Question for those who have done Italy in Sept/Oct

[familygoboston]

Hi Fellow ABD dis"cussers",

I have a question about Italy. We are considering a Fall 2015 trip, just the two of us adults. I'm not sure we will be able to work the Adult Only departure (this years departure is Sept 14, which might be tight with getting our girls delivered to college, closing the summer house etc.) We would consider a "regular" departure, but honestly would prefer the AO since we are without our own kids.

I'd love to hear from any of you who traveled on regular ABD to Italy about just how many families with children you noted on your September and October trips? I'd expect quite a few in the summer, but could we expect fewer children in Sept or October? Does the Italy ABD have a minimum age? One thing we've noticed with "school time" touring is that sometimes there are children and they skew very young since missing school is NBD for kids under 6 or 7.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Disclaimer: now, you all know I LOVE children, , have my own and work with preschoolers, led Girl Scout troops from kindergarten to college, drive around with the "for the kids" license plate on my minivan and even find kids delightful on tours, but for this trip we were seeking a slightly more adult feel! Please don't think I'm a child eating troll

 

[sayhello]

Well, the one question I can answer is the minimum age for the Italy trip is 4 years old, and the suggested age is 6.

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

I think a lot of schools will have fall break on either the week of Oct 5 or Oct 12. I haven't been on an ABD during fall break, but I did do a spring break 2013 ABD and there were a lot of kids. Long spring breaks are probably more common than long fall breaks, so maybe there would be fewer kids.

 

[abbyjt]

We did Italy w/ABD Oct 2012. We were one of two couples without our kids. We had a great time. The children on the trip were young & there were maybe 8 kids. We enjoyed those moments you see through a child's eyes without having to look around & make sure our kids were ok. At meals, kids sat together, & adults sat together. some of the other adults didn't realize we were kid less until 1/2 way through. The group was smallish, 25 or so. The kids were well behaved & not mine if they weren't, but they were.
I would say go for it. There are also a lot of dinners on your own, and a good bit of time on your own for wandering, so no worries about kids there.
Btw, we did adults only to Peru & loved that too. The guides were a little looser ( but different people, so hard to guess how they would be in non adult group) than on all the family trips we've done.
Happy to answer any questions.

 

[familygoboston]

I'm trying to convince DH, that we would be fine even without a AO adventure, since these Europe trips are different from the 2 we've already done. With CR and Ecuador, they were very "active adventure" intensive and the whole group did pretty much everything together. All meals were included and there were few "Jr Adventurer" nights- just one per trip.

On this itinerary, it seems there are at least 3 lunches and 5 dinner "on your own" as well as several half days "at your leisure". Additionally, several activities are separate for Jr adventurers, such as olive oil vs wine tasting etc. So I think even if our trip includes some kids (which I remind everyone, we usually enjoy their energy!) we aren't going to be with them all the time. Maybe mostly for travel, and group tours and dinners. That seems to me to give us a lot of time for plenty of adultness Im thinking of being in Italy (or other countries in Europe) where dining is later and paced more slowly. When on our own at a restaurant of our choosing, we can do that and would not be rushed through a group dinner to accommodate the younger adventurers. And if we choose some thing very educational or to do a bike ride around town one afternoon, we'd be on our own.

I'm getting romantic just thinking about it

Ed- I see Abby, that this is what you experienced! Hopefully we can make the AO if its as this year was in mid Sept, but we are really crunched to get home from Maine, get two girls to colleges, quite likely 6 hours in the opposite directions, packed up, house buttoned up and off to Europe, much sooner that mid Sept!