traveling

How to Pack for Kids on the Plane

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Ischia Ponte - Alex Vaina
Mamma and Baby Boy in Ischia Ponte trying to remain calm. © Photo by Alex Vaina

This is the second in a series of lessons I learned traveling with my now 5-year-old son since he was a baby. The lessons are designed to help parents learn from my experiences and mistakes to have a smoother travel experience every time they muster the courage to take baby (or little men and little ladies) on a magnificent journey. You can read the first lesson, How to Pick a Family Friendly Airline. 

Lesson No. 2: Pack Up the Goodies

Pack distractions. Distractions can save a mamma’s life. I have firsthand knowledge. Packing the carry-on bags for any journey, but especially a lengthy one, is of the utmost importance. What you need to do is pack a slew of goodies to keep your child distracted in between naps on one of those lengthy flights. I’ve been bringing my son, who is now 5, back and forth between Italy and the United States since he was 6 months old. Pack correctly and ye shall survive such traumas. Discover what’s always in my bag:

Documents

Cash – in both the currencies from which and to which you are traveling – is important. You never know when you’ll need it. Of course, you must bring passports and identification for everyone traveling, including the little ones. One item many moms don’t realize they need is their child’s birth certificate. This is especially important if you and your child have different last names. In Germany, while in the airport on a layover, I was almost forced to part with my then 9-month-old son because I had only our passports and no birth certificate; the customs agents feared I was kidnapping my baby. A heated conversation and a phone call to my husband resolved the matter, but they warned that I should never travel without his birth certificate again. Indeed, I now take it with me even to the supermarket in Italy.

Food and Drink

No mamma ever wants a hangry child. A child – like any person – becomes unbearable when hungry. Imagine that kind of crankypants on a six- or ten- or 15-hour flight. Yikes! Always pack snacks. My son prefers pretzels, cheese crackers, or Cheerios. I carry them in resealable bags or little containers, and we’re good to go. Pick up a bottle of water (or a small container of milk for the start of the journey) once you’re in the terminal. Of course, bring whatever you need for younger babies, who require formula or baby food. Security will test any liquid items, and you’ll be on your way. Just don’t pack a lot of junk food, especially if your kid is not used to eating it. On one flight, I gave my son his favorite indulgence – Oreos – and it ended with projectile vomit.

Little Toys

A few weeks before we leave for Italy, I usually go around the house collecting some of his favorite tiny toys. He has a couple of cars, small action figures, and the like that can keep him busy for quite a while. I take them out of the rotation and put them near the luggage, where he can’t easily find them. Then, I pull them out one by one during the course of our flights. (It often requires to flights and a boat ride to get to our second home, Ischia, Italy.) I try to add one to three new toys (usually from the dollar store) to the mix. I pull out those when times get really tough in flight. Nothing like a little surprise – something shiny and new – to distract you from your troubles.

Books

Of course, you don’t want to carry too many books because that can weigh you down, especially if you have to run a marathon to reach a connecting flight in time. But a couple of small books to read and a few activity books and crayons or a pencil have pulled me out of a few ditches. My son particularly likes sticker books that have you finding stickers at the back of the book to place in short stories at the front. He also enjoys activity books that offer opportunities for him to learn to draw something, such as animals, or punch out card stock figures to build or make something. I track this kind of book down on Amazon or at the dollar store. I always look for deals, so I buy them when I find them and not necessarily just before we’re about to travel.Another favorite are the Highlights seek and find books for which he has a subscription. Keep stock and save stuff, so it’s completely new when he sees it on the plane.

Digital Device

My work forces me to carry my laptop with me wherever I go. So, we always have at least one computer. My son also owns a Kindle that is well stocked with his favorite movies, TV shows, and some games. Also, he recently received a LeapPad as a gift. I charge these babies to the max before our flight and bring them everywhere we go. They are not only for the plane. They are perfect for when we force him to spend many hours at dinner with only adults, a common occurrence for the poor little guy in Italy.

Necessities

No mamma should go home without extra clothes for the kiddies and her (and anyone else who is traveling with her). Don’t forget extra underwear and socks, maybe a clean pair of pajamas in addition to clothes. When that projectile vomit hit, my son and I were covered in toxicity. Those extra clothes came in handy. For my son, even though he’s 5 years old and potty trained, I still bring diapers and wipes. Diapers or pull ups are safer when young kids are planning to sleep in the plane, or at least that’s been my experience. Tissues and children’s Tylenol are among the other must haves to pack.

Comfort

Mamma’s goal should be to make the flight as comfortable as possible for her child (or children, God bless you). I bring pajamas for my son to change into when he’s ready to sleep. A favorite blankie and stuffed animal always comes along for the ride, too. He has earphones, so he can watch whatever movie the plane offers, and a neck pillow to help him get cozy.

Di Meglio has written the Our Paesani column for ItaliansRus.com since 2003. You can follow the Italian Mamma on Facebook or Twitter @ItalianMamma10. For more handmade crafts and party gear, visit the Italian Mamma store on Etsy.

Happy Feet in Sant’ Angelo

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Sant' Angelo - Francesca Di Meglio
A walk through this old fishing village elicits happy feet for kids and adults alike. © Photo by Francesca Di Meglio

When we recently took a tour of the island of Ischia in Italy, we stopped at Sant’ Angelo, which is an old fishing village. Although it is one of the most expensive places to hang out on the island, it is absolutely gorgeous and a must-see if you are ever in the area. Despite the fact that when we were there last, the wind was strong enough to knock over our kids, my son and my friends’ daughter were delighted to wake up and finally get out of the car. My son even did his happy feet dance – he moves his feet like the penguins in the movie Happy Feet – in his stroller and tore off his blanket.

Besides the charming boats and the natural beauty of Sant’ Angelo, you can take in the scene. There are shops with sophisticated gear – bejeweled beach cover ups, Greek-style sandals, and chic beach totes – coffee bars, pastry shops, and gelaterie (ice cream shops). You might even spot a European V.I.P. because they often stay on this exclusive, out-of-the-way part of the island. The natives, who live in Sant’ Angelo, might let you join a pick-up game of soccer like the one that caught Baby Boy’s eye. If he was a little older, he would have jumped right in.

When it is hot outside, you can pull up a towel on the patch of sand or take a dip in the ocean. I once rented a motor boat with friends, and we stopped near Sant’ Angelo for people watching and a snack of fresh pears, which we had brought with us. Before our juicy fruit treat (thanks to thermal soil, a result of Ischia’s previous life as a volcano, the island’s fruit is the sweetest you’ll ever taste), we had gone overboard to cool off in the water. The atmosphere oozes Mediterranean beauty and puts you in a completely different state of mind. I suspect that even if you’re working in Sant’ Angelo, you feel as though you are on vacation. That is why I have no problem returning there again and again.

Di Meglio is the author of Fun with the Family New Jersey (Globe Pequot Press Travel, 2012) and the Guide to Newlyweds for About.com.

 

La Mortella Gardens, Not for Strollers But Still Pretty

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La Mortella Gardens - Alex Vaina
La Mortella Gardens in Ischia offers exceptional beauty. © Photo by Alex Vaina

My heart fell to my stomach and then did the backstroke for 10 minutes while I was stuck in an elevator from the Dark Ages with my 20-month-old son and my friends’ nearly 2-year-old daughter when we recently visited La Mortella Gardens in Ischia, Italy. The baby girl’s parents had gone down the stairs, while I attempted to take the kids down in the elevator because they were in strollers. I should have known better than to even attempt this because 1. we were in Ischia, a small island that lacks many conveniences and 2. I had to hold down the button – per instructions that were handwritten on the elevator wall – for the entire ride up or down and 3. we were in Ischia. I pressed the button to go down and it moved the elevator just enough that we could no longer open the door. It also would not continue to go down or up. The kids started screaming, and I banged on the glass to my friends below. “It is not moving anymore,” I shouted. “We’re stuck.”

A group of senior citizens below were trying to help my friends, who speak Italian and could understand them. Only problem was that these people couldn’t agree on what was the right thing to do. One said to keep pushing the button and the other said to pull the emergency lever. I had my doubts anyone would come even if I hit the alarm, so this mamma kept pushing. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the elevator moved up enough that we could open the door and get out. By then, my friends had come back upstairs. One of them was able to take their daughter and her stroller in the elevator. Then, we tried to have me do it with my son, and we must have been too heavy. We never made it down – at least not in the elevator. Having to carry the strollers down all the stairs in the mountainous gardens was a big pain, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

But that doesn’t mean you should give up on taking your little ones to Giardini La Mortella, the subtropical and Mediterranean garden, which the late Susana Walton, Argentinian wife of the British composer Sir William Walton, began cultivating in 1956. You just have to be prepared to carry your babies or have them walk. Realize it might be challenging. I’ve been to the gardens sans baby before and it makes for a lovely day.

There are gorgeous orchids, tons of tall bamboo, and fountains that will have you de-stressing both by their site and sound. The views of Forio from atop the gardens is also worth the visit. You can see San Francesco Beach with its pristine ocean water in all its glory, while discovering the reason Ischia has earned its name as L’Isola Verde or the Green Island for its lush landscape. The gardens include a bird sanctuary, which had our babes spying parrots and other little chirpers. Sometimes, concerts are held on the grounds. And on other trips to the gardens, I have eaten at the bar. The light, lemon caprese cake was sweet and tart in the most perfect way. If the bar still has it on the menu, that alone would make La Mortella worth the stop. Just avoid the elevators. Please.

Di Meglio is the author of Fun with the Family New Jersey (Globe Pequot Press Travel, 2012) and the Guide to Newlyweds for About.com.

 

Ischia Taxi for an Island Tour

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San Francesco Beach in Forio - Alex Vaina
Ischia Taxi will take your beloved and you to make-out point, an outpost that allows you to see a view of San Francesco Beach in Forio. © Photo by Alex Vaina

Pinch me because I still feel like I’m dreaming after an amazing time in Ischia (yes, for those of you who know my true feelings for the island, you read that correctly) with my friends and their daughter, who is just about three months older than Baby Boy. They left on Friday, and I have had that twinge of emptiness in the pit of my stomach, the one I always get when I say good-bye to the ones I love, ever since. Still, I have the memories of their vacation. And Memorial Day weekend allowed me to make like a tourist myself for a bit. One of the best experiences we shared was a tour by Franco of Ischia Taxi.

Even though I’ve been visiting Ischia since I was 2, I always seem to learn something new when I head out into the island. This time was no different. Thanks to Franco, I learned the overlook, whose view is in the photo above, is a hot spot for guys to bring the ladies with whom they’d like to share a kiss (and something more, but they must feign being gentlemen). This was educational to me because my husband brought me here the first time I visited Ischia after we started dating. You can bet with that beautiful setting, he snagged a kiss – nothing more than a kiss, though, so no worries mamma and papa.

Franco also taught me that there’s a museum in Ischia featuring fish fossils, which were found on top of Mount Epomeo, Ischia’s highest point. You might be wondering, as were we, “How on earth could a fish end up on top of a mountain?” Well, Ischia was a volcano. When it erupted, Epomeo was elevated above the ocean. Those fish that were swimming on what would become Epomeo could not survive without the ocean water, they died, and presumably time and the lava, preserved their remains, thus the fossils. It’s not quite the scientific explanation, but it makes perfect sense, no? Indeed, you do learn something new everyday.

What was so lovely about this two-hour giro dell’isola (island tour) were the visits to various landmarks. While the babies slept – cozy in their car seats in the van taxi – my friends were able to stop and see another overlook that had them view Naples and Mount Vesuvius from Ischia, Forio’s Soccorso church made famous in the movie Avanti and by Pope John Paul II’s visit about a decade ago, the famous Lacco Ameno fungo, a giant rock that naturally formed and juts more than six feet out of the ocean and looks like a mushroom, views of thermal spas, Giardini Poseidon and Negombo, and Sant’ Angelo, an old fishing village turned tourist must-see.

Of course, they also stopped at make-out point, where Franco insisted they share a smooch. When our camera broke and we lost almost all the pictures from the tour, Franco, who drove us to visit La Mortella Gardens the next day, brought them back to make out all over again. This time he had them pose Titanic-style to boot. It was all very Italian. Is that service or what?

Di Meglio is the author of Fun with the Family New Jersey (Globe Pequot Press Travel, 2012) and the Guide to Newlyweds for About.com.

Ischia – Italy’s Islanders 6

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Ischia invited me back in 2004, and I jumped at the chance to return. © Photo by Francesca Di Meglio
Ischia invited me back in 2004, and I jumped at the chance to return. © Photo by Francesca Di Meglio

Get the truth about one of Italy’s most popular islands – and its people – by reading my new weekly blog installments (every Monday morning right here on this site)

Chapter Six – When My World Changed

When I returned to the States after a glorious week in Ischia in 2003, I had tasted paradise and I liked it. I immediately started planning my next trip. Since I had promised Roberto, his parents, and his sister that I’d bring my grandfather – their uncle – back for one more trip to the homeland, I knew I had to get my grandparents on board.

One year later, I broke the cardinal rule of jobs in New York, and I quit before I had another gig lined up. I planned to try my hand at freelancing while looking for something more appropriate (read – no more lady friendly porn for me). It was a struggle at first. But I hustled, and I had an assignment to write about Ischia from both an Italian American publication and a newspaper in California, where many Ischitani had moved during the first two waves of immigration to the United States.

Before I even left for Ischia again (which I did seven years ago today), I got started on these stories. And I snagged a part-time job with BusinessWeek magazine, helping with their business school rankings projects, for which I had already previously interned. I’d be starting as soon as I returned from this vacation with my grandparents.

So, my grandparents and I set off on a journey of a lifetime. It would likely be their last trip to Ischia. Although my grandmother was born in Astoria, her father was an Ischitano as was her husband, my grandfather. Roberto, in fact, is my grandfather’s great nephew and thus my cousin. Roberto’s father and my mother are first cousins. As we arrived in Ischia in 2004, I had a sense of tranquility that rushed over me. It was a feeling I had never experienced before.

Samantha and I had to leave Ischia like thieves in the night the year before. On Saturday afternoon, we learned that there were no boats leaving for Naples on Sunday, so we had to get to Naples immediately or risk missing our flight back to the United States. We left Franca*, Roberto’s mother, hysterical crying because she knew she was going to desperately miss us. The week had been special for everyone, not just us travelers. For us, even the unexpected night in Naples, when we crashed at another cousin’s apartment was memorable. We had the best pizza we’ve ever tasted and dreamed about the future while walking the streets of bella calda Napoli.

Even though Samantha wasn’t with me this time, it was as if I was finally completing that trip that we had left hanging. God was calling me to Ischia, and I followed. And it was a true turning point in my life.

*Some names and identifying characteristics of the real people involved have been changed.

Tune into this Web site, Two Worlds, every Monday for the latest installment in my blog about my experiences in Ischia, and every other Monday to ItaliansRus.com for the latest Our Paesani column about all things Italian. Di Meglio is also the Guide to Newlyweds for About.com.