Speaker 1: Most people assume Italy with kids will be complicated thanks
Speaker 1: to some assumptions about the many cobblestones on long, long
Speaker 1: lunches and the three hour museum circuits that some people.
Speaker 2: Like to promote.
Speaker 1: They are usually very surprised by what they find instead. Today,
Speaker 1: three moms, including two who live in Italy with young children,
Speaker 1: share why family travel in Italy is easier than you think.
Speaker 3: Tawatuti and Benvenuti Tuan Told Italy the travel podcast to
Speaker 3: where you go to the towns and villages, mountains and lakes,
Speaker 3: hills and coastlines of Beli, Italia. Each week, your host
Speaker 3: Katie Clark takes you on a journey in a search
Speaker 3: of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and of course
Speaker 3: a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming of Italy
Speaker 3: and planning future adventures there, you've come to the right place.
Speaker 1: One Johanno. Welcome to Untold Italy. I'm your host, Katie Clark,
Speaker 1: and today I have two brilliant members of the Untold
Speaker 1: Italy team joining me. You may have heard Olivia if
Speaker 1: you've been following the show for a little while and
Speaker 1: up until recently, she lived in Rome, where her daughter
Speaker 1: was born on the Tiber Island and has been collecting
Speaker 1: travel stamps since she was five months old. And then
Speaker 1: there is Cassandra, also based in Italy, mum to a
Speaker 1: five year old who has been on road trips across
Speaker 1: Europe and is now very much at home in Italy.
Speaker 1: Between the three of us, we have covered babies and carriers,
Speaker 1: toddlers who run straight for the canal, and tweens and
Speaker 1: teenagers who negotiate the itinery. So whether your child is
Speaker 1: still in nappies or already has opinions about which.
Speaker 2: Region to visit, this episode is for you.
Speaker 1: We have a ton of advice for parents considering traveling
Speaker 1: in Italy as a family, but if you think you
Speaker 1: like the idea of family travel but don't want to
Speaker 1: do all the planning yourself. Both Olivia and Cassandra are
Speaker 1: on our trip planning team and are ready to help.
Speaker 1: We've added a link to their profiles and our trip
Speaker 1: planning services in the episode show notes on our website
Speaker 1: so you can learn more about how we can help you.
Speaker 1: ANDIAMO Let's dive in Helloon. Everyone, Dow Gaylor and by Cassandra,
Speaker 1: Welcome back on to the Antony Italy Podcast. It is
Speaker 1: great to have some of the team together, and I
Speaker 1: really love this topic because actually we get questions about
Speaker 1: this topic, and I thought everyone together because we're all
Speaker 1: farms and we've all got kids with different stages of development,
Speaker 1: at different stages of parenthood. We also have lots of
Speaker 1: experience traveling with kids in Italy and also just generally,
Speaker 1: so we can give a little bit of a perspective
Speaker 1: on travel in general and how it's like Italy. So
Speaker 1: I know we'll know that both of you have done
Speaker 1: trip consultations with families planning their Italian benures, so have
Speaker 1: some other content to draw them. So how about we
Speaker 1: get started with some quick introductions and context and then
Speaker 1: go to be deeper.
Speaker 2: And I'll go first.
Speaker 1: So I've been a mom for wow, like well over
Speaker 1: a decade now. I've have a tweet. It's a girl
Speaker 1: and a boy and they're almost teenagers now, and they've
Speaker 1: been traveling the world since they were six months old,
Speaker 1: and our first trip was to Bali and let me
Speaker 1: traveling to Italy since they were two years old. They
Speaker 1: absolutely love Italy, but they also love going to places
Speaker 1: like USA. They've been all over Europe, and of course Australia,
Speaker 1: and I've also done some trouble with my teenage nephews. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'll be like, I've got a pretty wide space. You
Speaker 1: are traveling with kids, and yeah, I'm excited for both
Speaker 1: of you to share your experience as well. So how
Speaker 1: about you go first?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hi, everyone, I live.
Speaker 5: I'm a mom to a sixteen month old daughter. She
Speaker 5: was born on the Tiber Island in Rome in February
Speaker 5: of twenty twenty five, so she's been in Italy for
Speaker 5: most of her life.
Speaker 4: When she was five months old, we took off on
Speaker 4: a huge road trip.
Speaker 5: We drove from Rome all at the top of Italy
Speaker 5: and into the UK and through France, and then over
Speaker 5: Christmas time we took her on her first international flight
Speaker 5: to Australia. So it's safe to say she's done a
Speaker 5: lot of travel. And yet now she's been traveling around
Speaker 5: Europe and in Denmark at the moment.
Speaker 1: Okay, Cassandra, you have done a lot of travel too.
Speaker 6: Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Cassandra.
Speaker 6: My daughter is five years old and she was born
Speaker 6: in Prague at the very end of twenty twenty so
Speaker 6: the following year we were like in peak COVID we
Speaker 6: couldn't travel very far, so we did what we could
Speaker 6: pretty much like local kind of road trips within the
Speaker 6: Czech Republic or maybe a neighboring country. But we did
Speaker 6: our first big road trip all the way from Czech
Speaker 6: actually down to the Greek island of Kithia, which is
Speaker 6: I wanted to say, a thousand kilometers maybe about fifteen
Speaker 6: hundred miles long road trip. And she was about six
Speaker 6: months when we did that. And then following that we
Speaker 6: actually flew from Prague to Seattle to visit family, so
Speaker 6: another really big trip during the first year of her life.
Speaker 6: I think she visited Italy when she was a year old.
Speaker 6: That was kind of the first time. But now we
Speaker 6: live in Italy, so we are very familiar with how
Speaker 6: things work traveling with her now or just visiting, whether
Speaker 6: it's short day trips or longer trips, so she has
Speaker 6: a lot of experience what it's like in Italy as
Speaker 6: a toddler.
Speaker 4: For a young child now five.
Speaker 6: Years old, that flew by really school, I know, a
Speaker 6: school age in September.
Speaker 1: That's going to be interesting. It's in a different era
Speaker 1: of your life. And so how mut did we talk
Speaker 1: about it? Just how do vibe about trebling in Italy
Speaker 1: as a family. What's the different way traveling in Italy
Speaker 1: can pay with tripling out parts of Europe and the world.
Speaker 5: I love traveling in Italy with her baby because Italians
Speaker 5: are obsessed with babies and children, and they're just so friendly.
Speaker 5: It's family orientated, so you feel I feel really welcome
Speaker 5: wherever I go with my daughter. If you go into
Speaker 5: a restaurant as well, like they just love to feed.
Speaker 5: That's the way that they show their love. And she's
Speaker 5: always really well fed. Let's say so, even if there's
Speaker 5: past of sul not on the menu, they'll happily make
Speaker 5: it for your children.
Speaker 4: So on that side, it's really great.
Speaker 5: On the other side, though, there can be a few
Speaker 5: logistic things that I think are challenging.
Speaker 4: If you're not familiar with traveling in Europe.
Speaker 5: Let me take cobblestones, lack of change tables.
Speaker 1: I have to get creative sometimes also, like the size
Speaker 1: of your stroller to the size of the door.
Speaker 4: That's not something in Australia or the US that you
Speaker 4: probably have to advocate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: I love the way that children are reviewed in Italy.
Speaker 1: It's so refreshing. I was on a forum this week actually,
Speaker 1: and I think it was an Instagram post or something,
Speaker 1: and someone had said, oh, we need more spaces for adults,
Speaker 1: and I thought, wow, that's wild actually, because ways built
Speaker 1: for adults. In our society, you can easily as an
Speaker 1: adult if I want to not be around children, that's
Speaker 1: an easy thing for me to do. But in Italy
Speaker 1: it's a totally different experience. Do you feel the same way, Cassandra, Yes, definitely.
Speaker 6: I have this very distinct memory actually when my daughter
Speaker 6: was a baby and we were driving through a toll
Speaker 6: booth in Italy and the lady deliberately held up traffic
Speaker 6: like there are cars behind us to trying to get
Speaker 6: to the toll booth because she was just admiring the baby.
Speaker 6: She was admiring my daughter in the backseat, like ooing
Speaker 6: and eyeing and talking to her, And I was like,
Speaker 6: does she not care that there's traffic just piling up
Speaker 6: behind us?
Speaker 4: But that's just it.
Speaker 6: That was a first, very core memory of what people
Speaker 6: are usually like towards babies and Italy.
Speaker 1: Really if they get older, when people at truck stops
Speaker 1: come and give the kids chocolate bar like we're being
Speaker 1: like people have been giving them cane and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: they do love to feed the kids, don't they. And
Speaker 1: I think it's that is just such a different vibe
Speaker 1: to even traveling in Australia and also traveling in the
Speaker 1: UK or France or anywhere like that. It is completely different.
Speaker 1: So I think, as someone who's traveled to a lot
Speaker 1: of places with small children, that Italy is actually one
Speaker 1: of the easiest places to travel. And so if you're concerned,
Speaker 1: or if you're thinking I want to do the first
Speaker 1: international trip, I would recommend Italy more because it's easy. Well,
Speaker 1: so of course you've got pizza, and what kids love pizza.
Speaker 1: We've got pasta and they'll always make you pasta pomadoro.
Speaker 1: So they're always making a very simple pasta. And you've
Speaker 1: got jilat what are DNA exactly your parental art.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's so true on that note.
Speaker 6: At restaurants, not only well there are with a comedy,
Speaker 6: something simpler, kid friendlier. It's such as like red sauce pasta,
Speaker 6: but they'll actually bring it out first because they know
Speaker 6: that you're a child.
Speaker 4: It's hungry.
Speaker 6: Probably you don't want to have them just sit there
Speaker 6: and wait for all the courses. So many times we've
Speaker 6: been seated and they'll bring out the kids food first,
Speaker 6: just they're not waiting around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is the best.
Speaker 1: And then they may even entertain them a little bit,
Speaker 1: like them and play with them a little bit. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's more of a family friendly experience, not just related
Speaker 1: to kids, but yeah, having that family friendly experience, it's delightful. Okay,
Speaker 1: So what are some of your trips about traveling with babies?
Speaker 1: You both had that I can't really I'm bit beyond
Speaker 1: that face. I think your brain goes into shut down
Speaker 1: once you've reached a suit.
Speaker 2: It's you like, that's done. I'm been in.
Speaker 1: But if you are, you think of it leaving. You've
Speaker 1: just been through a kiss.
Speaker 6: Andra.
Speaker 1: So what are some tips around traveling with babies in Italy?
Speaker 5: I would say my number one is get comfortable with
Speaker 5: the baby carrier.
Speaker 4: So that is just so easy.
Speaker 5: In sometimes music and some places you can't always take
Speaker 5: your pram and you might need to leave it in
Speaker 5: like the cloakroom or something like that, and then you're
Speaker 5: kind of left just holding the baby. So get a
Speaker 5: really good baby carrier and then it's just really easy,
Speaker 5: especially if you're in places like Rome too, you think
Speaker 5: of all the cobblestones and pushing the pram around.
Speaker 4: I will say as well.
Speaker 5: Like maybe controversial, but the yogo stroller, I'm not about
Speaker 5: that in Italy. Sorry, but I do not rate that
Speaker 5: tiny wheels.
Speaker 4: It's just you know, it's just so no, yeah, you've
Speaker 4: got a way up what's right to you.
Speaker 5: But I've got the Bugaboo and it's got big wheels
Speaker 5: and that tackles ROMs, holes in the ground, cobblestones, uneven
Speaker 5: pavement really nicely. So I would say, personally, leave that
Speaker 5: yoyo at home and just check your pram into the plane.
Speaker 5: And another thing I would also say that I mentioned
Speaker 5: briefly before changing tables, So if a new venue opens
Speaker 5: in Italy, by law, they need to have a change table.
Speaker 5: But that's just if they're prend So if they're not
Speaker 5: brand new, they won't necessarily have a change table, or
Speaker 5: they'll be down like one thousand steps and you can
Speaker 5: just imagine how fun that is taking you a little
Speaker 5: baby down like a spiral staircase downstairs.
Speaker 4: So what we would do was just easier.
Speaker 5: When we had the bassinette part of our prem we
Speaker 5: would line it with the towel and we would change
Speaker 5: her NAPPI is in that it was just much easier
Speaker 5: because yeah, a lot of places don't have change tables.
Speaker 5: I would highly recommend, and yeah, bring a really good
Speaker 5: nappy bag or dipe a bag. I guess in the
Speaker 5: US you might say with an in built changing table
Speaker 5: that you can even change them in a park or
Speaker 5: something like that. And then just baby specific if you
Speaker 5: were breastfeeding as well. Italy is very breastfeeding friendly, so
Speaker 5: you don't need to be overset about breastfeeding in public
Speaker 5: if that's what you want to do. Obviously, with bottles
Speaker 5: that's fine too, So yeah, you can do that absolutely anywhere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm getting a bit treated by that stroller conversation.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine every meaning store a lot I cannot
Speaker 1: speak to but Claren side by side, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: we watched it was anyway, I'll leave it there.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Just on the pram thing as well, though.
Speaker 5: One thing to consider, even though I say no to
Speaker 5: the yo yo, just have to think about where your
Speaker 5: accommodation is and how big the elevator is, because your
Speaker 5: pram might potentially not fit in the elevator and you
Speaker 5: might need to fold it up, and I would not
Speaker 5: be leaving my pram downstairs in the Airbnb lobby or
Speaker 5: anything like. Take it inside with you. It may get
Speaker 5: taken otherwise, so just think about that. And also the
Speaker 5: size of the door. When we went back to Rome recently,
Speaker 5: the stroller would not fit unless it was folded up
Speaker 5: through the door, so just think about that as well. Well,
Speaker 5: these are things that you don't have to think about
Speaker 5: in Australia or the US.
Speaker 1: You can become a little bit of a ninja in
Speaker 1: just squashing things up. Yeah, any inside to Merkazandre.
Speaker 6: One thing I do remember when she was a baby
Speaker 6: is so I breastfed for about six months and then
Speaker 6: we did switch to a bottle. It became in convenient
Speaker 6: a little bit traveling with having to put together formula
Speaker 6: and milk and stuff like that or water. But I
Speaker 6: do remember actually the one time I decided not to
Speaker 6: be shy and just ask a restaurant or even at
Speaker 6: the bar in Italy, and they were so accommodating. So
Speaker 6: every time we had to just get that situated, I
Speaker 6: just popped into a bar restaurant, didn't even really have
Speaker 6: to be a patron of the restaurant. Or anything if
Speaker 6: it was like an emergency, and everyone was always willing
Speaker 6: to help, which is just really nice. And this even
Speaker 6: happened in big cities, So even places like touristy places
Speaker 6: like Rome where the service isn't always the best or
Speaker 6: the friendliest, people were still always willing to help when
Speaker 6: they saw that you have a baby.
Speaker 4: And oh, it's just this.
Speaker 6: Common ground that exists in Italy among everyone for some reason,
Speaker 6: which I'm very thankful for. But somehow it's just automatic
Speaker 6: in their brains that they're like, yeah, I'm going to
Speaker 6: help this person out they have a baby. Maybe I
Speaker 6: know what it's like, or I've been around children. That
Speaker 6: was actually another thing. Even a teenage boy, for example,
Speaker 6: where I grew up in the US, I don't think
Speaker 6: any teenage boy if I handed them a baby, they
Speaker 6: would be like, what am I supposed to do with this?
Speaker 4: I don't even know how to hold this.
Speaker 6: However, in Italy, for some reason, even a teenage boy
Speaker 6: knows how to interact with a baby. And it to
Speaker 6: me it was just like I wasn't used to seeing
Speaker 6: that so pretty much obviously was a generalization, but it
Speaker 6: holds true for the most part. Pretty much everyone in
Speaker 6: Italy just knows how to interact with a baby, and
Speaker 6: of course that's going to make any parent or a
Speaker 6: new mom just feel a little bit less stressed, a
Speaker 6: little bit more at ease.
Speaker 2: I love it. It's so good.
Speaker 1: So while we're on the babies, before we move on
Speaker 1: to toddlers, how about thinking about travel style and thinking
Speaker 1: about some of the people that we worked with it
Speaker 1: as clients as well. And I probably have a different
Speaker 1: travel style to YouTube be simply because we're coming as
Speaker 1: a visitor instead of traveling around as family. And so
Speaker 1: sometimes if you're coming as a visitor, you really want
Speaker 1: to see things, but you've got kids in toe and
Speaker 1: how do you manage it? And so for our family,
Speaker 1: what I always do is break the day into chunks.
Speaker 2: So Mike is always up really early.
Speaker 1: So we were like, okay, let's go out and go
Speaker 1: for a walk and see everything, which is really great
Speaker 1: because there's not as many crowds.
Speaker 2: In the big cities at that time.
Speaker 1: And then we'd usually do an activity in the morning
Speaker 1: that required a bit more brain power concentration if we're
Speaker 1: in Rome or being a visit to the coliseum in
Speaker 1: the morning, and then in the afternoon we leave it
Speaker 1: completely free because there's like for naps and by that
Speaker 1: stage I'll be knitting in that too. And as they
Speaker 1: got older, what we would do is if we were
Speaker 1: staying in the countryside, we would get a place with
Speaker 1: a pool and it going between May and October. In Italy,
Speaker 1: the pool is your friend. You need a pool and
Speaker 1: I cannot stress that enough. It's going to make your
Speaker 1: whole trips so much better. Unfortunately in the big cities
Speaker 1: there's not so many pools, but that's why you probably
Speaker 1: need to get out of the countryside as well. Any
Speaker 1: thoughts around structuring days and things like that, people, One
Speaker 1: thing that I.
Speaker 6: Like to talk about at the early part of the
Speaker 6: conversation where I do trip consultations with families is about compromise.
Speaker 6: So some parents don't think about what it's actually going
Speaker 6: to be like, for example, to go to the Vatican
Speaker 6: museums with a young child, until we start talking about
Speaker 6: what it's really Then they start to understand that maybe
Speaker 6: that's not the best option, and it's maybe not this
Speaker 6: time around.
Speaker 4: Maybe you can go back when the kids are older.
Speaker 6: So having to have more of a realistic idea of
Speaker 6: what it's going to be like during the consultations. Once
Speaker 6: we can give you more of a realistic idea and
Speaker 6: in a picture, then parents need to compromise a tiny bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, time for a quick break shorter than your morning espresso.
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Speaker 1: Check the link in the show notes or visit Untold
Speaker 1: Italy tours dot com for details. And actually that's a
Speaker 1: really great example because we only took our kids to
Speaker 1: the Vatican Museums last year when they were twelve years old,
Speaker 1: because I just didn't think they could handle it. It's
Speaker 1: a minimum of a three hour expedition depending on when
Speaker 1: you go. It's very crowded. And yeah, we had an
Speaker 1: amazing guide. And for anyone that's looking for a guide
Speaker 1: or a company that does tours, live tours is their tastic.
Speaker 1: They do specific family led tours and this guide we had.
Speaker 2: She leaned writing to my son's interest in.
Speaker 1: Each Gyptology, which you can go into the egypt Room
Speaker 1: in the Vatican Museum. So that was really cool. Yeah, fantastic,
Speaker 1: and you can get a discount. Actually, if you're booking
Speaker 1: with them with code Untold Italy, we'll put that in
Speaker 1: the show notes. But definitely, if you're going to these
Speaker 1: big sites, it's really worth getting a guide because not
Speaker 1: only can they tailor the tour around the kids, but
Speaker 1: it gives you the opportunity to enjoy the experience yourself.
Speaker 1: So you're going this far and you're giving these kids
Speaker 1: this amazing experience, but it's also for you too as parents.
Speaker 1: And I think people sometimes say to me, oh, they
Speaker 1: will never remember, you know what. They don't remember specifics,
Speaker 1: but they remember the vibe. I can't stress this enough.
Speaker 1: Soak up everything. And I would say my kids are
Speaker 1: very They don't think they're patient, but they're more patient
Speaker 1: than used to waiting in lines.
Speaker 2: An amazing experience for them. I think I'm preaching to
Speaker 2: the choir with you.
Speaker 1: Because we're all big travelers and we're all really believing it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's one thing that I'll never ever regret doing,
Speaker 1: is going on troops with the kids. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, should we talk about the toddler's the toddler
Speaker 1: age where we've got the toddlers entire love the toddlers
Speaker 1: in direct Yeah, so I'm a little bit over the hump.
Speaker 6: Thankfully she started exclosed September, but we still have our moments.
Speaker 6: The toddler age is when they're temperamental. We all know
Speaker 6: that they have tantrums, can't really express themselves. So this
Speaker 6: is the phase where parents are going to be most
Speaker 6: self aware of, like, how do I not annoy every
Speaker 6: single person around me? Right?
Speaker 4: How do I keep this a little bit in control?
Speaker 6: On one side, Italians are very patient and they're accepting
Speaker 6: because they just understand kids are being kids, not necessarily
Speaker 6: something happened, or you're not a bad parent, or the
Speaker 6: kids not bad behave They're just there're three or four.
Speaker 6: It's just going to happen, and Italians understand that. But
Speaker 6: on the other side, we also want to make sure
Speaker 6: that you're setting them up for success.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 6: So one thing that I particularly seek out when we
Speaker 6: travel is restaurants. I always want it to be in
Speaker 6: an area where it's ideally in a piazza or there's
Speaker 6: a garden or some kind of park just right nearby,
Speaker 6: because yes, she's going to eat, but then go go
Speaker 6: off and.
Speaker 4: Go run around.
Speaker 6: Children are going to have a lot of energy at
Speaker 6: that age. They want to keep moving, touching things. Just
Speaker 6: it's impossible or not realistic, especially in Italy, where a
Speaker 6: lunch can last three hours, it's not always realistic to
Speaker 6: have them just sit there for that whole three hours.
Speaker 6: So the more you can find a restaurant that's in
Speaker 6: a public space where there's no car traffic, that you
Speaker 6: can still keep an eye on them, but they're not
Speaker 6: just tied to the chair, that is absolutely ideal, and
Speaker 6: luckily in Italy there's no shortage of those types of places.
Speaker 6: The same actually goes for accommodation. I remember we show
Speaker 6: on this perfect apartment in Venice one time, and a
Speaker 6: lot of people might not know that there's a ton
Speaker 6: of little piazzas in Venice. It's not just the same
Speaker 6: Mark's square, so when you open the door, you don't
Speaker 6: have to worry about them just falling into the canal
Speaker 6: and they can just run around that piazza in the mornings.
Speaker 4: I love that well Venice.
Speaker 6: Yeah, people don't think about it, but there's no guardrails
Speaker 6: or anything, so it can be a little dangerous with toddlers.
Speaker 6: But when you're not situated right on the water and
Speaker 6: instead find somewhere in a more hidden piazza, that's absolutely ideal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Venice is a good one.
Speaker 1: I think it's these pros and cons because I just
Speaker 1: love going up and down that grand canal on the vaporatory.
Speaker 2: It's like the best entertainment. They're going.
Speaker 1: Oh, look at the track, the rubbage track, or look
Speaker 1: at the fire engine boat. It's very interesting and I
Speaker 1: need to be prepared for the wool.
Speaker 6: Yes, the complete opposite style of a trip to Venice
Speaker 6: is like seeing somewhere in an abby turismo wherever that
Speaker 6: may be in the countryside of Italy. And animals in
Speaker 6: general are like the easiest form of entertainment for a toddler,
Speaker 6: also for myself, especially for small kids. And then and
Speaker 6: they're at this age where they can actually be hands
Speaker 6: on and interactive. It's so fun to stay somewhere out
Speaker 6: of farms day and then the person will just be like, hey,
Speaker 6: to the kid, do you want to go help me
Speaker 6: collect the eggs from their chickens or something? Like that,
Speaker 6: and that's such an easy way just to get them
Speaker 6: involved and their energy is focused towards something they're helping.
Speaker 6: Toddlers love to help, so yeah, as most to me
Speaker 6: are like the easiest win when choosing word to stay
Speaker 6: with kids.
Speaker 1: So easy. Also, you get your breakfast there and let's
Speaker 1: be real here and egg breakfast is up there with
Speaker 1: my King's favorite meal of all time, the twelve different
Speaker 1: types of cake. I have to just let it all grow.
Speaker 1: People just lean into it. You'll be doing a lot
Speaker 1: of running around, but I love it. You get all
Speaker 1: the different cereal new name it, you're getting it, and
Speaker 1: they're fueled up for the day and ready to go.
Speaker 4: Very true.
Speaker 5: I would say as well, when you're staying in cities
Speaker 5: with kids, to have a think about staying near a park.
Speaker 5: I was helping an Australian family earlier who were coming
Speaker 5: to Italy and they were staying in Rome, and they
Speaker 5: were describing their son very active, like a lot of
Speaker 5: energy to burn, and so we worked out that it
Speaker 5: would be great for them to stay in near Villa
Speaker 5: Bodgez there so they could really just run.
Speaker 4: He could run every morning and every afternoon through.
Speaker 5: The gardens and just have a bit of right from
Speaker 5: that high intensity traffic of tourists and cars and rome,
Speaker 5: you need to be very careful crossing the road with
Speaker 5: little children. So yeah, definitely playgrounds and parks are your friends.
Speaker 5: In big Italian cities.
Speaker 6: Quick conte on playgrounds the Dolomites and northern Italy in general,
Speaker 6: it's on real So I wish the bags got everywhere
Speaker 6: across Italy, but the ones in my Dolomites particularly are amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, excellent, that's a good point. What about getting around?
Speaker 1: So we have always done a mixture of train and
Speaker 1: car and private driver, and I think it really depends
Speaker 1: on the type of chip that you're having and where
Speaker 1: you're going. But the train's really easy with kids. Actually,
Speaker 1: people will help you because well get on and off
Speaker 1: the train. That's another amazing thing that sort of you know,
Speaker 1: when you go into a mild panic trying to get
Speaker 1: your suitcases and hids up onto a train platform in
Speaker 1: a short amount of time, but there's always someone that's
Speaker 1: going to help you. I've never had a situation where
Speaker 1: I've been struggling on my own.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree, I think I think trains are really
Speaker 5: good with little kids. Actually, one important thing that you
Speaker 5: might not think about. If you need to get a
Speaker 5: taxi when you're in Rome or anywhere in Italy, they
Speaker 5: will not have baby car seats the way.
Speaker 4: That locals do it is if you want one, you byo.
Speaker 5: So I would not recommend doing that because you can
Speaker 5: imagine how heavy they are to cart around and then
Speaker 5: what do you do when you get out of the taxi.
Speaker 5: So consider that, And if you're coming from the airport,
Speaker 5: I think you might want to look into booking a
Speaker 5: private driver because then you can with someone like Welcome Pickups,
Speaker 5: you can pre arrange to have the baby car seat
Speaker 5: or the toddler car seat in the car. And if
Speaker 5: you're going to hire a car then obviously you need
Speaker 5: to organize that in advance to make sure that they
Speaker 5: have a car seat.
Speaker 4: A baby car seat you might want to consider bringing.
Speaker 5: It's really easy to just throw in your suit case,
Speaker 5: especially if you're traveling in the summer, as sun shade
Speaker 5: for that back window as well, because it is really
Speaker 5: hot in Italy over the summer.
Speaker 4: Yet that was sun beating down.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a good one. That's a good one.
Speaker 1: Did you know that the children need a booster seat
Speaker 1: into age twelve.
Speaker 5: Yes, my Italian husband always tells me about how his
Speaker 5: mother insisted that he sitting in the seat and.
Speaker 4: He was very embarrassed about that at even twelve years old.
Speaker 4: But it is the law.
Speaker 1: My kids were just like mutiny, complete out of mutiny.
Speaker 1: So we actually had these like inflatable ones when they
Speaker 1: were as they got older. Yeah, so they're taller than
Speaker 1: me now, so I don't know, do I need one? Yeah, brother,
Speaker 1: let so I don't know. Yeah, I found that really interesting.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's worthwhile looking into all of these rules.
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes it's best to bring some of
Speaker 1: that stuff with you because it might not be the
Speaker 1: standard that you're used to. Let's just say you're getting
Speaker 1: from a rental car company.
Speaker 4: Definitely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, most airlines, if you're going on maybe more of
Speaker 1: a premium airline, then it's all included. You don't need
Speaker 1: to pay any extra kids stuff anyway, So you might
Speaker 1: as well just do it and make things easier less
Speaker 1: stressful for yourself here.
Speaker 2: And what about I think with kids.
Speaker 1: The car is really useful because you do have more
Speaker 1: flexibility and you can get out into the countrysides. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would recommend, and people do feel nervous about driving
Speaker 1: in Italy, but my husband droves and I have driven
Speaker 1: many times with the kids. One time, when we used
Speaker 1: to live in the UK, we drive down from the
Speaker 1: UK to Italy in our British car which has got
Speaker 1: the steering wheel of the wrong side, and we.
Speaker 2: Would be driving around with that crazy.
Speaker 1: I think it was really good to have the car
Speaker 1: because it just gave us a lot more flexibility. And
Speaker 1: I think the kids really enjoy the country spot. For
Speaker 1: the younger ones, there's a lot more we experience it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and we talk about we talk about the countryside,
Speaker 6: but equally I would say the beach so coastal destinations,
Speaker 6: it's your trip if you're okay with kind of just relaxing.
Speaker 6: A lot of the time, people can travel and plan
Speaker 6: like these beach trips deadly without having to bring anything
Speaker 6: but your swimsuit. Right. We have the Italian leado experience,
Speaker 6: which is absolutely ideal for kids. Even as someone who
Speaker 6: lives here, like I enjoy a good leado because it's
Speaker 6: as a mom so much less strustful to not have
Speaker 6: to worry about bringing absolutely everything from the house, so
Speaker 6: just being able to rent an umbrella, the beach chairs,
Speaker 6: the kids. I don't know, toddlers to me, I think
Speaker 6: love the beach lounger chair because they feel like they're
Speaker 6: an adult, like tanning in the sun.
Speaker 4: So yeah, the water, the beach.
Speaker 6: If your kid likes the water, then I think that
Speaker 6: could be equally as accommodating as like a trip to
Speaker 6: the countryside, especially for toddlers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, even the teenage.
Speaker 1: My teenage nipis absolutely love the lad well the beach
Speaker 1: club and they're ordering their drinks and lou But it's
Speaker 1: actually interesting there because they will usually have a lifeguard
Speaker 1: person that's guarding the pool. Now, this is quite funny
Speaker 1: for Australians, so most Australians are quite strong swimmers. And
Speaker 1: this is the Mediterranean, so it's a sea, it's not
Speaker 1: an ocean, so we're used us water.
Speaker 2: And I'll never forget this.
Speaker 1: Were the kids were in the sea down on the
Speaker 1: coast in Campagna and the guard was like, no, not
Speaker 1: get out, and we had to explain.
Speaker 2: That they know how to serve and they're like, they
Speaker 2: don't even like need.
Speaker 1: But actually, like half an hour later, another lady went
Speaker 1: in the sea and she obviously couldn't swim and she
Speaker 1: was in trouble.
Speaker 2: Just to be aware on that. And on pools.
Speaker 1: It's interesting in Australia and I'm not sure about the US,
Speaker 1: but if you have a pool, it needs to have
Speaker 1: a really strong feen surround it, but they don't have
Speaker 1: that in Italy. If you go to an Agriduruisma or
Speaker 1: Musadia or something like that, the pool will be open.
Speaker 2: There won't be any fencing or gate around it.
Speaker 1: So just to be aware of that, and you have
Speaker 1: to be obviously looking out for the kids. Very yeah. Right,
Speaker 1: so we've covered a lot of ground here. Is there
Speaker 1: anything that we've missed? I think, like I said, as
Speaker 1: kids get older, it becomes a little bit What I
Speaker 1: like to do actually is let them choose where to go.
Speaker 1: And Lucy and Zach have actually been on this podcast
Speaker 1: talking about some of the places that they love. Zach's
Speaker 1: got his place that he always wants to go back to,
Speaker 1: which is in a miliar ramagnia just for the Tortalini
Speaker 1: and the balsamic vinegarta to asvertise already in for that.
Speaker 1: And Lucy she loves a bit of fashion, so she
Speaker 1: likes Florence, and she loves the mountains and she loves
Speaker 1: the more spas as well. Sotting them involved makes them
Speaker 1: more invested in the trip, so they're not going, oh,
Speaker 1: it's just really boring. And I think really asking them
Speaker 1: what they like to do or they're in real teenager
Speaker 1: mood and they're not prepared to share. Looking at their
Speaker 1: interests is something for everyone. Initially you can find something
Speaker 1: and you make it exciting totally.
Speaker 5: I would just say a couple of just practical things.
Speaker 5: Italy does sell nappies, diapers and wipes, so yes, bring
Speaker 5: enough for the plane, but you don't need to bring
Speaker 5: two weeks worth. You can get them in supermarkets, the pharmacy,
Speaker 5: et cetera. And if you are traveling in the summer,
Speaker 5: just consider it gets really hot, so keeping them in
Speaker 5: the shade all day, but also the over the hottest
Speaker 5: times of.
Speaker 4: The day maybe being back in your accommodation.
Speaker 5: And mosquitoes too are a really big one and you
Speaker 5: don't want to be probably spraying like deep on a
Speaker 5: little baby. So you can buy these bracelets from the
Speaker 5: pharmacies in Italy and put them around their prean to
Speaker 5: ward off the mosquitoes as well.
Speaker 2: Good one.
Speaker 6: Yeah to Kitty your point if your kids are old
Speaker 6: enough where you can have a reasonable conversation with them
Speaker 6: and just ask them what do you want out of
Speaker 6: this trip. I feel like even younger kids below ten,
Speaker 6: between seven and ten can still give you a solid answer.
Speaker 4: Then that's helps ideal because we want to satisfy the
Speaker 4: whole family.
Speaker 6: Right. I just added a consultation where they're going to Venice,
Speaker 6: and she was worried. The mother was worried that we're
Speaker 6: just going to do this classic Venice itinery. The girls,
Speaker 6: her twelve and fourteen year old might not be completely
Speaker 6: interested in what the classic itinery might look like. And
Speaker 6: we figure out some pretty niche activities that the girls
Speaker 6: would be interested in, something that they can get hands
Speaker 6: on with and that they can themselves be excited about.
Speaker 6: So you have kids, ask them, let them get involved.
Speaker 6: Like you said, I think that everyone will be happy.
Speaker 6: If the kids are happy, they're happy. Everyone's happy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Doan be scared to use jelasho as a bribe.
Speaker 1: This is mine superpower, right, Nan want gelato in a day,
Speaker 1: It's fine. They're gonna spit it off. They're going to
Speaker 1: run it off. You're doing twenty thousand snips. Let's be
Speaker 1: generous with gelato and you can make a game out
Speaker 1: of it. What's your favorite flavor? Well, and my son
Speaker 1: he wanted to do the Rome past to challenge last
Speaker 1: time he was there, which is trying all the different
Speaker 1: roban pastors, so.
Speaker 2: You can make little games with everything.
Speaker 1: Another one is looking at the fountain, especially with little kids,
Speaker 1: because the fountains have so many animals and cool things
Speaker 1: for them to look at. We did one tour and
Speaker 1: the kids were running around roam with a clipboard. It's
Speaker 1: nothing like a toddler with a clipboard.
Speaker 2: It's such a delight to travel in Italy. And yeah,
Speaker 2: leave it.
Speaker 1: Also before I forget, you also mentioned pharmacies. They are
Speaker 1: your friend. They have everything.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they really do, they really do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this has been a really fun chat. I think
Speaker 1: we all really just love traveling with kids, and as
Speaker 1: we mentioned, it is easy in Italy and you can
Speaker 1: have just such a wonderful time and really encourage anyone.
Speaker 1: The way that you can do it is also and
Speaker 1: if you want to have a little bit of break parents,
Speaker 1: bring the grandparents along. Yes, grandparents, bring the grandparents, make
Speaker 1: it multi generational, and then you can take to minding
Speaker 1: the kids and going out for dinner. What have you,
Speaker 1: although I did actually notice that toddler time and grandparent
Speaker 1: time for naps was very similar. So that's true. Well
Speaker 1: just mad So thank you to both of you for
Speaker 1: joining me and the to hope many families have the
Speaker 1: same experiences where you have traveling in Italy.
Speaker 4: Thanks for having this Kadi here, Thanks for having us out.
Speaker 1: Something Cassandra said today has stayed with me. When she
Speaker 1: sits down with families for trip consultations, one of the
Speaker 1: first things she works out and works through with them
Speaker 1: is compromise. Not because Italy is hard, but because once
Speaker 1: you start painting a realistic picture of what it is
Speaker 1: like to take a four year old through the Vatican museums,
Speaker 1: you realize that the trip that you thought you were
Speaker 1: supposed to have and the trip your family will love
Speaker 1: might be two different things. Getting that right before you
Speaker 1: go is where we come in. If you're planning a
Speaker 1: family trip to Italy and you want expert help shaping
Speaker 1: it around your kids, your travel style, and what will
Speaker 1: actually work for everyone.
Speaker 2: Our trip planning so are built.
Speaker 1: For exactly that. You can do a quick, fixed chat
Speaker 1: if you just have a few specific questions that you
Speaker 1: need answered fast, or a full trip consultation if you
Speaker 1: want someone to help you build the full plan. All
Speaker 1: the details, along with the links and recommendations for today
Speaker 1: are in the episode's show notes at Untold Italy dot com.
Speaker 1: Thank you to Olivia and Cassandra for a conversation I
Speaker 1: thoroughly enjoyed, and to you all for being here. Next time,
Speaker 1: we are counting down to your trip and letting you
Speaker 1: know all the things to check and do before you
Speaker 1: get on the plane. So if you like what I'm
Speaker 1: sharing here, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss
Speaker 1: a thing. We post weekly sharing our insights and everything
Speaker 1: you need to know about traveling in Italy, the Untold Way,
Speaker 1: far from the crowds and with slow travel principles in mind.
Speaker 2: Show for now.
Speaker 7: The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing,
Speaker 7: audio production and website development by Mark Hatter, Production assistance
Speaker 7: and content writing Vibing.
Speaker 4: Are they ca Clark?
Speaker 1: Yes, there are two of us. For more information about
Speaker 1: Untold Italy, please visit Untold Italy dot com.