Italy with 20 month old

[Anonymous]

I would love to hear your experiences in Italy with a child at or near this age. We are planning a two week trip and wondering how others experiences were.

Did you rent an apartment or hotel? If an apartment, did you cook dinner yourselves?

What was your schedule like - did you adapt to the late dinner hour they tend to have or eat earlier? Nap on the go?

How did you plan activities? Did you do any tours or museums during your trip or stick to all go with the flow, non ticket activities?

[Anonymous]

I would love this too- I have a newborn at home and am dying to know if I can feasibly plan a trip to Italy next year...

[Anonymous]

We rented a house in Umbria with the in-laws when my daughter was almost two. Took day trips, including lunches out, and then made dinners at home with the lovely equipment and ingredients available at and near the house (agrotourism is very big, so many houses have organic gardens, grills, pizza ovens etc.). I grew up in Italy but would have been comfortable anyway--it's a great place to travel with kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We rented a house in Umbria with the in-laws when my daughter was almost two. Took day trips, including lunches out, and then made dinners at home with the lovely equipment and ingredients available at and near the house (agrotourism is very big, so many houses have organic gardens, grills, pizza ovens etc.). I grew up in Italy but would have been comfortable anyway--it's a great place to travel with kids!

We did something like in Tuscany as well. We also had an apt in Rome for a few days-- did early dinners and one dinner in. Generally we found Italy to be pretty kid friendly.

[Anonymous]

Jet lag is a bitch. You'll need 3-4 days for them to adjust on each end of the trip.

I went to Europe with a toddler and I'll never do it again, it was so horrible I can't even describe it.

Latin America is much easier.

[Anonymous]

I think that is a rough age to travel like that. I flew with my 18 month old to Europe at that age and the flight was horrible. I have no idea why people want to take such big trips with little ones. We were living overseas at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jet lag is a bitch. You'll need 3-4 days for them to adjust on each end of the trip.

I went to Europe with a toddler and I'll never do it again, it was so horrible I can't even describe it.

Latin America is much easier.

Kids are different. Ours has always been an early riser which is awful in many ways but at least jet lag has never been a problem.

[Anonymous]

Such an awful age to fly with... I would consider waiting a year

[Anonymous]

At 20mos they won't remember the trip and you have to haul or rent baby gear, I would wait until 4 when they can really enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to hear your experiences in Italy with a child at or near this age. We are planning a two week trip and wondering how others experiences were.

Did you rent an apartment or hotel? If an apartment, did you cook dinner yourselves?

What was your schedule like - did you adapt to the late dinner hour they tend to have or eat earlier? Nap on the go?

How did you plan activities? Did you do any tours or museums during your trip or stick to all go with the flow, non ticket activities?

We went to Europe w a twenty month old AND AN EXTRA FAMILY MEMBER. Jet lag was tough, then we had a great time. Would do it again with the extra family member/nanny/whomever. Personally, I would not attempt this as a couple plus 20 month old. The question here is whether you can do enough and enjoy enough once you get through the jet lag. W/ 3 adults, nobody gets too burdened (except mom to some extent).

We rented an apartment -- that works best for us with kids so they can eat their regular favorites. If you rent an apartment, spend some time vetting the place -- things that would not be an issue for two adults (say, a noisy city street) may cause real hiccups for baby/toddler.

Some folks here have mentioned latin america -- I think that is a good option. Help is less expensive, less jet lag (I would not say no jet lag). Also, I think you are better to stay in your expense comfort zone because there are certain things that are not fun to economize with kids. Obviously, that's going to be different for different folks. But I would definitely say that if going to Europe is expensive for you (i.e. something you would not do every year), then waiting will make sense (unless you are planning to expand your family).

Obviously, every kids is different and parents are different.

I hope you have a great time wherever you decide on.

[Anonymous]

People go because life doesn't stop when you have kids. If you love to travel, keep going and bring the kids along. We didn't fly overseas when our son was that age ( just didn't work out for other reasons), but we totally would have. We did do a cruise and other trips around that age. Have fun, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People go because life doesn't stop when you have kids. If you love to travel, keep going and bring the kids along. We didn't fly overseas when our son was that age ( just didn't work out for other reasons), but we totally would have. We did do a cruise and other trips around that age. Have fun, OP.

+1

[Anonymous]

OP here. thanks for the replies. i think things got a little off track. we ARE going to italy with our child so all the responses telling us to stay home or pick another location are a moot point. i was just looking for any tips of people who have traveled to italy with a child of this age that they could pass along (we found it easier to take an umbrella stroller instead of our full size stroller, we preferred to rent an apartment vs a hotel room, etc.) things that did or didn't work for them.
we travel with our child, adjust our expectations accordingly and travel differently than we did before having a baby. i'm not sitting at home until my kids are in college! 20:31 - go for it!!

[Anonymous]

Well in that case, go to Disney World as well in Mid August and enjoy!!!!

[Anonymous]

Babywearing (well, toddler-wearing). So much easier than a stroller in many cases. We've gone all over DC, NYC, national park trips, Amsterdam, Istanbul, and more all without a stroller with a combination of our son walking (once old enough) and riding on someone's back or front in a sling, mei tai, Kinderpack, etc. (I am 22:25, btw).