Traveling to Rome with 2 year old....

What things should I bring with me? We will be traveling to Rome in July with our 2 year old. Our flight is at night but I still plan on bringing crayons, coloring books, aqua doodle, DVD player. One we get there she will have lots of sundresses, sunhat, suncreen, snacks and sippy cups. Can anyone think of anything else?

Re: Traveling to Rome with 2 year old....

Well for any vacation, I bring disposable wash cloths, baby shampoo, soap, diaper cream. Or do you mean other than the obvious care stuff?

Re: Traveling to Rome with 2 year old....

as far as clothes and stuff, you seem to have it covered.

I definitely suggest a night time, sleep inducing medicine of some sort for the flight TO Rome, as you want your child to sleep through the night to aclimatize to the time difference.

honestly, I think you'll be ok with the crayons and maybe one other thing. like the dvd player. bringing too much will just weigh you down. my nieces fly just fine that way.

also, not sure how long you are going for, but when we first took our 7 month old niece to France, we brought a BOAT LOAD of stuff thinking we wouldn't find what we needed. WRONG.

they have everything over there...diapers, creams, formula, baby food,...the works. we were kicking ourselves the whole time for lugging around a whole extra suitcase of just that stuff.

also, even though it's july..pack a light sweater for going in to museums and such. it gets cold (though you probably would do that anyway, it wasn't on your list)

and only bring enough snacks for the plane ride there. there is plenty of that stuff too!!

Re: Traveling to Rome with 2 year old....

I would not overpack. You don't need to be carting stuff all over the place.

I also never give DD a "sleep inducer" - she sleeps very well on overnight flights.

I do always bring her blanket and a stuffed animal that she sleeps with so that she has something familiar.

Kids are incredibly adaptable, and the less you have to worry about forgetting the better and less stress you will all have.

Bon voyage!!

Re: Traveling to Rome with 2 year old....

The thing is, some of the overnight flights to Rome are not REALLY overnight in terms of OUR time. Say it leaves around 5pm NY time, it would arrive after 7am Rome time. But only you know if your 2 year old would be ready for a 6-8 hour "nap" at 5 or 6pm. If you have the later overnight flight, it might not be a problem.

If you're JUST going to Rome and not traveling around via Train, then take what you'll need so you don't HAVE to worry about running out to get everything. But if you're continuing on to say Florence or Venice or wherever else, PACK LIGHTLY! You have to lug that luggage around and put them on ledges on the train etc. You will not regret packing lightly and you can always wash a couple of things in the sink if you really need to.

I would HIGHLY recommend bringing a little camcorder if you have one or consider getting something like the Flip (we got the new HD Kodak version instead of the Flip, but it's the same idea). We personally don't like bringing our camcorder with us because we now have a DSLR and that's big enough, so the HD Kodak camcorder was perfect - the size of a point and shoot camera (probably smaller!) and we were able to take little videos whenever we wanted and put it in a pocket or my handbag the other times.

Bring an adapter for your camera chargers or anything else you need to plug in (make sure they are dual voltage - will usually say something like 110-220 on the part that plugs in). I mistakenly thought I needed a CONVERTER for most of my things, but thankfully someone explained this to me and I was able to get just the adapter (so that you can plug into their sockets). I know that's not related to bringing a 2 year old, but something I found useful so in case you didn't already know...