John made the suggestion that we take an overnight ferry from Valencia to Livorno, Italy, based on advice from the Eurail handbook. Good idea, I thought, and we booked passage online. It meant a slightly lengthy stay in Spain, but the weather was beautiful and the Valencian people warmer than their weather, and we were having a good time.

It is evidence of the Valencian hospitality that our taxi driver refused to just drop us off at the gates of the port, but took us directly to our ship. This was good for us, because we would have never found our way.

The first teensy cloud appeared when our driver rolled down the window to ask a harbour guard where Grimaldi Ferries docked. His response - Que?

Our taxi driver eventually got us to the boat and we got aboard. The friendly Grimaldi staff told us that we were all inclusive, and we would receive meals all through our thirty-six hour voyage. That's right, not overnight, a whole day at sea. The ticket had not explained this at all.

Crap, I thought. We are stuck at sea with two truck drivers to keep us company. This is what Crystal would tell me is all part of the "experience" of travelling, so naturally, I was freaking out. The most important thing was to make a mayday call to Katerina to call our hotel in Rome and make sure they did not cancel our reservation when we showed up before we were stuck at sea without a cellular phone signal. Katerina, my hero, did so. I needed her to do it because I had foolishly not written down the telephone number of the hotel.

Our first night was fine, but we woke up to massive swells and John and I were soon seasick. Kicking myself for forgetting to pack Gravol *not like I could get to the nearest pharmacy* we suffered until it calmed. Our truck driver buddies bonded at the bar, and we ate dinner.

When we got to Livorno the next morning, we disembarked into the waiting arms of the Italian police. As soon as I convinced them that we did not intend terrorist acts (thankfully, they spoke French) they kindly called us a cab to Livorno Centrale, and we sped to Rome, first class, on the 8:11 train.