Getting Ready for Griffin’s Trip to Italy

When we took Reagan to France in 2015, our plan was to make a similar trip with all four of our grandkids. Back then, we were 67 years old. But we’d be 78 when Griffin would be ready for his 12-year-old trip. Would we be able to do it at such an advanced age? Would Griffin have to push our wheelchairs?

Carter in 2022 to Switzerland (we were 74) and Esme in 2023 to Hawaii (we were 75) went smooth as silk. And here we are, 11 years later, packing for tomorrow’s departure to Italy with soon-to-be 13 Griffin.

Only one problem: we’re plumb out of grandkids. Anyone want to loan us a 12 year old for next year?

This trip is with Road Scholars, the same outfit we used for Reagan and Esme. Carter’s trip was messed up by Covid and we went with Tauck Tours instead. The idea is simple: structure a trip for teenagers (Griffin turns 13 in September) and let grandparents tag along (and pay the bills). We’re not sure how many of each we’ll have, but typically it’s 15 to 20 participants, split more or less equally between young and oldsters.

We’ll be centered in Montecatini, half way between Piza and Florence in the Tuscany region of Italy. We’ll stay in the same hotel for the entire week, traveling by bus and train to visit those two towns and other sites in the area. Bicycling on a medieval town’s wall, making chocolate, swimmming in the Ligurian Sea portion of the Mediterranean, and taking a funicular up a local mountain are part of the agenda. Us old folks will have to do the wine tasting while the kids do their thing.

Griffin, Judy and I are making a one-day stop in Rome on our way. We fly from Boston on Friday, arrive at Rome at 7 AM on Saturday. We’ll meet up with Max the Storyteller when we’ve dropped our bags at the hotel. We’ll walk or taxi from our hotel, the Grand Hotel Palantino to the Piazza di Sant’ Apollinaire to meet Max, who will walk us back through the Roman Ruins to the Colosseum. Max recommends not going into the Colosseum due to crowds and long lines. Then we’ll return to the hotel, 15 minutes away, and try to cool off.

And cooling off is going to be the challenge for this trip. Temps are forecast to be in the 90s all the time we’re in Italy. We’re carrying Pediolyte to keep the electrolytes up and even handheld fans to blow hot air on our faces. We had a similar record-breaking temp experience in Paris with Reagan, so we’re a little better prepared this time.

The train station is a 20-minutes walk from our hotel. We’ll catch a 10:10 AM train to Montecatini by way of Florence Sunday morning to joint the group that afternoon.

I’ve included a couple of maps to help you (and us) get oriented.

As always, I’ll be blogging most days. I’ll send out emails each time I post. If you want to add anyone to the email list, let me know. If you don’t want your inbox flooded with my notifications,, let me know and I’ll drop you from the list. You can go to jonandjudytravel.com at any time to see the postings at your leisure.

Thanks for traveling with us!

Jon, Judy and Griffin.