Italy with preschoolers--pass the vino!
Hi, RFD'ers...
I was hoping for some advice as we plan+book our trip to Italy next June. We've been to Italy many times but this will be the first time travelling (anywhere) with our then-4 year old boys. We are trying to organise as much as possible now so we can watch for deals when and if they come up.
So, to the list!
1. Flights: for four people, round trip *direct* fromToronto to Rome via Alitalia for our travel dates comes to $3300 all in. This seems like a great price (and seating is wide open) -- does that sound like a good price for flights? My research on the sites that offer historical data says that's the average but it seems awfully good for late June. Since our villa in Florence is already booked, we feel ok to confirm these flights if it makes sense.
2. Flight seating: we are wondering if it's best to book the four middle seats or book 2x2 seats on the side? My thought was that four across is best because if one parent needs to get up for some reason, you still have one parent with both kids and they can entertain themselves if sitting together... but my husband thinks 2 and 2 is better. Any thoughts on that?
3. We plan to arrive in Rome on the Friday as my inlaws will arrive then... And as a group, we will rent a villa in Tuscany starting the Saturday. Question is, is it best to stay in Rome Friday night and then get the train to Florence the next day or get the train and head to Florence as soon as we land? (We arrive at 1pm local time). None of my inlaws have kids (and they are in their 50s) so they are deferring to use to make the decision. I just don't know what makes more sense as I've never travelled with my kids and I don't know how 4 year olds deal with long flights etc.
4. We will have four days at the end of our villa rental to do something else. We've been to Italy many times but never with kids so we have no idea if anywhere we've been would be a must-visit. Is it worthwhile to kick around Rome for a few days? I can't think of anything we've done there that preschoolers would tolerate. But we are willing to travel a bit if there's something in the vicinity that would be a great adventure.
Thanks in advance for any insight offered...
I was hoping for some advice as we plan+book our trip to Italy next June. We've been to Italy many times but this will be the first time travelling (anywhere) with our then-4 year old boys. We are trying to organise as much as possible now so we can watch for deals when and if they come up.
So, to the list!
1. Flights: for four people, round trip *direct* fromToronto to Rome via Alitalia for our travel dates comes to $3300 all in. This seems like a great price (and seating is wide open) -- does that sound like a good price for flights? My research on the sites that offer historical data says that's the average but it seems awfully good for late June. Since our villa in Florence is already booked, we feel ok to confirm these flights if it makes sense.
2. Flight seating: we are wondering if it's best to book the four middle seats or book 2x2 seats on the side? My thought was that four across is best because if one parent needs to get up for some reason, you still have one parent with both kids and they can entertain themselves if sitting together... but my husband thinks 2 and 2 is better. Any thoughts on that?
3. We plan to arrive in Rome on the Friday as my inlaws will arrive then... And as a group, we will rent a villa in Tuscany starting the Saturday. Question is, is it best to stay in Rome Friday night and then get the train to Florence the next day or get the train and head to Florence as soon as we land? (We arrive at 1pm local time). None of my inlaws have kids (and they are in their 50s) so they are deferring to use to make the decision. I just don't know what makes more sense as I've never travelled with my kids and I don't know how 4 year olds deal with long flights etc.
4. We will have four days at the end of our villa rental to do something else. We've been to Italy many times but never with kids so we have no idea if anywhere we've been would be a must-visit. Is it worthwhile to kick around Rome for a few days? I can't think of anything we've done there that preschoolers would tolerate. But we are willing to travel a bit if there's something in the vicinity that would be a great adventure.
Thanks in advance for any insight offered...