Italy: part 1 (the kids)

I’ve decided to break up my posts about our trip to Italy into three parts.  Today I wanted to share some details about what it was like traveling with kids.  We’ve done quite a bit of travelling with our kids (12 years old and 9 years old), but this was our longest and furthest from home to date.

I think the following photos sum up pretty well what two weeks in a foreign country were like for our family.   The three things I took away from this trip were:

1.   Even though we are on ‘vacation’ doesn’t mean the kids won’t fight, break down and have their moments.  When we were researching this trip, I read a ton of travel blogs aimed at parents, and no one ever seems to talk about that for some reason.  One of my favorite pics is from the Trevi fountain where my two sat and argued, over what, I can’t remember.  In the moment it wasn’t so funny, but now it cracks me up, I’m so glad I captured it (see photo below).

2.  Kids get tired fast, adjust expectations.  We arrived during a heat wave so this happened even faster.  The silver lining of this though, was that instead of cramming in as many things as we could into a day, it forced us to do one major activity, lay low and relax the rest of the day and then come out at night to explore some more.  In the end, I think it saved us from getting burnt out.

3.  Travelling with kids lets you see a different side of your destination (and makes you do and notice funny things).  On a hot day, our son made like a local, stripped down and went for a swim in a huge fountain at the Villa Borghese gardens.

Later this week I will share our favorite spots and some travel tips!