Going to Italy: Traveling With A Toddler

Going to Italy: Traveling With A Toddler

Life as a parent requires flexibility.  Life as a traveling parent requires flexibility and a smile! For those people who have a difficult time with change, life in my home would be
stressful.

Last month we decided to cancel our annual November Europe trip as our business obligations, conferences and important meetings took over the schedule.  Although
this was disappointing, my husband and I adjusted to it and stated we would just take a longer trip in March.

However, last week I realized that our busy schedule had taken over too much and life in the fast lane was taking a toll on our family. So I looked into last minute trips…

I am excited to say that the Europe trip is back on- and even better than originally planned!

We will be taking a cruise on Costa Cruise Lines, an Italian cruise line.  What does this mean? Most of the passengers will be Italian and German, and the overhead announcements will be made in Italian, German, French, Spanish and then English.

Since my son just started a one hour per week “Italian preschool” this came at a perfect time!  I got the idea one night as I was working on my laptop while my husband and 3 year old son watched Samantha Brown (The Travel Channel) as she took her very first cruise.  She stopped at some Italian ports and I didn’t really notice the show until she
said, “Bon giorno!” to a local.  My son at that time jumped up and smiled saying, “Bon giorno!” 

He was excited to recognize his newly learned Italian word.  I began to think about what an Italian cruise would be like – mingling with the locals in a new way- when THEY are on vacation! 

I know from experience that it is quite nice being a minority when on vacation.  I enjoyed our trips to Thailand, Hong Kong as well as Tokyo where my husband and I had to adapt to the local lifestyle since we were out of the tourist areas. This gave me a true look into the culture of a foreign country.  Of course, living in Greece and having blond hair and blue eyes made me stand out a bit, but I was able to see what true Greek culture was like on a daily basis out of the tourist trap. Going to the markets in the morning and taking the ferry with the locals and gathering for a dinner in a home where nobody spoke English – that is immersion!

 I also experienced this shortly after the wall came down in Germany.  I was in “East Germany” visiting some family friends and nobody in the entire village spoke English. Two weeks there as a 19 year old was more effective in teaching me the German language and culture than 3 years of classroom lessons in high school!  Now I make sure to go every year to Germany to keep up my skills (and see my “Omi” – grandma).

But I had never been “on vacation” with locals IN their country.  I do know that Germans vacationing in the Dominican Republic have quite a bit of fun as well as those Canadians on our cruise through Asia!

So, we are going to interact with the locals in a totally new environment- including a Toga party!  My husband took a cruise with his grandparents when he was a young child and he still remembers playing with Italian and German kids and having a great time even though they weren’t able to speak the same language. I think this teaches kids acceptance of people who are “different” from them and also to realize that it is ok for them to be unique as well.

Although this part does not have to do directly with flying, it definitely is part of the reason that I recommend traveling with children throughout the world!

Immersing yourself in the culture is the ONLY way to really understand what a foreign country is like.  Giving the gift of travel to children includes priceless benefits and lessons that cannot be taught in a classroom or from a book.

I have arranged a few private Italian lessons with my son’s new preschool teacher so that we can fit in enough not to be annoying to the locals. Why should they speak English in THEIR country?

And since I speak German and have taught my son a bit of it, this trip will introduce my son to the world of foreign languages by allowing him to recognize some of the new words he has heard and learned.

I will keep you updated, lots of flight stuff for this trip! Here are just a few of the things I have done in the last two nights:

- Check our passports again making sure expiration date is more than 6 months away.

- Book frequent flier tickets to Italy, taking advantage of a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany on the way home to visit my 97 year old grandmother.

- Check into airport security within Europe. Things are basically covered by following the TSA rules as airport security is being “harmonized internationally”.

- I am flying United but using a couple of their Star Alliance Partners for flights. This requires that I call each airline with my confirmation number to get seat assignments.  Even though the reservation is one through United; Swiss Air and Lufthansa have a different confirmation number for their flights.  This is VERY confusing and can be frustrating if you do not know this ahead of time when calling for seats. 

- Flights within Europe generally require seat assignments to be given at the airport.  I was able to request aisle or window, but was not given a seat number or even guaranteed that I would be given my preference.  (Remember flexibility?)

- And then realizing that even though I have seat assignments, things like type of aircraft can change and then you are back to square one. I always recommend verifying your seat assignment at the airport when checking in.  On our flight to Amsterdam a few years ago, I discovered at the gate in San Francisco that our seats were changed and not
together.  This was due to an unannounced aircraft change and it was disappointing not to get our preferred seats, but a good lesson learned.

- I also have to check and double check the carry on restrictions within Europe.  I wasn’t going to be flying on Ryan Air this trip (verystrict carry on restrictions), but I can still remember the KLM flight out of Paris and how strict they were with the size of carry ons.  Many times the flights within Europe are on smaller planes, and the overhead bins are sometimes ridiculously small.

- Since we are connecting through Zurich, it was important to check if our connection was long enough- especially coming off a transatlantic flight.  Sleepy passengers (toddler included) are not fast movers.

- United does offer the option of holding flights with miles for a period of 3 days.  This way I was able to check on and book the cruise portion before I ticketed the flights.

- I have to comment that my experience with United has been fabulous and I believe these reservation agents were located in the Philippines.

- The same with Swiss Air and Lufthansa.  Although the Swiss Air agent did offer my son a bassinett (even though he is 3). So I explained that he was too old for the bassinett and then gently stated that after my research, I discovered this is not a safe option.  I was surprised that she agreed with me and said, “Yes, everyone really should be buckled up.”

- I had to get out the metric conversion scale to understand liquid restrictions of less than 100mL (3 ounces) and carry on restrictions given in cm.

When booking international reservations, realize that even though an agent works for the airline, their knowledge of airports and foreign countries may be limited.  I usually ask if they have been to an airport that I am unfamiliar with since it helps to have their
personal opinion of connection times (and to remind them that a child is involved.)

It is easy to assume that reservation agents are travelers, but it is surprising how many of them have not done much travel.  This means that it is worth it to google some reviews on airports or look at http://www.worldairportguide.com to find out the airport
location and how big or small it is.

For instance, one of the flights I was originally considering taking on this trip was a Ryan Air flight to Frankfurt Hahn. The deceiving part is that this airport is closer to Luxembourg than Frankfurt and their is no train service there.

Many European airports are located on the very outskirts if not an hour away from the city.  A taxi ride into Paris is expensive and takes a long time in traffic.  The trains are
better but there are a ton of stairs and escalators that may not be working.  Consider this when packing luggage.

- Oh yes, the luggage.  When traveling to Europe, it pays to take a course in packing light.  More on that later!

How does much of this apply to flying with kids? Well, the more aspects of an international trip that can be understood ahead of time allows a more enjoyable vacation with the family.  If the international flights with their seat assignments, multiple confirmation numbers, luggage restrictions, metric system, and airport locations are taken care of in advance of the trip, more time and energy is available for family and the needs of the child on the flight!

So Jet With Kids will be exploring a few more European airports, as well as transatlantic travel with a 3 year old.  (Which as many of you know is a different scenario altogether than when flying internationally with my son as an 18 month old and last year as a 2 1/2 year old!)

We will be reviewing different products and providing you with some fantastic tips.

Stay tuned-

Arrivederci!

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