My very first experience at an Italian beach. It was an event 6 years in the making. My husband always talked about going to the beach and taking trips when we could afford it. Then it was when Miss V is a bit older, which then turned into when the girls get older. Now here we are, 6 years and 3 kids later and we finally took our first official family vacation to the beach.

Growing up I practically grew up in the car. My father was a truck driver so we always drove everywhere. So I am well versed in the tricks of getting children dressed in their clothes and having them sleep in them the night before. Car games, books and music are standard car trip necessities EXCEPT when in Italy. Apparently being carsick is VERY common here. As it turns out, not only does Miss E suffer (which she has since she was 1 yr old) but Baby C and Miss V also are affected by long car trips. We thought we’d avoid it by leaving early but because of the notorious traffic in the Bologna area our 4 hour trip turned into 7 and by the time we reached Bellaria (province of Rimini), the girls had thrown up a total of 5 times. It could have been worse but luckily the dose of Dramamine kids worked and knocked out Miss V and Miss E. Baby C however refused and she was the one who suffered the most.

The scenery was beautiful as we traveled through Piemonte, Lombardia, and Emilia Romagna.It made me want to explore more which is something that we haven’t done… but we will. One of the best parts of road tripping’ through Italy is the Autogrill! I’m not new to them as I have been to them before but for those of you who have not, make sure to stop at them. There’s nothing too fancy or special about them but it’s just one of those things you have to do. The husband bought the girls a 3D minion puzzle to put together during our time at the beach. I would later find out that when he was younger, his dad would always buy he and his sister a souvenir from the Autogrill on every trip. So this was his way of keeping with tradition and remembering his dad.

Once we got to our simple and humble hotel, the fun began……

part 2 coming soon