Itinerary

We purchased plane tickets, made deposits on apartments and reserved a car for our time in Sicily.  We have even been invited to stay in the home of the Maiorana's (Samy's parents' home) for the last few days of our trip.  Here is our rough itinerary:


Saturday, June 2: Dana, Nate and Sam depart from Newark, NJ at 5:45 p.m.
Sunday, June 3: Arrive in Rome, Italy at 7:45 a.m. 
Monday, June 4: Dana begins language studies M-F, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 23: Brian arrives in Rome
Saturday, June 30: Fly from Rome to Palermo, Sicily
Monday, July 2: SAM'S BIRTHDAY!!!
Saturday, July 7: Fly from Palermo, Sicily to Rome; take a train to Florence
Saturday, July 14: Take a train from Florence to Venice
Saturday, July 21: Brian returns to US; take train from Venice to Milan
Tuesday, July 24: train/taxi to Stresa, Italy by Lake Maggiore
Friday, July 27: NATE'S BIRTHDAY!!! 
Monday, July 30: Fly Milan to Rome; Fly Rome to Newark, N.J.

Here is our google map for the trip.  The pink pushpins are places we are staying.


View Italy Apartments in a larger map

Flights are booked!

Well, for four of us, at least.  With Brian's work commitments, he will join us for weeks 4-7 and we'll book his flights as we get a little closer...  June 2 through July 30!  Now, we can start working on finding five different apartments: Rome for the first 4 weeks, and then one city a week for the next four weeks: Sicily, near Florence, near Venice and near Milan.  I also am looking for a language school where I (and maybe even the boys) will study in Rome for the first three weeks.

We are planning a long trip to Italy next summer.  We have been studying the language and Brian and I would like for the boys to see the place where part of their family is from.  Taking an almost-4 year old and an almost-8 year old is definitely a different kind of international travel than we have ever done before.  You can't expect kids to go through two museums, a cathedral and a long urban hike in one day.  And, you can't afford to do it if you are staying exclusively in full-service hotels.  So, straight off, we need to approach this in a different way.  I found a great journal which guides kids (ages 6-16 recommended) through a number of challenges and adventures, very specifically targeted at kids in Italy.  Pasta shapes, card games, catacombs, strange parks, crazy driving, mosaics, etc.  We've already started looking through it and are getting excited! 

So we are starting our planning now, nine months in advance.  We'll keep you informed of our progress!