Tactical planning is over rated...

Headed out to Genova in search of the ferry to Barcelona, Spain. Given lack of Internet access and the sketchy situation in Rapallo, we just "went for it." We found the ferry terminal with no problems. Only, we arrived around 11 am and the gates to the docks don't open until 1pm/13:00. There is not adequate parking outside the gate for us. Reassured that as long as someone stayed with the motorhome, we were fine, I took off to secure tickets.

Good news: The cost was slightly under the 500 Euro we had guessed and we saved the cabin fare as we can camp onboard.
Bad news: The ferry departs at 9pm

Ticket in hand, I return to the motorhome and take the girls upstairs for lunch and to get some energy out. We had a very leisurely lunch at McDonalds, played on the few automated rides they had and did some shopping at the terminal grocery store. Cool. We're stocked up and ready to go!

Finally around 8:30 or so, we board the ferry, but are told to check in at "reception." Reception informs us that the seas are too rough to allow on-board camping. They have comped a cabin for us. We need to pack a few things and once we leave port, will not be allowed back in the vehicle until we arrive in Barcelona. The word cabin is probably overrated in this instance - it's a single room with a triangle shaped bathroom and a closet by the door and just enough room to walk between the beds. At first, we were fearful that we had been given a room with only two twin beds, but bunks fold out to make 4. The kids had a hard time going to sleep with the novelty of being on a ship and both on top bunks... and mom and dad had reading lights on below. Around 11pm, I realize that I felt a little queasy - maybe it's from reading / angle of the light mixed with the movement of the boat. Not thinking anything of it, I turned out the light and went to sleep.

Needless to say, I awoke feeling really sick. I fumbled through a shower, but then had to lay back down while Dan got the girls dressed and went off to breakfast. I was begging for an anti-naseua remedy. He came back with the tiniest roll of bread I've ever seen and said the crew indicated "it's a condition. bring her down to the common area where she can see the horizon." Right. There is no horizon on this ferry ... a tiny bit of bread and coffee didn't help. The girls, over running with energy and wanting to play and cuddle with me simply didn't understand.

Enough about me. I get sea-sick - now we all know. We arrived in Barcelona fine and found our next destination (mostly) without incident (warning to RV drivers ... some overpasses are angled in meaning while you clear on height, you may scrape your side mirrors). This "campground" is a parking lot with an area set aside for motorhomes. We are really quite oversized for their standards - but with overhang, were able to mostly fit into a spot. There was one electrical box which had 38 connectors (!). Water and dump facilities were located in a separate area, which had been fenced off for some reason, making entry for us a bit of a challenge.

• Day 1: Barcelona - we felt happy to find the parking spot and get settled. Dan starts reading up on the Schengen Treaty online.
• Day 2: Barcelona - it's a National holiday - we start out to explore - but head the wrong direction. We're surrounded by high-density (and appears to be lower-income) housing. Everything is closed. We head back to the parking place... start wandering the other direction, toward the hotel district. We find a huge (5-stories) shopping mall. Upon entry, it answers the question of "where is everyone?"
• Day 3: We depart. After more research and consideration, we decide we shouldn't tempt the regulations of the Schengen Treaty (allowing us to stay in the Schengen territories for a maximum of 90-days in any 180-day period). We're within a week or so of our 90-day limit - the primary issues that made the decision for us were:
• a) if caught, we have no idea what the prosecution / exportation process is like. Would we be jailed or do we just post enough money for airfare and leave? Would we be separated from the kids? We weren't able to find any process-related information, other than those who have been caught recently have been steeply fined (in the 1'000's of dollars per person).
• b) Dan found an article notating that most insurance policies are cancelled if the insured is doing something illegal. Definitely don't want our health, auto or life insurance invalidated IF something were to happen just because we selfishly want a warm winter.

This in mind and knowing we need to be good stewards of tourists, especially American tourists, we decided to burn a path to Switzerland. A tactical error. We could have saved a lot of money (ferry, gas) and time had we headed to Switzerland after visiting Milan. However, our initial plan had been to take the risk and winter over in Southern Spain, getting nice tans.

That's the story of how we came to be in Switzerland, by way of Italy, Spain and France... having not enjoyed any risotto, paella and only one crummy croissant. =)

Not all is lost - the drive is quite beautiful (though the toll roads will kill you - we spent about 200Euro in tolls through France alone). We had an interesting laundry day in France... a single washing machine (5 Euro per load) and no dryer. It was 3pm before we arrived and we had 3 loads of laundry. Well, almost everything was dry before we left at noon the next day.