Plan A Family Trip To Italy That Leaves You Saying, “Grazie Dio”

<?php
if ( is_singular() ) {
    $terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'department' );
    if ( $terms && ! is_wp_error( $terms ) ) {
        foreach ( $terms as $term ) {
            $group = get_field( 'department_ads', 'department_' . $term->term_id );
            if ( ! empty( $group['above_content_full_width'] ) ) {
                echo do_shortcode( $group['above_content_full_width'] );
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}
?>

Ready for the trip of a lifetime? It’s worth it for sure but, in today’s economy, traveling internationally comes at a significant cost. It doesn’t matter if you’re going solo and staying in hostiles or as a couple on a tour. Going global is extraordinary but it takes money, time, effort and more. It’s no wonder that going to another country as a family is beyond the reach of most. It’s also why going as an extended intergenerational family (in our case 3 households totaling 14 people) delivers incredible value. Here’s my observations from planning, to going, and now reflecting on our family trip to Italy and how it can leave you saying grazie Dio “thank you God”.

FROM DREAMING TO PLANNING A FAMILY TRIP TO ITALY

Admittedly I dream big. I don’t apologize for that but I also don’t expect it of others. That’s not everyone’s MO. I do however believe that such a mindset reflects the spiritual DNA we have from God. Moreover, how you see your world is handed down to your family. Call it heredity, inheritance or passing on genetic information from parents to offspring; I can tell you I see it all the time in my own family. Our planning wasn’t just “planning a trip” it was a big exercise of our faith in Christ. We didn’t necessarily tell our 3 year old or the 9 year old or even the 16 year old, “Dreaming is how you pay attention to God”, but they not only learned it – they lived it. Grazie Dio!

When it comes to dreaming here’s 3 things we did that you can do too:

During a holiday or birthday meal when you’re all around the table, introduce the idea of doing a trip TOGETHER. Help everyone envision how it could be a really good thing to do.
Ask everyone to do their own dreaming and research and ask them to then be ready to propose potential destinations the next time you’re all together.
Get consensus (yeah that can be tough to do) and then set the date (at least 2 years out is generally a good strategy).

Now you have a dream. Now you can plan. And – believe it or not the journey begins right here. It’s a journey of trusting God, conversations, cooperation, setting and meeting milestones, getting real, revising plans, and getting excited together. Everyone will have different roles but what is powerful is that everyone will start to take ownership (in a good way) of this trip – including one of the biggest – sharing the costs.

HOW MUCH IS THIS ‘GO-ING’, GOING TO COST?

We’re still crunching all of our final expense numbers, but I think that this simple and straight forward Average Business Travel Cost Per Day (2025) by Global Travel Partners is a relatively good resource to help you plan wisely. For travel to “Western Europe” it suggests that (as of 2026) you budget $250 - $400 per day.

The multiplication is where the numbers morph into altitudes likely way higher than what your transcontinental flight will achieve. We, for example, took our family of 14 (3 families) on a “10-day trip” which actually totaled 13 days when you add 1 travel day on the front end and 2 for the return home. The math (using the estimates above):

LOW BUDGET ESTIMATE

14 people x 13 days x $250/day

$45,500

HIGH BUDGET ESTIMATE

14 people x 13 days x $250/day

$72,800

I’m not sure the numbers alone would have caused us to say, “Well forget that!” But, for the sake of everyone, budgeting has to be a big and regular consideration when you plan a family trip to Italy. As we all said to ourselves time and again, “This trip is not for the faint of heart.”

Honestly, I know very few people who would say that $45k - $72k is no big deal. It is a real big deal. And it is why you,

Need to know that God is in the midst of your travel plans.
Keep regularly praying throughout your planning and your go-ing.

Don’t invest in your family trip to Italy with a 1 foot in and 1 foot out mindset. Don’t be torn between a true desire to go with joy but also having a spirit of regret: “Jesus made me do it!” Going on a trip, especially one of this size and scope, costs a lot more than the money you’ll pay. It cost you time, patience, better communication, understanding, cooperation, forgiveness, compromise and reliance on God. These are all costly to your self-will. Quite honestly the cost is even greater as you discover that the “happy family” persona we all so carefully craft to post on social media is going to take a big hit. BUT – all of these costs are going to be the lasting lifelong souvenirs you get to bring home.

TRAVEL PLANNING TIP: Once you pray and get clarity on green-lighting the trip, resist the urge to second-guess yourself. Waffling does you no favors.

The Bible offers some very clear concepts that we can apply to all of life:

God is not the author of confusion. - He gives us harmony.

Let your yes be YES and your no be NO!

These are just 2 Bible excerpts that clearly give you wise guidance for your traveling lifestyle. There are more – find them, read them and let them take a place deep in your spirit.

CARRYING - IT'S YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE

Throughout our trip I captured picture after picture of our son-in-law carrying his daughter. Through the heat, the distance, and the very long days he cheerfully carried the weight. This was one way he lived out what we read in the Bible as our "reasonable service". Was it repetitive, tiring, not always fully appreciated and certainly not always what he would have preferred to do? Yes, but that's the stuff that makes the Bible verse, "Count it all joy..." more joyful than you could ever imagine.

REFLECTING ON WHY WE DID THIS KIND OF TRAVEL? TO MAKE THE (UN)COMFORTABLE, COMFORTABLE.

One of the things I want you to discover in map - A Travel Lifestyle Magazine is that there are many ways you can travel such as: local or abroad, solo or group, quick trip or long stay, for business or for pleasure, affordably or luxuriously and many many more ways. There’s not right or wrong way – there are many ways.

We found that taking a large intergenerational family group to Italy was one more way to travel. Was it more difficult than going solo or as a couple? Yeah, probably. But – let yourself get beyond that so you can discover how this kind of travel is incredible and incredibly rewarding like no other. All of us had many times to thank God for experiences we would not have had if we hadn’t done a family trip to Italy:

ATTENTION

We embraced the opportunities to give attention to each other. Sometimes that was nursing an injury. Other times it was creating a special moment or experience for someone else in the family group.

CONVERSATIONS

We had quality conversations, intimately rich interactions (both active and relaxed), and captured great photos that helped each other see things from each other's perspective.

RELIANCE

We needed to (and chose to) rely on each other, extend grace to each other and often put the best interests of each other ahead of our own personal wants or expectations. This happens especially during, the work of going, like train travel where pushing through illness, coordination, teamwork, unexpected changes, exhaustion and so much more is what you have to do.

These are just a few of the ways that big family group travel delivers a richer travel experience. We found comfort from each other during the inevitable uncomfortable aspects of travel. You do this kind of travel to be more in the presence of each other and more in the presence of God. It's not until you've done it that this truth evolves from being a compelling concept to being a lived and robust reality that you come to deeply value.

To reduce our family trip to Italy down to just the 3 highlighted experiences above is, I promise you, an editorial over-simplification. But I've done that to bring focus for you to how God can, with this kind of travel - direct your paths.

If it was just me, going solo, I would have done a very different trip. If it had been just my wife and me, we would have done it even more differently. Going to Italy for work, as I had done in 2000, had a very different focus and outcomes. This trip, as a family, we chose to stay at no more than 3 locations. We chose to limit what we did and what we saw. We intentionally did a lot together but also carefully made room for each person to author their own alone time. Crafting an itinerary and shaping your once in a lifetime experience should be actively intentional, collaborative and especially deeply prayerful. Then you will go in the exact directions He plans for you.

Did we do the trip perfectly? No way! But perhaps one of the biggest take aways from this kind of travel is to discover that you can be comfortable with the (UN)comfortable. That doesn’t mean just tolerating each other or the circumstances. Rather, it is a life building adaption to the will of God. We saw Italy through eyes of rich fellowship, patience, and the differing interests and viewpoints of each other. We got to know Italy in ways that we never would have if we hadn’t done it as a family. And for that , all of us can now better understand the deeper meanings of Grazie Dio.