On our city breaks, we broke our
ASK THE EXPERT
India Pearson, travel presenter, Holiday Extras, offers tips and tricks for family car hire
w Do your research before booking a car to avoid disappointment on arrival or having to pay extra to upgrade. Booking well in advance will reduce the chance of your chosen car being unavailable. wAvoid any unexpected charges by opting for a ‘full-to-full’ refuelling option and by taking out sufficient insurance cover well in advance. A standalone excess refund policy will probably be cheaper bought online before travelling than at the car rental desk, and will give you peace of mind. wAvoid the extra cost of hiring child car seats by bringing your own fromhome.
children in gently to the faster pace of holiday. We couldn’t visit Florence without a bird’s-eye view of its terracotta roofs but, with a wriggly toddler in tow, we swapped the queues and narrow staircase to the top of the Duomo for the open space and sprawling view from Piazzale Michelangelo on the south bank of the River Arno. Our four-year-old eagerly scampered up the stone steps to the square, counting them as we went (164, if you trust a four-year-old’s maths) and, surprisingly, both children sat admiring our surroundings for a good five minutes, spotting sights that we’d walked past and choosing a spot for ice cream on the way back.
w FIRE THEIR IMAGINATION With limited time in the city, we decided the best way to give the kids a taste of art was to wander around the sculptures in Piazza della Signoria. Staring up at the replica of Michelangelo’s David, my daughter mused: “Mummy, were all of these statues once real people?” She’d created a whole new version of Florence in her head, where sculptures roamed around before a cruel magical force froze them forever. Embracing this vivid imagination made days out more fun. We explored Rome’s vast Colosseum while keeping an eye out for any straggling lions, wandered around cavernous underground wine cellars in Montepulciano deciding who would drink which barrel next, and pretended to be monsters while covered head to toe in thermal mud from the surreal beauty of the hot springs in Bagni di San Filippo, Tuscany.
The fresh ravioli made by our four-year-old showed off her skills after years of kneading Play-Doh
w SHORT AND SWEET While we covered a long distance overall, we tried to keep each journey to a maximum of three hours, only breaking this rule when we drove from Lake Maggiore to Florence in a day. To keep the children on side during
this relatively long haul, we planned a stop in Bologna en route for rich, garlicky parmigiana, obligatory ragu and, of course, ice cream. One of the worst fears of a road
trip, carsickness, struck once on Tuscany’s winding roads as our daughter groaned from the back while we were admiring vineyard views near Greve in Chianti. We were, thankfully, prepared with spare clothes and baby wipes, and our daughter quickly
56
travelweekly.co.uk 11 October 2018
PICTURES: SHUTTERSTOCK; ISTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
