When on vacation we get towels too

It was interesting to get towels delivered to our villa for our vacation. It's not how we deliver our items, but then again, there is only one Relax Concierge.

Vacationer tip: Bring your own lock box

After spending a week in a villa of over 20 adults, we were always left asking "who has a key?". Since the group didn't do every activity together it was sometimes hard to coordinate keys. In some cases we kept the doors unlocked.

I definitely don't recommend leaving doors unlocked. We were fortunate to not have any issues but we were lucky. 

In the future I plan to bring a lockbox to our next vacation. We will provide our  family and friends with the code so we can rest assured our belongings will be secured and everyone can come and go as they please.

We rent beach stuff too when on vacation

While visiting the beach in Positano we had to rent some beach equipment to fully enjoy ourselves. We rented 4 lounge chairs and 2 umbrellas for about 2 hours. It wound up costing 30 euro for the time but I think it was totally worth it.  Our rates are so different and you keep the items for a week!!!

We did order some pizza to go from my favorite spot, chez black,

and my sister got us some coronas (haha). It was probably the most relaxing we did during the trip.  

Baby rental items for our vacation

Prior to traveling this past week we looked into some baby rental options in positano. We were hoping to rent some items that were similar to what we rent to our guests. We brought our umbrella stroller, baby back pack and car seat.  Of the relax items, we brought the baby monitor.

 We were looking to rent a crib, play yard and a high chair but didn't find anything. I can make it work without a crib but I definitely missed the play yard and the high chair.  We had lots of folks to hold him he was on the loose a lot:)  the monitor did help me relax a bit while he was napping. 

 it was our luck that the airline messed up our bags and didn't send the car seat or the baby back pack until mid week. Ugh!  Fortunately our driver brought a car seat just in case. Thank you Giovanni! I don't know what I would have done if he didn't have one.

I spent some time researching back carriers vs strollers before our trip and thought I had it covered. Our uppa baby g-luxe umbrella stroller worked out great when not taking the stairs. That probably accounted for 50% of our time in positano. It had to be carried by someone the other 50% of the time. There was one day where I had to do the stairs (let's say 15 stair cases) alone w the baby and stroller. It wasn't impossible but it was not easy! 

We purchased the kelty 3 baby back carrier before the trip after reading lots of reviews. I never used it.  It was too much pressure on my lower back and I couldn't figure out how I'd handle the incline /decline of the

stairs w my 25lb baby on my back. It may just have been me because a lot of men didn't seem to have any issue with the back carriers. It did work out just great in the airport. The baby loved it too! The flat terrain seemed to make the difference for my back. I would have brought my baby bjorn if the kiddo wasn't too tall for it. That seemed like the way to go for most women I saw. 

If I were to do it all over again I'd probably buy the ergo baby carrier. A friend let be borrow hers after my brothers wedding reception. We had a long walk from hotel puppetto through town and then onto the bus. In all the wedding fun, someone forgot the stroller at the villa so I carried the baby down the mountain, through town and to the beautiful yet very challenging walk to the reception. The ergo baby carrier seemed to fit him well, he stayed asleep for the trek and I had my hands free.  I'd still like to see if he would enjoy it while awake but that was a huge help!

Vacation tips

We haven't taken a vacation in a very long time. We've been away this week for my brothers wedding in Italy. Her family did an amazing job booking a villa for all the guests to enjoy for the week. We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know her family. 

They did so many thoughtful things at the house - in addition to planning the main event. 

We've worked with many families planning events such as weddings and reunions.  We thought you would enjoy some of these ideas:

Welcome bags- we received gorgeous personalized bags in our rooms upon our arrival. The bags included an itinerary for main events, info on the wedding couple and party, a pillow, lotion, local guide book, etc.  

Fruit and some snacks - after a weary travel day this was great to enjoy as soon as we arrived.

Room assignments- this is probably very important to know upon arrival if there is a large group and varying bed sizes.

Family dinner- Italy may be known for their food but I will always remember the dinner we had at the house on the first night. My dad cooked up some speghitti and meatballs. Delicious.

Packing ideas - Part 3

I'm starting to now believe that duct tape is definitely the answer for traveling. There is so many things you can do with it. In my case I knew traveling with a very curious one year old would be somewhat challenging and that my safety items may not fit in our luggage or may not work at the house. 

We used duct tape in the house to: 

Cover the stove knobs... They were so close to his level compared to American made stoves.

Keep drawers closed... Especially the ones below the sink and ones with glass items.

Keep doors closed. My lo loves handles. The house we are in has some big doors that could easily hurt a toe or finger.

Cover outlet. I only own us outlet protectors and don't have adapters for the protectors - ha:)

Mark our luggage. With lots of colors in stock - our teal duct tape makes it easy to identify in a sea of black bags.

A project for the lo. He loves stickers so duct tape keeps him occupied if we make a piece somewhat easy to take off.

If you have some vacating tips using duct tape we'd love to hear about them.

Packing ideas part 2

Here's one of our packing ideas when traveling with a baby...particularly a baby that likes to get into everything. 

We put his clothes in zip lock bags and organized by outfit. This way we can just pick up the bags should he get into the luggage and if e don't have a dresser with drawers above his reach. This will also help when family members want to help get him changed or when on the go

I wish I did that with my bag.