What would a family trip be, without the option to look in on ourselves and other people traveling and gaining a better insight into the human condition? We start at the home front and look in at my own family as they prepare to depart. The closer we get to departure time, the more tense the situation is. Are all the bags packed? Did you forget to set the air conditioners? What about all the plethora of medications that we always take on our trips, most of which will stay in their respective utility bags without being touched? The answer to this last question is usually yes we have packed them all, and yes we do need them all, because you never know. Then there is the packing of the car itself. What can be stored for long term retrieval and what has to have immediate access. If it is going to rain. . . maybe. . . we need to be able to get to our rainwear.
Usually driving to any port of interest to the north or east of us requires the taking of a ferry. What are the weather conditions? Do we need to take motion sickness meds? How long is the travel time? Are appropriate pit stops included on the venue? If the trip traverses a meal, where will we get the food to satisfy nurturing our well-being, on the ferry, do we bring it, do we stop somewhere prior to the ferry to purchase it, etc.
On a scale of 1 -10, with 10 being the highest state of anxiety, I feel that the pre flight preparation rates a 6 moving towards 9 as the time of departure gets closer.
As we reach our ferry, we get to see an assortment of passengers from rookies to veteran travel goers. For example, on today’s trip we came across a group of 4 travelers that obviously had not read the book (if it existed) on boarding ferry etiquette. First they chose to gather by their car while on line for boarding and chat outside of their car, while the boat was being loaded. This normally would be amusing to watch, but I was the car directly behind them and couldn’t move until they did. As we finally pulled onto the ferry, I again had the misfortune of being pulled up behind this same car. It is somewhat disconcerting as you are being directed by ferry personnel to move closer to the car in front of you, to see their backup lights of that car go on. It appears that they felt that even though the staff member of the ferry stopped their car well before the car that preceded them, they wanted more room. I wasn’t sure what to do, whether I should honk or just hope they stopped. I was saved from making a decision when the ferry attendant realized what they were doing and prevented any further mishap. Now as I gathered my things together and wanted to get out of my car, the people in the car in front of me decided that they needed to get out of their car and chat again in the lane next to ours. Of course at this time another car was being pulled into that lane and had to stop because it couldn’t pass the chatters and being next to my car prevented me from getting out of the car. Needless to say, I eventually was able to get out and join the rest of my family on the ferry. Veteran ferry goers would not make these types of mistakes.
Of course on the ferry there are different issues. There is a long line, as soon as we get on by the snack bar. Since it is about lunchtime, I’m glad we pre-bought our sandwiches on the way to the ferry. Then again, when we do decide to purchase edible items to assuage our continued hunger, as the line diminishes, we discover that there is no food left. This is brilliant planning on the part of the Ferry service. What did they think people would want on their way across on the ferry at noon? Possibly some food. Foolish of me to think that they would pre-plan. Maybe it is planned such that the food is so good, that people will not stop talking about it. Overhearing these conversations would naturally prompt us to want to take the ferry again so we can partake of their great food selection.
Inevitably while you’re on a ferry with a large number of people you are bound to find someone to write about. In this case I found my character in the bathroom. I needed to use the facilities to wash my hands. As I entered the bathroom and moved towards the sinks, there was a boy, probably in his teens, attempting to wash his sneakers. He would dip a paper towel into the sink, get it wet, and then bend over to polish his sneaker tops. This would not be a problem, unless you needed to wash your hands. As he bent over to polish his sneakers (which needed polishing for what reason?) he blocked all three sinks. Finally realizing that someone else might want to use the sink, he moved, letting me wash my hands. After washing I attempted to leave the bathroom, but again was blocked by the boy bending over to polish his sneakers by the doorway.
There’s never a dull moment on the ferry.
After leaving the ferry, we headed out onto the highway with a lot of other tourists to venture forth to our collective travels. That in itself undoubtedly leads to more adventures, which will have to be related at another time.
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