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Danielle From Ciao Family Travel

Ciao! I’m Danielle!

 

I’m an American mom raising my 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy.

After traveling to over 48 countries, I’ve figured out how to make family travel meaningful and rewarding! I spend hours on hours researching my trips and am ready to pass all that along to you!

DESTINATIONS
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I finally have it down to a science. 👩🏽‍🔬🧪 1. Fol I finally have it down to a science. 👩🏽‍🔬🧪

1. Follow the 70/30 rule. 🌲
Kids have so much more fun when they’re outside and exploring. About 70% of your itinerary should be outdoor, active experiences, and 30% cities, museums, or monuments. I’ve found that around age 8 they can handle more city time, but when they’re younger, being at a lake, hiking, riding bikes, or just outside is absolutely essential.

2. Find ways to play every day. 🎲
I have a whole reel on gamifying family travel! We do food taste tests, I-spy competitions, count how many SPQRs we find in Rome etc…Literally anything can be a game if you let it be.

3. Choose a hotel or Airbnb downtown. 🏨
Sometimes everyone is melting down and you just need to get “home” for an hour to recharge. When your hotel is an hour outside the city, that turns into a whole ordeal and can really be a pain. Honestly (depending on how expensive the city is) this isn’t always possible, but I really do prioritize location in our budget.

4. Schedule time to relax. 😎
Everyone needs downtime to recharge. That might look like swimming, hanging out at a park, or playing card games outside. This time to recharge is essential, so make sure you’re planning for it! 

5. Include a variety of activities. 🚲
Variety is key!! No one wants to visit five churches, even if they’re all incredible. Mix it up: one church, a cooking class, a bike ride, something hands-on with animals, a mosaic or watercolor class. Whatever the place is known for, lean into that.

6. Make an “if we get to it” list. 📋
Doing this was so incredibly helpful for me! Anything that didn’t fit comfortably into our itinerary went on that list. If we had extra time, great! I already had ideas. If not, I didn’t feel disappointed. 

Following these tips doesn’t mean every trip will be perfect, but it will make every trip a lot more enjoyable! 🤩

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #travelhacksforparents #familytravel #learningthroughtravel
Most people have no idea this exists! 👀 And it’s Most people have no idea this exists! 👀

And it’s so unique that I think it needs to be part of everyone’s Switzerland itinerary! 😮

🗺️There are four “car train” locations in Switzerland.
📍Lötschberg Tunnel: Kandersteg ➡️ Goppenstein
📍Furka Base Tunnel: Realp ➡️ Oberwald
📍Vereina Tunnel: Klosters ➡️ Sagliains in the Engadine
📍Simplon Tunnel: Brig ➡️ Italy

🚞 How it works: You line your car up at the terminal, pay at the booth (or online), and when it’s your turn you drive straight onto the train ramp. Cars park bumper-to-bumper in single file. Put the car in gear, make sure the emergency break is on, and turn your engine off. Then sit back and let the train pull you! 

⏱️ Timing: Some trains run once every hour (Simplon) and others about every 15 minutes (Lötschberg). You can plan your arrival and be just in time for the departure (allow extra time in the summer!), or arrive whenever and just take the next available train. Even with an hour wait time at Simplon, it’s still shorter than driving up and over the mountains. 

💰Cost: It’s about 30–35 CHF for a regular car, a little more if you’ve got a van or trailer. 

🤩 What to expect: The ride itself is dark (you’re inside a tunnel) and a bit rattly, but also SO exiting with kids and a unique experience for everyone. ✨

If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland, see if any of the driving routes have the option for riding the train! They save time and stress, (especially in winter when passes are snowy or closed) and are just plain fun! 

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #travelhacksforparents #familytravel switzerland
500 euros for a week for a family of six?! 😱 Here 500 euros for a week for a family of six?! 😱

Here’s the thing about Italy: literally anywhere you go, there are dozens of incredible sites to see and amazing food to eat. 🇮🇹 We spent an entire month in Umbria during the summer of 2020 and never ran out of things to do. 

So if you have the budget and really want to see Italy’s iconic sites, go ahead and visit Florence, Rome, Venice, and Cinque Terre. (They really are lovely.) 

BUT if you’re on a tighter budget, want your kids to have space to run and explore, and are trying to avoid the crowds, Umbria is your destination. 😍

And just to get you started, here are some of my favorite spots in Umbria 💛

✨ Assisi – San Francesco invented the first nativity here
✨ Orvieto – dramatic cliffside city
✨ Spello – one of the prettiest towns in Italy
✨ Montefalco – gorgeous countryside views
✨ Gubbio – like stepping back into medieval times

✨ Lake Trasimeno – a pretty lake for a lazy afternoon
✨ Marmore Waterfall – Europe’s tallest man-made waterfall
✨Mount Subasio – rolling hills, hiking trails, and classic Umbrian scenery

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #familytravel #lifeinitaly #travelitaly🇮🇹
Learning this completely changed my life… Imagin Learning this completely changed my life… 

Imagine a wall with hooks on it. This is your child’s mind, with each hook representing something they’ve solidly learned through life experiences or books.

Now picture new information as coats or bags that need somewhere to hang. 👜

If there aren’t any hooks already firmly nailed into the wall, there’s nowhere to put them… so they fall to the floor. 😬

But when a child already has relevant hooks in place (aka prior knowledge in the same category) they have something to hang that new information on. 📚 Learning becomes stickier, more meaningful, and much easier to retrieve later. 🤯

For example, if your child has read stories about Greek gods (my son loves Percy Jackson!) or listened to the Greeking Out podcast, they already have some pegs related to ancient Greek culture and mythology. 🏛️

So later, when they study Greek history, democracy, or philosophy in school, that existing knowledge helps them connect the dots and understand the bigger picture more easily. 🤩 

I’ve even seen this play out in my own life as an adult. I still remember walking through a museum in Vienna, amazed by how many connections my brain was making. 😆

Before visiting, I had studied the Austrian empire, Franz Joseph, and Sissi in depth. As I walked through the exhibits, the new information practically lit up my brain with connections. 💡 It was all clicking because I already had hooks for it.

This is why rich, varied experiences such as family travel, read-alouds, nature walks, museum visits, or even simple conversations about current events are SO powerful. They build a mental framework that future learning can latch onto. And that’s pretty amazing! 

The year I started reading aloud to my kids and intentionally sought out new experiences, was truly a year that changed my life. Maybe it will change yours too. ✨

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #lifeinitaly #familytravel
I still can’t believe this actually happened…It wa I still can’t believe this actually happened…It was such a surreal experience! 

Who’s excited and ready for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games?! 🙋🏼‍♀️

I can’t wait to share which events we’ll be attending and give you a step-by-step guide on how to get tickets! 

Plus, don’t forget about Olympic test events! They happen about one year before the Games and tickets cost a fraction of the price. 🤩

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #milanocortina2026 #olympicgames #familytravel
If this is the year you’re ready to get your finan If this is the year you’re ready to get your finances in check and start spending your money in ways that *actually* make you happier, here are the three books you NEED to read. 👇🏻

1. I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi 
2. Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier 
3. The Simple Path to Wealth by J. L. Collins 

Your future self will be incredible grateful…and so will your kids (when they’re older 😆). 

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#firecommunity #travelwithkids #getabudget #financiafreedom #familytravel
If this is the year you’re ready to get your finan If this is the year you’re ready to get your finances in check and start spending your money in ways that *actually* make you happier, here are the three books you NEED to read.👇🏻

1. I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi
2. Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier 
3. The Simple Path to Wealth by J. L. Collins

Your future self will be incredibly grateful…and so will your kids (when they’re older 😆). 

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #financialfreedom getabudget #familytravel
The best New Year’s resolution I ever made… ✨ At The best New Year’s resolution I ever made… ✨

At the end of 2022, I was feeling overwhelmed with life. Small things (like not remembering my passwords) and some big things (like not having a will) were weighing on me. 😔

📅 So in January of 2023 I decided to take one full year to tackle all the important tasks that I’d been avoiding and create systems that would make my daily life easier. 

I literally wrote down EVERYTHING that was weighing on me…make emergency backpacks, organize my passwords, create a pantry setup that actually worked, find a dedicated place for library books, write a will and last testament and set up the kids’ 529s. 😅

I had about 20 things on my list and worked through them one by one. 🏃‍♀️

I started off 2023 feeling overwhelmed and ended the year with SO much mental clarity and freedom! ☀️ It was truly the best gift I have ever given myself and became the foundation to pursue even bigger things in 2024. 💛

If your brain feels as full as mine did back then, this kind of reset is the best gift you can give yourself this year. 🎁

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#newyear #newyearsresolution #2026goals #lifeinitaly
Taking space-saving to a whole new level…🤣 But se Taking space-saving to a whole new level…🤣

But seriously, have you ever seen this toilet/sink solution??! 

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #lifeinitaly #expatinitaly #familytravel
The most memorable pit stop ever… ✨ Lake Resia in The most memorable pit stop ever… ✨

Lake Resia in South Tyrol, Italy is hands-down one of the coolest road trip pit stops!

In the 1950s, the village of Graun (Curon Venosta) was deliberately flooded to create Lake Resia. After WW2, Italy was expanding its energy infrastructure, and engineers decided to merge three natural lakes into one larger reservoir to generate electricity for the region. 

In 1950, residents were forced to leave their homes, and the village was submerged. Today, this bell tower is the only visible reminder that a town once existed beneath all that water 😮.

What you need to know before you go. 👇🏻

1. There’s a small parking lot near the edge of the lake by the bell tower, and it’s completely free. 😁 It was winter break (aka peak season) when we visited, but there were still a few spaces left. 

2. A 30-minute stop was perfect for us before everyone started getting cold but you could stay here for even a couple hours, especially in the summer! ☀️

3. At the parking lot, there’s also a café and bathrooms, but make sure you have 50 cents to open the door….gotta love Europe. 🙄😅

👋🏻 Hi! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #lifeinitaly #expatinitaly #familytravel
Merry Christmas from our family to yours. ❤️🎄 “Th Merry Christmas from our family to yours. ❤️🎄

“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”
2 Corinthians 9:15
Truth be told, I could probably make a reel about Truth be told, I could probably make a reel about why the Italians think our kids are 100% American. 😆

But it is one of the strangest things to watch your kids grow up and adopts customs and habits that felt so foreign to you 15 years ago. 

For the longest time I couldn’t understand handwritten numbers in Italy and now my kids are telling me that how I write my 1s and 9s is odd! 🤪

Anyone else have this experience? 

👋🏻 Ciao! I’m Danielle, an American mom raising our 4 kids in my husband’s hometown in Italy. 🇮🇹

I share our family travels with an emphasis on unique and educational experiences. So glad you’re here! 💛

#familytraveltips #travelwithkids #lifeinitaly #italy traveleurope

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