes for the night.  I'm going to man the clock, she's going to take it all in.  Here goes:

I mean, I must have taken a million pictures while we were in there.  The eldest tells us how the streets were also used as sewers, so the big rocks we see at intersections were for people to use to cross (like raised versions of zebra-stripes now).  The youngest was just happy to be there, and of course Mrs. Hungary is livin out her dream.

I really liked the few spots that we found old mosiacs.  But what got me though was this ancient Pizza shop:

Not only was it extremely well preserved, but it looked like it was still in operation!  (we didn't stop.  We had more sites to see)

Watching the clock I herd everyone together with 20 minutes left.  We haven't been all over the city yet (seriously, they sell 3-day passes to this place) but it's time to head back to the truck.  We walk out, load up, and it's back on the road for us.

It's a 2-hour drive to the hotel from Pompei and we're in no hurry.  As we get closer though we start getting anxious.  We didn't eat a lot today and we did a lot of walking around Pompei.  We're all hungry.  Unfortunately we miss a turn and end up 10-minutes out of our way.  Forthermore, there seems to be some sort of festival happening in all these towns because the streets are decorarted with all sorts of stuff and stands are being set up

Normally this would be a "oooh, coool.  Let's investigate" but it's getting late.  We don't get to the hotel until 1900, when we can finally unpack (and breathe).  Unfortunately it doesn't look like this hotel has a website of its own (I only see it on booking sites) so I'll simply tell you that it was the Cascina San Michelle in Fisciano, Italy.  I chose it because it offered secure parking (this truck is pretty easy to break into, and a lot of the Bamako participants get stuff stolen out of their vehicles every year in Spain.  I didn't want that happening to us.)

The lady running the place doesn't speak English but we manage (she's very nice).  She's telling us that this is a converted farm house and people are making hotels out of them for wellness stays and whatnot.  Our room was only intended for 3 people but she put an extra bed in (an issue we ran into often when trying to plan this trip).  Bad news for us though is there's no restaurant attached so we're going to have to drive out into town (we're not within walking distance of anything).

We load both of our phones with GPS instructions and head into town.  We need a grocery store to get snacks for the boat tomorrow, and a restaurant to eat at tonight (not many of either are open now as it's almost 8pm).  Of course, about 1/2 way to our first stop we realize "wait a minute.  How are we going to find our way back to the hotel without data?"

We put that in the "worry later" bin and do our shopping.  Of course there's a festival downtown that we have to drive through.  It's full of people and they all stare.  Once through we took a wrong turn and had to do it again, but eventually we're successful.

For the restaurant we were able to find a pizzaria online but when we got there all they had were Calzones and some other really fast food.  The youngest had to ask us what a calzone was and we explained "It's pizza but folded over itself so all the toppings are on the inside" (which he accepted and got excited about).  We placed our order "to go" and ended up being served at a table.  Not normally a problem but for two things:
1)  None of us ordered drinks (because we had water in our bottles back at the room)

and

2) I think we picked the cheapest pizzaria in Italy because only the slightest traces of anything resembling filling were found in our calzones:

Wow!  the expressions in that picture capture our mood perfectly

Honestly, this is our luck with food in Italy.  We never do get it right and always end up disappointed.  And the one time we DID get the best Italian food we've ever had was at a point where we had just come out of Rome, were sick of overpaying for nothing, and ordered the bare minimum for nourishment, and it was so late that night that by the time we realized we were eating the best food we've ever had in our lives (and I really mean it), the kitchen had closed and all they had was wine.  That was Florence though, around 2010...

Again though, I'm counting calories here.  This isn't a problem now, but if this continues in Africa then we're in trouble.

After we eat, we're able to find our way back (gps started working on the way to the truck), and it was TV before "lights out".

Ok.  I gotta issue a warning here.  I know it's not fair to bait you in this far and then issue a warning but I forgot to do it at the beginning and that's all my fault.

I need to warn you that I've very much against "Instagram Travel"  (I think you know what I mean),

and I gotta warn you I'm going to be a bit soap-box ish for just this one post.  I'm sorry.

Ok.  On the Bamako run I ended up traveling with an Instagram travel model (yeah, she makes money from it and everything) and I just do not like how it was presented.  When I got back and I saw how she showed the run versus what actually happened, I was a little disappointed.  You can see her profile here (sorry Linda)  https://www.instagram.com/lindagunisova/

And if I'm completely honest if you look through her "African Rally" photos, there are a couple in there that really strike a nerve with me... (mostly involving how she's posed with local children)

It really bothers me how this stuff is glamorized because it isn't always glamorous.  I mean, absolutely enjoy it, and be excited, absolutely take those artsy photos I'm 100% unable to duplicate no matter how hard I try, but for the life of me I wish someone would talk about the bad parts as well.  My eldest, for instance, who is STILL reading that Harry Potter book instead of looking around.  Mrs. Hungary, who is VERY scary when she hasn't eaten (and we haven't eaten, as I've already said).  Or the fact that in a very short amount of time we're going to be pooping in a dang bucket!

There's a woman on youtube that does this sort of presentation very well.  She goes by the name "The Girl An a Bike" and she is an absolute bad-ass.   

https://www.youtube.com/@TheGirlOnABike

I think she does an amazing job of showing both the good and the bad.  She can out-ride almost any man I know, cries on camera, talks about all the butt paste she needs from her seat time on her bike, and even ducks off camera for a quick pee behind the tent and stuff.  I LOVE IT.

Itchy Boots is another.  She's a solo adventure rider and is equally awesome (not to mention an absolute beacon for what it means to be a good human):  https://www.youtube.com/@ItchyBoots

She stood up for herself and got two African policemen fired after she recorded them telling her to "give them money" and then published the video.

So that is all.  I just wanted to warn you that like Itchy Boots and The Girl On a Bike, poop strategy is going to be a topic of discussion here soon.  Everyone Poops and I want to do my best to present this trip exactly as it happened and not pretend things were "instagram awesome" when they weren't (my apologies to the squeamish)

 

Ok, now that I got that out of my system there is no way I'm leaving you guys with that post for the weekend.  Because "There I was...  Headed to the tolet because we're not going to have a bathroom today for a solid 5 or 6 hours."

The sun wakes us up at 6:30 and it's time to start our day.  Kids update their journals firm the night before and I head out to the coffee machine to grab us a cappuccino and an americano.  The hotel looks REALLY nice this morning!

Here's the instagram version:

I just need a catchy catchphrase to go with it.    Something like Walt Disney's

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them"

(Insert vomit emoji here)

Anyhoo, the eldest is filling his journal out like a song.  His head bobs as he reads out loud:

"aaaaaaaaahhhh (went to pompei)"

"aaaaaaaaahhhh (didn't get to play)"

I'm taking loads of our stuff down to the truck at this point.  For today we only have the street name of where the ferry is, along with written directions from the ferry company.  It's going to be interesting.  I also do a bit of vehicle maintenance and checks:

Our fridge has reached it's shutoff point again.  It's about 11.5v on the battery, but the stuff inside is still frozen so that's a good sign.

I'm also worried about our first stop after the ferry.  It's a 24-hour ride but we wont have access to the vehicle, I don't think.  My sliding side windows don't latch on one side so I need to move them to a better position and then use a dowel I painted black (before we left) as a wedge on the other side to keep them from being able to be opened.

I was worried about this now because our first stop after the ferry said it had parking "close by" but not at the hotel itself.

We also update our bingo sheets.  Mrs. Hungary is getting dangerously close...

By 8:17, we're off and on track to being 1/2 hour early to be 1-hour early to the 3-hours early we were instructed to be there by.  No idea what's going to happen, but we immediately hit traffic which reminds me why we always need to be so early.  Luckily, the views are nice

Staying at the hotel only 30-minutes from the ferry last night was a darn smart thing to do.  With the traffic today and all our missed turns yesterday, that would have been hair-pullingly stressful.  That little stop probably went a long way in keeping us all from killing each other, and definitely made the beginning of the trip way more enjoyable.

I'll raise you one from my recent trip to France:

And I totally agree on the IRL approach to the report.

Another very nice youtuber is OffSheGoes:

https://www.youtube.com/@OffSheGoesADV

We liked her Iceland Trip very much!

At the parking lot you can tell that we're headed to Africa because it's a free-for-all.  The lines painted on the ground are only suggestions, so we stop where we want and get checked in.  We're still like 4-hours prior to departure here, but this is what we were instructed to do (so we do it)

And I mean for a long time, this is it.

It's damn hot so we do our best to stay in the shade.  As the sun moves, so do we.  We're drinking lots of water, and are otherwise just bored to tears while we wait for our boat to load.

Sometimes one parent will go off for a leg stretcher around the parking lot, but otherwise it's just a lot of sitting.

At some point we spot a Hungarian taxi and took a picture becuase we thought that was pretty crazy

The man driving it will later walk by our truck and we'll speak Hungarian to him.  He's not Hungarian but his wife is.  She works in Tunisia at the airport and he works in Budapest as a taxi driver (and has done so since 2007).  We talk about our upcoming vacation to Tunisia and he warns us to lock our stuff up and keep a sharp eye on our bags.  He apologizes for it, but says it's the reality.  We thank him and mark off our "Hungarian speaker" spot on our bingo cards.

Gzwg said:

I'll raise you one from my recent trip to France:

 

 

And I totally agree on the IRL approach to the report.

Another very nice youtuber is OffSheGoes:

https://www.youtube.com/@OffSheGoesADV

 

We liked her Iceland Trip very much!

yass, nice!!!!

And many thanks for the link.  She's going on the "watch later" list!

So the parking lot fills until we decide we should probably park normally to avoid being "those guys" and eventually it fills all the way up.  There's a hotel with a swimming area nearby and it looks like most of the people are here for that.

By 9:45 cars are starting to queue, so we do as well.  The eldest is in the back playing with a Cobra hand-held CB I brought with us but doesn't pick anything up.

By 10:05 there was still no movement.  Mrs. Hungary asks the gate guy what's up and he says "one more hour".  We decide to break out of the queue and park in some shade.  The spray bottle comes out and everyone cools off.

11:05 and the only thing notable is an Italian man stopped by to ask us what time boarding is.  My man, it should have been right now by the last news we got.  For entertainment we get to see a car arrive on the back of a tow truck.  It's dropped off in the lot at another tow truck with immediately picks it up and joins the queue.  We start to discuss the possibility that when the guy told Mrs. Hungary that it was "one hour", maybe he really meant "1-o'clock"...

This scares us enough to let the boys play video games on our phones.  Honestly, I've gotta allow it.  It's hot and they're not fighting.  Mrs. Hungary ducks out to go buy a bottle of water from a coffee stand we saw open.

It's not until 11:50 that we start to see locals loading up so we jump back in line.  At the gate our passports are checked by a police man in plain clothes.  "I'm sorry, who are you?" Mrs. Hungary asks.

he laughs and digs out his badge.  It's only then that she hands over our documents.

On the ship, we're being directed to the top deck.  Unfortunately they made me stop at the bottom of a VERY steep ramp to get up there.  I decide to drop the t-case into low range to give my clutch a fighting chance with all this weight (and no opportunity to build up any sort of momentum).  It works.

It's 1240 by the time we parked and you know what we noticed?  Not a single vehicle has a Tunisian license plate on it.  There's something up with this, but we don't know what.

We get unloaded and head to our cabin.  There were a few options on this ferry:

1) every man for himself (you find a corner and guard it with your life)

2) we'll put your name on a chair and it's yours

3) Sleeper cabin with beds.

We opted for that last one (for obvious reasons).  But I will admit to absolutely LOVING the creativity demonstrated by the people who opted for the first.

Once settled we do have a few things to do first.

1) we map out our escape routs.  It's always the first thing we do.  How many doors will you touch before the exit (it's pitch black inside a ship with the lights off.  Gotta be able to do it in the dark). 

2) use the head.  We have been in the parking lot for HOURS.  Time to do some business (and do so in tight quarters)

We were able to get some lunch in before the ship launched though.  We bought 4 plates of food for like 60-stinkin-euro from the ship's galley.  This has the immediate effect of us getting our bank card locked (fraud prevention).  Even so, the food was awful and not worth it (we immediately make plans to hit a store before we launch on our return trip).  We can see a lot of people brought those fan-type refrigerator coolers with them.  We plan to do the same.

We also set up our solar charger with our power bank, just for giggles. The eldest's phone is down to 17% after that long video game session and I thought this might be a good way to get some of that back (it wasn't.  The light sucked)

Back outside we get to watch our departure:

I love the sea.  I think traveling by boat is a bug that bites everyone who is lucky enough to experience it.  You leave your comfort zone and everything you know behind you.  Ahead of you there is only the unknown and adventure.  It makes me feel like I have something in common with the millions who went before me.  The explorers, conquerors, and merchants.  Headed out into the unknown.  All looking for glory, fame, or their fortune.  

When I caught my eldest in that moment I knew all so well, I knew I had to snap the photo before he saw me and it slipped away.