Look at the map. Today we have to drive to Reggio Calabria to catch a 2:30pm ferry to Messina. The travel agent has said 4- 5 hours. I ask at the front desk and he says,"Oh, 4 hours tops!" Ok, we leave the masseria at 8am figuring we've got plenty of time. An hour and a half into the drive and I'm starting with the aggita. I'm looking at the map and thinking, well, I can't say what I was thinking, but it wasn't good. Chris must be feeling the stress vibes because he asks what's wrong. I explain and he suggests that when we get on the highway, we'll probably make up time so we'll be all set. I start formulating Plan B. When we hit the Highway at Taranto and I'm thinking 'maybe'? We cross over to the A3 and Chris pulls over. Pit stop. NO!!! NO TIME!! HOLD IT!!! Ok, maybe I overreacted a little bit, but as far as we know, if we miss this ferry the next one is at 8:30pm. Back on the road and its becoming obvious we're not going to make it, Plan B is turning from possibility to definitely. Plan B is for us to find the ferry on our own (no problem for an OCD traveler like me) and the kids and I will take the luggage over, meet the driver and go to the hotel. Chris will find the airport, return the car, take taxi to the ferry and hopefully catch the later one. This means we need to figure out how to ask 'where is the ferry to Messina', 'I need X tickets for adults, kids, luggage' 'when is the next ferry' all in Italian. And, understand the answer. Have I plugged Earworm Learning yet? Here it is. Its by far the best way to learn a new language for a trip. THE BEST!!! I thank every Deity in existence for it; both in Greece and Italy, this thing made the trip so much better. You can buy them on itunes and they are soooo worth it. Anyways, I write all this down do that when Chris is on his own, he can at least show someone what he wants. I figure between Ryan and I we'll be fine. We find the ferry dock at 2:10. I go in to find the ticket office and find that there is another ferry at 5pm. Ok, now we know when Chris needs to be back by so he can now go off to gas up the car, return it and get back. 2 1/2 hours should be plenty of time to do this, so no worries. The guy selling tickets is obviously humoring me with my basic Italian. He's got a cute dog in with him so I bend to talk to him. The smart ass tells me the dog doesn't speak English. I tell him that's ok, I speak dog. Now he laughs and he's my new best friend! There is another ferry that leaves before ours going somewhere else. He sent two guys to make sure we didn't get on the wrong one and we did get on the right one. This is why you try to speak the local language! The rest of our day is uneventful. We get to Messina and meet our driver who takes us to the Hotel. I arrange to have him go back and get Chris when he comes in. I also ask him, how long would he guess it would take to do the drive we did. "Oh, easily 6 hours. More if the construction is bad." I should have asked him.