Rome and a Baby - Some Travel Tips
Oct 6th, 2007, 03:51 PM
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Rome and a Baby - Some Travel Tips
My husband, 9 month old daughter and I are just back from 10 days in Rome. A trip report is forthcoming (we even took notes this time!) but in the interim, I wanted to pass along some tips I learned on my first overseas trip with our new baby. Feel free to send any questions – I found all the advice on the board very reassuring and helpful in planning for our trip and hope to return the favor. While we are not seasoned baby travelers, hopefully this advice from novices is helpful.
Getting There – we decided to buy a seat on the plane for the baby (hereinafter known as “La Gigante” the nickname one Italian gave her when we told him our hale and hearty daughter's age. Italian babies are very small!). I'm glad I bought the seat. I could have held her, and if the tickets were very expensive probably would have done so. But we were able to find cheap tickets so bought one for each of us. We flew out on a Tuesday and plane wasn't crowded which was handy as we were able to change to bulkhead seats and no lines for the bathroom, easier to get on and off etc. The only bad thing about buying an infant a seat is that we had to bring out bulky car seat (we weren't driving in Rome so otherwise would not have needed one). I ended up buying a wheeled car seat bag from Babies R Us the day before we left since we didn't have a direct flight and I thought it would be hard to carry everything around. The bag ripped before we even got on the plane but worked okay as far as making it easy to transport the seat around the airport. The overnight flight was very easy, La Gigante slept the whole way there. She was a lot more alert on the way back. Her ears didn't seem to bother her at all.
If you can get direct flights, I would. We didn't because the difference between the cheap tickets we got and direct to Rome was very steep. We gave ourselves a lot of time to connect flights which I think was a good idea since we were the last off the plane and it took a while to move around with the baby.
Where to Stay – we rented a one bedroom apartment. Even though we'd been to Europe many times we've never rented an apartment before. I really enjoyed staying in the apartment and we really appreciated having the extra space with the baby. La Gigante slept in a pack and play (which the apt provided) in the living room and we slept in the bedroom. That arrangement let us stay up later and read while she had her own room. A two bedroom apt would have been nice too but wasn't worth the extra money in our opinion. Having a kitchen was very helpful with feeding the baby. The apartment was advertised as having a washing machine but didn't. I had a small fit about that when we arrived since we didn't bring that many clothes and the rental agency (Rome Sweet Home) knocked 50E off the price. We ended up bringing our laundry to a laundromat to have it washed twice during the 10 days for 15E each time (they were big bags).
The apartment was located on Via Monserrato close to Campo di Fiori. With a baby I would definitely recommend staying as close to the area where you want to sightsee as possible. We found it sometimes hard to get out in the morning and usually had to return once a day for a nap. Being central cut down on the time to get back to the apartment and also if only one of us stayed while La Gigante napped, the other could just step outside and do some sight seeing. Also it is good if possible to pick an area you enjoy because you will likely make more trips back and forth to the home base than otherwise and so you'll see more of the area.
We found our apartment through the travel agency Ciao Bambino. I wish I could say that I liked Ciao Bambino because I love their business idea (family travel), but in reality, I didn't find them helpful at all and I'd suggest you save your money rather than pay them. They found me an apartment that I would have found myself online with 5 minutes of research. When something went wrong (we were supposed to get a real crib, not a pack-and-play and a week before we left the apt owner said that he couldn't get one for us), Ciao Bambino didn't take any responsibility for it. They also said that they would provide information about local doctors, where to buy baby supplies etc and they didn't do any of that. Maybe we just had bad luck with them but I wouldn't recommend them.
Jetlag/Schedule – La Gigante didn't seem to have jetlag at all on the way to Rome. She took a nap when we arrived on the afternoon the first day and then we all stayed up until about 9pm. She normally sleeps 7pm-7am but was on a later schedule (10pm - 9am) while we were away. We are not too crazy about a schedule at home but La Gigante generally takes a morning nap and then at least one or two naps in the afternoon. At first we tried to leave and get back for her naps but as the trip wore on, we usually ended up coming back after lunch for a group nap and she would just fall asleep for long naps (45 min-1hr) in the stroller other times during the day when she was tired. It worked better for us to have a big lunch and then just a quick dinner or drinks. La Gigante really didn't have the patience to sit through two restaurant meals a day and with dinners starting at 8:30-9 she'd start to get tired and irritable. Before we left, we wondered if we'd be sitting in the apt every evening looking longly out the window but that wasn't the case. While La Gigante didn't want to sit through a long dinner, she was fine going for a walk. We enjoyed having cocktails then going for a walk (and gelato!) and getting home by 9:30-10.
It took a little while to find a schedule that worked for all of us. I would allow a few extra days to acclimate to how the situation is going to work for you and work into the trip gradually. If you have any events that have set times I would try to schedule them a bit later in the trip because we found them challenging early on. One of the great things about Rome that really works well with a baby is how much art is available in churches. That meant that we could easily enter and exit, sometimes going back in and out if necessary, visits were not of giant museum length, could be easily repeated if circumstances changed, and could be done whenever a promising church presented itself on our wanderings.
Equipment – we brought: carseat for the plane; inflatable bathtub (the apt only had a shower) which we used on the kitchen floor and threw out at the end of the trip; portable booster seat (used in the apt); stroller; a few small toys; bottles; few receiving blankets and a baby fleece blanket.
The stroller was a matter of great debate. I wanted to bring our big orange Bob jogging stroller because it is so easy to push and good on cobblestones but thought it would be too big to bring in restaurants and that we would really look like goofy americans with this humongous bright stoller while all the cool Italian mamas pushed their tiny gucci umbrella strollers, while wearing stilletos and smoking. We were right that the jogging stroller would have been too big to comfortably bring in a lot of the restaurants (some don't have highchairs so you want to bring the stroller) but I saw many of the same strollers in Rome that I do in Boston (some jogging strollers though they didn't seem as big as the Bob, bugaboos, umbrella strollers, basinett style, and a number of alien looking stokke strollers. That said we thought the Bob might have been a bit big to maneuver easily down narrow sidewalks and maybe have looked a bit large although its big wheels would have been useful. We ended up bringing a Maclaren umbrella stroller. I thought it was worth it to buy a good umbrella stroller because we really gave it a work out going hours a day over cobblestone streets (although La Gigante seemed to love bumping over the cobblestones, she'd either sing out as she bumped up and down, or fall asleep from the motion). Having the raincover was handy too. I'd never used it before at home.
We brought a front carrier and only used it once, in a museum that didn't allow strollers (Borghese Gallery fyi). If you like a baby backpack, that would be helpful (I personally don't) and La Gigante is too heavy to use the front carrier for very long.
The apt supplied a pack and play. I brought a sheet but the Italian pack-and-plays are a different size (longer and narrower) so it didn't fit. Instead I used a baby blanket as a sheet.
Also glad I brought – lots of little bottles of purell (came in handy as a sink not always available when sightseeing); lots of teething toys, we lost many in transit (although you can buy all the same ones in Rome); baby motrin (also probably available but when La Gigante screaming from teething pain, I was glad not to have to find a pharmacy). Brought but (fortunately) didn't need – baby medicine kit e.g., thermometer, nasal aspirator, etc.
What you don't need to bring – tons of diapers (they have same Pampers in Italy), wipes or other diaper stuff. All the pharmacies seemed to sell Avent products (bottles, pacifiers), diaper products and toiletries. The pharmacies even carried things like activity mats and toys. I brought a few jars of baby food and bought the rest there. La Gigante didn't care for some of the local cuisine but we made do with the formula, fruit baby food and yogurt. She did develop a taste for gelato and bread. If your baby is using formula, I'd bring it as I only saw one or two unfamiliar brands in the store. I didn't notice anyone nursing in public but I wasn't really looking and I'm sure no one would care if you did. On an unrelated but interesting note, cavallo (horse) is a popular baby food flavor.
Day to Day – there aren't many changing facilities in Rome and the bathrooms are so tiny I could barely fit in myself. We relied on creative solutions (like quickly changing La Gigante while she was sitting in her stroller). Walking on the narrow streets with cars whipping by was not a problem. Drivers seem used to dodging pedestrians. I also learned that babies seem to like going over the cobblestones. Rome is really noisy, especially at night where noises echo in the narrow streets but La Gigante slept well since she was tired from all the stimulation during the day.
General Thoughts – traveling with our daughter was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I was pretty tired of hearing people tell me before we left that we are “brave” or, less nicely, “crazy” for taking a baby to Rome. Maybe we are just lucky that La Gigante is an easygoing baby and we were fortunate that she didn't happen to get sick while we were away. But it was so much fun to spend this much time with her (normally I work in an office 3 days a week) and she seemed to just be happy to be around her parents and didn't care where she was. Any major city obviously has lots of babies, baby supplies and parents living in it. So what if we had to do a few public diaper changes and La G missed a few naps.
The trip did take some adjustments on my husband and my part as the pace was a lot slower, we had to be more flexible and we certainly saw less than we would have seen on our own. If I had never been to Rome before I probably would have been disappointed to not pack in more sightseeing. However, at a slower pace I found that I experienced more. One day I walked around Piazza Minerva for an entire hour walking La G in her stroller while she slept and my husband went in the Sopra Minerva church. I couldn't think or a more beautiful place to spend an hour and with every lap I saw some new detail. I also met an Italian nonno with his grandson, a couple nuns in training (I don't know what you call that) and a driver waiting for his client – all of whom I spoke to in Italian (which for me is a big deal).
We also seemed to meet a lot more people with the baby. People in Italy were very interested in babies and would come up to say hi and see the baby. It was kind of like having a St. Bernard in a US city. La G enjoyed the attention. Restaurant owners seemed pretty accommodating about having a baby and seemed happy to have us back on return visits, even remembering the baby's name to greet her. We had hoped Italy would be a welcoming place for a baby and it certainly was; it would be interesting to compare to experiences in other countries.
My advice is that if you have the opportunity to travel with your baby, do it! It was an experience we'll always remember and made this trip to Europe a truly different experience. Planning and packing was stressful but after being there for a couple of days, all that stress disappeared and we just had a great time.
Getting There – we decided to buy a seat on the plane for the baby (hereinafter known as “La Gigante” the nickname one Italian gave her when we told him our hale and hearty daughter's age. Italian babies are very small!). I'm glad I bought the seat. I could have held her, and if the tickets were very expensive probably would have done so. But we were able to find cheap tickets so bought one for each of us. We flew out on a Tuesday and plane wasn't crowded which was handy as we were able to change to bulkhead seats and no lines for the bathroom, easier to get on and off etc. The only bad thing about buying an infant a seat is that we had to bring out bulky car seat (we weren't driving in Rome so otherwise would not have needed one). I ended up buying a wheeled car seat bag from Babies R Us the day before we left since we didn't have a direct flight and I thought it would be hard to carry everything around. The bag ripped before we even got on the plane but worked okay as far as making it easy to transport the seat around the airport. The overnight flight was very easy, La Gigante slept the whole way there. She was a lot more alert on the way back. Her ears didn't seem to bother her at all.
If you can get direct flights, I would. We didn't because the difference between the cheap tickets we got and direct to Rome was very steep. We gave ourselves a lot of time to connect flights which I think was a good idea since we were the last off the plane and it took a while to move around with the baby.
Where to Stay – we rented a one bedroom apartment. Even though we'd been to Europe many times we've never rented an apartment before. I really enjoyed staying in the apartment and we really appreciated having the extra space with the baby. La Gigante slept in a pack and play (which the apt provided) in the living room and we slept in the bedroom. That arrangement let us stay up later and read while she had her own room. A two bedroom apt would have been nice too but wasn't worth the extra money in our opinion. Having a kitchen was very helpful with feeding the baby. The apartment was advertised as having a washing machine but didn't. I had a small fit about that when we arrived since we didn't bring that many clothes and the rental agency (Rome Sweet Home) knocked 50E off the price. We ended up bringing our laundry to a laundromat to have it washed twice during the 10 days for 15E each time (they were big bags).
The apartment was located on Via Monserrato close to Campo di Fiori. With a baby I would definitely recommend staying as close to the area where you want to sightsee as possible. We found it sometimes hard to get out in the morning and usually had to return once a day for a nap. Being central cut down on the time to get back to the apartment and also if only one of us stayed while La Gigante napped, the other could just step outside and do some sight seeing. Also it is good if possible to pick an area you enjoy because you will likely make more trips back and forth to the home base than otherwise and so you'll see more of the area.
We found our apartment through the travel agency Ciao Bambino. I wish I could say that I liked Ciao Bambino because I love their business idea (family travel), but in reality, I didn't find them helpful at all and I'd suggest you save your money rather than pay them. They found me an apartment that I would have found myself online with 5 minutes of research. When something went wrong (we were supposed to get a real crib, not a pack-and-play and a week before we left the apt owner said that he couldn't get one for us), Ciao Bambino didn't take any responsibility for it. They also said that they would provide information about local doctors, where to buy baby supplies etc and they didn't do any of that. Maybe we just had bad luck with them but I wouldn't recommend them.
Jetlag/Schedule – La Gigante didn't seem to have jetlag at all on the way to Rome. She took a nap when we arrived on the afternoon the first day and then we all stayed up until about 9pm. She normally sleeps 7pm-7am but was on a later schedule (10pm - 9am) while we were away. We are not too crazy about a schedule at home but La Gigante generally takes a morning nap and then at least one or two naps in the afternoon. At first we tried to leave and get back for her naps but as the trip wore on, we usually ended up coming back after lunch for a group nap and she would just fall asleep for long naps (45 min-1hr) in the stroller other times during the day when she was tired. It worked better for us to have a big lunch and then just a quick dinner or drinks. La Gigante really didn't have the patience to sit through two restaurant meals a day and with dinners starting at 8:30-9 she'd start to get tired and irritable. Before we left, we wondered if we'd be sitting in the apt every evening looking longly out the window but that wasn't the case. While La Gigante didn't want to sit through a long dinner, she was fine going for a walk. We enjoyed having cocktails then going for a walk (and gelato!) and getting home by 9:30-10.
It took a little while to find a schedule that worked for all of us. I would allow a few extra days to acclimate to how the situation is going to work for you and work into the trip gradually. If you have any events that have set times I would try to schedule them a bit later in the trip because we found them challenging early on. One of the great things about Rome that really works well with a baby is how much art is available in churches. That meant that we could easily enter and exit, sometimes going back in and out if necessary, visits were not of giant museum length, could be easily repeated if circumstances changed, and could be done whenever a promising church presented itself on our wanderings.
Equipment – we brought: carseat for the plane; inflatable bathtub (the apt only had a shower) which we used on the kitchen floor and threw out at the end of the trip; portable booster seat (used in the apt); stroller; a few small toys; bottles; few receiving blankets and a baby fleece blanket.
The stroller was a matter of great debate. I wanted to bring our big orange Bob jogging stroller because it is so easy to push and good on cobblestones but thought it would be too big to bring in restaurants and that we would really look like goofy americans with this humongous bright stoller while all the cool Italian mamas pushed their tiny gucci umbrella strollers, while wearing stilletos and smoking. We were right that the jogging stroller would have been too big to comfortably bring in a lot of the restaurants (some don't have highchairs so you want to bring the stroller) but I saw many of the same strollers in Rome that I do in Boston (some jogging strollers though they didn't seem as big as the Bob, bugaboos, umbrella strollers, basinett style, and a number of alien looking stokke strollers. That said we thought the Bob might have been a bit big to maneuver easily down narrow sidewalks and maybe have looked a bit large although its big wheels would have been useful. We ended up bringing a Maclaren umbrella stroller. I thought it was worth it to buy a good umbrella stroller because we really gave it a work out going hours a day over cobblestone streets (although La Gigante seemed to love bumping over the cobblestones, she'd either sing out as she bumped up and down, or fall asleep from the motion). Having the raincover was handy too. I'd never used it before at home.
We brought a front carrier and only used it once, in a museum that didn't allow strollers (Borghese Gallery fyi). If you like a baby backpack, that would be helpful (I personally don't) and La Gigante is too heavy to use the front carrier for very long.
The apt supplied a pack and play. I brought a sheet but the Italian pack-and-plays are a different size (longer and narrower) so it didn't fit. Instead I used a baby blanket as a sheet.
Also glad I brought – lots of little bottles of purell (came in handy as a sink not always available when sightseeing); lots of teething toys, we lost many in transit (although you can buy all the same ones in Rome); baby motrin (also probably available but when La Gigante screaming from teething pain, I was glad not to have to find a pharmacy). Brought but (fortunately) didn't need – baby medicine kit e.g., thermometer, nasal aspirator, etc.
What you don't need to bring – tons of diapers (they have same Pampers in Italy), wipes or other diaper stuff. All the pharmacies seemed to sell Avent products (bottles, pacifiers), diaper products and toiletries. The pharmacies even carried things like activity mats and toys. I brought a few jars of baby food and bought the rest there. La Gigante didn't care for some of the local cuisine but we made do with the formula, fruit baby food and yogurt. She did develop a taste for gelato and bread. If your baby is using formula, I'd bring it as I only saw one or two unfamiliar brands in the store. I didn't notice anyone nursing in public but I wasn't really looking and I'm sure no one would care if you did. On an unrelated but interesting note, cavallo (horse) is a popular baby food flavor.
Day to Day – there aren't many changing facilities in Rome and the bathrooms are so tiny I could barely fit in myself. We relied on creative solutions (like quickly changing La Gigante while she was sitting in her stroller). Walking on the narrow streets with cars whipping by was not a problem. Drivers seem used to dodging pedestrians. I also learned that babies seem to like going over the cobblestones. Rome is really noisy, especially at night where noises echo in the narrow streets but La Gigante slept well since she was tired from all the stimulation during the day.
General Thoughts – traveling with our daughter was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I was pretty tired of hearing people tell me before we left that we are “brave” or, less nicely, “crazy” for taking a baby to Rome. Maybe we are just lucky that La Gigante is an easygoing baby and we were fortunate that she didn't happen to get sick while we were away. But it was so much fun to spend this much time with her (normally I work in an office 3 days a week) and she seemed to just be happy to be around her parents and didn't care where she was. Any major city obviously has lots of babies, baby supplies and parents living in it. So what if we had to do a few public diaper changes and La G missed a few naps.
The trip did take some adjustments on my husband and my part as the pace was a lot slower, we had to be more flexible and we certainly saw less than we would have seen on our own. If I had never been to Rome before I probably would have been disappointed to not pack in more sightseeing. However, at a slower pace I found that I experienced more. One day I walked around Piazza Minerva for an entire hour walking La G in her stroller while she slept and my husband went in the Sopra Minerva church. I couldn't think or a more beautiful place to spend an hour and with every lap I saw some new detail. I also met an Italian nonno with his grandson, a couple nuns in training (I don't know what you call that) and a driver waiting for his client – all of whom I spoke to in Italian (which for me is a big deal).
We also seemed to meet a lot more people with the baby. People in Italy were very interested in babies and would come up to say hi and see the baby. It was kind of like having a St. Bernard in a US city. La G enjoyed the attention. Restaurant owners seemed pretty accommodating about having a baby and seemed happy to have us back on return visits, even remembering the baby's name to greet her. We had hoped Italy would be a welcoming place for a baby and it certainly was; it would be interesting to compare to experiences in other countries.
My advice is that if you have the opportunity to travel with your baby, do it! It was an experience we'll always remember and made this trip to Europe a truly different experience. Planning and packing was stressful but after being there for a couple of days, all that stress disappeared and we just had a great time.
Oct 6th, 2007, 04:15 PM
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Thanks for posting your travel experiences with your daughter here. You are quite fortunate your travels with your daughter went well. My son was not as easygoing at that age.
Your report was very helpful and I shall pass it along to a relative who is considering Italian travels with her kids although by the time they will be financially able to do so the kids will be school age. She will be interested to know about your experience with Ciao Bambino as she thought they would be an excellent choice in tracking down an apartment rental. That is unfortunate how unhelpful the staff were. Their website is quite nicelooking and attractive, however, it's best to hear from actual clients.
Your report was very helpful and I shall pass it along to a relative who is considering Italian travels with her kids although by the time they will be financially able to do so the kids will be school age. She will be interested to know about your experience with Ciao Bambino as she thought they would be an excellent choice in tracking down an apartment rental. That is unfortunate how unhelpful the staff were. Their website is quite nicelooking and attractive, however, it's best to hear from actual clients.
Oct 7th, 2007, 04:55 PM
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I thought Ciao Bambino was fair in their dealings with us (they refunded my fee when they didn't provide the services we were promised). I just found it disappointing and surprising that a company that bills itself as a service for child friendly travel in Italy didn't seem to actually have any local contacts in Rome, was unable to provide the name of a rental service for baby equipment (crib, highchair, etc) or give me the name of a local doctor. Maybe they are better for other cities/countries.
Oct 7th, 2007, 05:07 PM
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What a charming and informative post! I don't have a baby, but I enjoyed reading about your experiences with yours. (We just found out last night we will be welcoming our first grandchild in June, so maybe some of the info will come in handy!)
Oct 7th, 2007, 05:37 PM
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I'll have to echo scdreamer's thoughts about your report. I enjoyed every word, even though my daughters are 19 and 21, and Rome is not on our agenda. Reports like yours are what make Fodor's such a great resource. Thanks!
Oct 7th, 2007, 06:19 PM
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Sally, so glad it worked for you! I took my first trip with my daughter when she was that age and haven't stopped since. She's six and been to Italy, Costa Rica twice, Ireland, Canada and San Diego a bunch of times. The younger one has only made it to Italy, Costa Rica and Ireland so far, but there's still time!
Oct 8th, 2007, 06:00 AM
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glad you had such a wonderful trip! We have been travelling with my son since he was 3months old and he is now 6...still gets treated like a little prince in Italy...it really is a very "real" experience when you travel with kids...and we too find we meet a lot more locals at playgrounds, etc.
Oct 8th, 2007, 09:53 AM
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I also enjoyed your experiences. My children are adults now, but we did travel with them a alot in Mexico when they were infants/toddlers and found, as you did, that it gave us an entirely different perspective. They also drew a lot of attention from people, which led to interaction that we might have missed otherwise. And it caused them to catch the "travel bug" very early in life 
Oct 8th, 2007, 10:12 AM
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Great report, thanks for doing it!
I, too, want to stress what a great perspective you get traveling with kids (grandkids, nieces/nephews, friends, whatever). When we were in Paris, I had to help the oldest son get some medical attention which was very interesting, and the younger ones spent time in various places including the Jardins du luxembourg. My husband would not have otherwise gone there, but did with the kids and they had a blast. Interestingly enough, one of my older sons main regrets about the trip was that he did not get to hang with any local kids. he said he would have liked to throw a football around with them - when I mentioned that that would be more like kicking around a soccer ball, he said that would be OK. Now, how to arrange that?
But, sally, your report makes it clear that traveling with kids is very doable. I think many parents are just so overwhelmed with the whole parenting thing that they can't see much besides getting through a day. But, obviously you can!
I, too, want to stress what a great perspective you get traveling with kids (grandkids, nieces/nephews, friends, whatever). When we were in Paris, I had to help the oldest son get some medical attention which was very interesting, and the younger ones spent time in various places including the Jardins du luxembourg. My husband would not have otherwise gone there, but did with the kids and they had a blast. Interestingly enough, one of my older sons main regrets about the trip was that he did not get to hang with any local kids. he said he would have liked to throw a football around with them - when I mentioned that that would be more like kicking around a soccer ball, he said that would be OK. Now, how to arrange that?
But, sally, your report makes it clear that traveling with kids is very doable. I think many parents are just so overwhelmed with the whole parenting thing that they can't see much besides getting through a day. But, obviously you can!
Oct 8th, 2007, 11:42 AM
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Lovely post! We're taking our 2 1/2 year old to Rome this December. He's been all over and is pretty easy going so we weren't so worried, but reading your post has really set our minds at ease. We took him to Paris when he was 1 so I can really appreciate your comment about a St. Bernard in the states! Spot on. Isn't that funny? Sort of an interesting commentary on different cultures. I am glad you enjoyed your trip.
Oct 8th, 2007, 12:14 PM
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Thanks Sally. We're leaving for Paris and Sicily with our 20 month old in 2 weeks and can't wait. I appreciated your comment about how "brave" we are to travel with our bambina. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that so far. Little do these people know it's her 4th trip!
Oct 8th, 2007, 02:47 PM
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Thanks for all the nice responses. It was a bit stressful in the planning but a few glasses of wine later....all was well.
One other observation - even Italian babies are well and formally dressed!! No soft cotton gap baby outfits for them. All the Italian kids wore cardigans and pinafores and tie up shoes.
One other observation - even Italian babies are well and formally dressed!! No soft cotton gap baby outfits for them. All the Italian kids wore cardigans and pinafores and tie up shoes.
Nov 10th, 2007, 03:54 PM
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I was looking back on this (as I am longingly thinking about our next trip sometime next year, its never too early to get ideas right??) and thought of a few more suggestions.
Buy Trip Insurance - fortunately we didn't need to use it but through www.insuremytrip.com we bought trip insurance including "cancel for any reason" coverage which, as the name says, let's you cancel for any reason (e.g., you don't have to be sick) up to the day before the trip. It only cost us about $150 to insure our pre-paid apartment and 3 plane tickets. For me it was worth the peace of mind to know that if our baby seemed like she was getting sick or there was some other problem we cancel and get our money back. I felt SO much more relaxed planning the trip knowing that we had this insurance.
Bring/buy two cell phones - only my husband's phone worked in Europe so we brought his and didn't bother to get a second. There were many times when we split up (one took the baby back for a nap while the other went sightseeing; one ran out to do an errand) when it would have been useful to call one another. A few times I took the baby back to the apartment to take a nap with plans for my husband to return an hour later and either she didn't fall asleep at all and I wanted to leave or she fell asleep right as he was returning. obviously not essential but it would have been handy to call him and change our plans.
Give your self a day or two when you get back - we were tired when we returned! And so much stuff to unpack. Fortunately we came home on a friday and didn't have to be at work until Monday. We did that mainly because of the price of the tickets. Not sure I'd cut my trip short over this one but it was nice to have a couple of days to adjust.
Buy Trip Insurance - fortunately we didn't need to use it but through www.insuremytrip.com we bought trip insurance including "cancel for any reason" coverage which, as the name says, let's you cancel for any reason (e.g., you don't have to be sick) up to the day before the trip. It only cost us about $150 to insure our pre-paid apartment and 3 plane tickets. For me it was worth the peace of mind to know that if our baby seemed like she was getting sick or there was some other problem we cancel and get our money back. I felt SO much more relaxed planning the trip knowing that we had this insurance.
Bring/buy two cell phones - only my husband's phone worked in Europe so we brought his and didn't bother to get a second. There were many times when we split up (one took the baby back for a nap while the other went sightseeing; one ran out to do an errand) when it would have been useful to call one another. A few times I took the baby back to the apartment to take a nap with plans for my husband to return an hour later and either she didn't fall asleep at all and I wanted to leave or she fell asleep right as he was returning. obviously not essential but it would have been handy to call him and change our plans.
Give your self a day or two when you get back - we were tired when we returned! And so much stuff to unpack. Fortunately we came home on a friday and didn't have to be at work until Monday. We did that mainly because of the price of the tickets. Not sure I'd cut my trip short over this one but it was nice to have a couple of days to adjust.
Nov 12th, 2007, 07:00 AM
#15
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Great report
I agree with all your advice. My DH and I did this trip with an 15 month old, and if everything goes well, we'll be taking her again next year when she is 4, with her twin brothers(they'll be 2) and G'ma!
I agree with all your advice. My DH and I did this trip with an 15 month old, and if everything goes well, we'll be taking her again next year when she is 4, with her twin brothers(they'll be 2) and G'ma!
Mar 18th, 2008, 12:21 PM
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While I know you wouldn't recommend your apartment rental agency would you recommend the apartment itself and if so how I can find it online? We are taking out 18-month old daughter to Rome next month and are still working on where to stay. Any help on reputable apartment agencies or actual apartments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Mar 18th, 2008, 01:58 PM
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Mar 18th, 2008, 02:27 PM
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I always go to www.slowtrav.com for apartments (or detailed info about any other travel subject)
I rented my apartment (with 15 month old) through www.dolcerome.com. I loved the agency (which is a couple who owns four apartments) and I would also recommend the apartment we used, near campo dei fiori.
I rented my apartment (with 15 month old) through www.dolcerome.com. I loved the agency (which is a couple who owns four apartments) and I would also recommend the apartment we used, near campo dei fiori.
Mar 18th, 2008, 06:50 PM
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I would recommend the apartment with a couple caveats. First, there are stairs when you first walk in with no railing and just sort of an opening (actually one night it was dark and i almost fell down them myself). I guess you could create a barricade with your suitcases. Also, it had a very hard stone floor which would hurt if you fell on it. Here is a link
http://www.romesweethome.it/full_info.asp?ID_IM=1890
If you scroll down to the photo that shows the stairs going up and look to the right of them, you will notice a sort of opening in the floor. those are the stairs down (about stairs) that let you in the front door of the apartment.
The apartment was in a great location and is clean, comfortable and not too much stuff for a child to play with or break. I did really like the layout which had the living room, kitchen, dining room downstairs (where we put the baby) and then an upstairs where we slept.
Unless they installed a new one, there was no washing machine in the apt but there is a wash and fold laundromat a block or two down the street (take a left out of the apartment with the apartment behind you).
Good luck!
http://www.romesweethome.it/full_info.asp?ID_IM=1890
If you scroll down to the photo that shows the stairs going up and look to the right of them, you will notice a sort of opening in the floor. those are the stairs down (about stairs) that let you in the front door of the apartment.
The apartment was in a great location and is clean, comfortable and not too much stuff for a child to play with or break. I did really like the layout which had the living room, kitchen, dining room downstairs (where we put the baby) and then an upstairs where we slept.
Unless they installed a new one, there was no washing machine in the apt but there is a wash and fold laundromat a block or two down the street (take a left out of the apartment with the apartment behind you).
Good luck!
