Bitti and I are off to the continent for three weeks. This will be my first overseas trip since she was born so I’m pretty thrilled. She is a little worried about missing school, which is a good thing I guess since it means she is actually enjoying school! But I’m sure the amount of gelati she’ll be eating will drown any concerns out the moment we get there.
We are meeting some friends there for a couple of weeks, then doing the rest just the two of us. Although excited, I am also worried about how a five year old is going to cope with her first long-haul flight, walking all day through Italian cities, and being quiet in historical sites. I’ve been trawling the internet researching all the ways to travel successfully with small children, and think I’ve got a pretty good arsenal of tricks to keep her going, maximise my enjoyment and not ruin a friendship. Despite this, part of me believes I’m fooling myself and this may end up being a vastly more expensive version of a rather disastrous camping trip we took a few years ago. Eeep!
Italy became the destination after a few chats with my friend. We had talked a few times over the years about doing Cinque Terre together, then I had Bitti and she recently got married and I thought the time for our travels together had passed, at least for 20 years or so. But then we got a little opportunity, the scheduling gods aligned and we decided to book it. I am always torn between saving money for disaster in coming years, or spending it now on something I may not have the chance to do again. I’ve been sensible for a while now, time to go a bit mad!
We only have three weeks so it’s a bit of a whistle-stop tour:
Rome —> Tuscany —> Cinque Terre —> Bellagio —> Bergamo —> Venice —> Milan
All our acommodation is booked, so just need to think about what to pack and count down the days!
Two Little Travellers 