One of the downside of traveling in winter is the fact that you can’t travel too light. The down jackets and winter boots alone add so much bulk (and weight) into your luggage space. However, since you won’t perspire in winter, you can get so much more wear out of your base layers and so that means shorter packing checklist!
For our 2 weeks Italy winter trip, we managed to squeeze everything inside our 2 luggages with zero hand carry. We did a lot of intercity train trips, so we had to make sure we keep our belongings to the minimum. Alfred as usual was in charge of the luggages, and Tara of the backpack and the boy. Travelling light makes it so much easier moving between cities. Remember it is physically exhausting lugging around heavy luggages to and from the hotel. Note: Most Italian lifts are small. Veeerry small!
This age group (4 year old ) we found to be super easy to travel with. We no longer had to carry him – YAY! Every day we still took our beloved Maclaren stroller as Berlin loved to nap on holidays (overtired from excitement perhaps). We even took our stroller around Venice. We simply asked Berlin to stand up and walk whenever we had to cross the many bridges. This small inconvenience is nothing compared to carrying 19kg sleeping toddler on our back!
For winter travels, we love our merino thermals – our personal favourite brands being Icebreaker and Kathmandu. Merino layers are thin but regulate our body temperature really well. So when you are outdoors, you are warm, and when you go indoors, you won’t be sweating like a pig.
Good footwear for parents is crucial when traveling in winter, especially when walking over snow. You want something waterproof with rubber soles for a good grip.
For this trip, we tried using packing cells to organize our luggage more efficiently. We were skeptics initially but it turns out that these packing cells help so much! We can now find our underwear easily LOL. Too many times in the past we “lose” something in the luggage, then having to take everything out and mess up the whole space.
Since Italy is a well developed country, we did not have to bring too many medications (ex gastro meds) nor did we bring any food or snacks from back home for Berlin. Also by this stage, Berlin is fully toilet trained so we did not have to bring nappies. We chose our accommodations; both hotels (via Booking.com) and Airbnb close by to train stations and convenience store. Almost every evening we would buy yummy Italian snacks; cheese, salumi, and red wine to devour back in the hotel.
Below is Letsgobeartravels TODDLER TRAVEL & PACKING CHECKLIST (4 Years old – Winter)
