Recently, we’ve been touring Italy, and it is really beautiful. But with two families – eleven of us total – it’s definitely different. Almost everything – from eating out, to staying in – changes, though it does have its pros and cons.

I’d certainty assume that finding a place to stay for almost a dozen people is hard, but I’m not going to complain. The medieval watchtower we’re currently residing in is totally cool. Though, it would’ve been a little roomy with only half of us staying there.

More often then not, however, the people waiting at the front of the restaurant to beckon people in either 1) ignore us completely, or 2) look utterly taken aback at our presence. If we decide to eat there, we’re usually guided to the emptiest part of the restaurant – even if there’s space elsewhere. I suppose it’s more of a vendetta against kids, not groups, but still. We don’t have to remind them to bring our food, though. Whether it’s good service or they want to get us out of there as soon as possible, it’s surprisingly faster.

I’ve been inside the tourist information offices with the parents – as alarmed as the ladies at the counter look when told ‘4 Adulti, 7 Bambini, the tours booked are nice. As a side note – we’ll almost always get private tours, for whatever reason. Public transport isn’t that different, though. In Rome, we saw several school groups go through. Seating could sometimes be difficult, though, or even just space in general.

On probably the same hand, you could make a game of counting the number of people who give us odd looks as we pass them with our suitcases along the bike path. But I’d think the most memorable part of traveling in such a motley crew isn’t the difficulty of getting through a big crowd, or the overwhelming amount of gelato flavors up for sampling from each other’s cups. Now, there are twice as many people to play spoons with on the ferry – or the train or the car or the bus. Separately, we’re fun, I suppose, but together we’re a bunch of candyman-ing, cheese-headed way-weird beep-noses (oh, and one Dutch, there), but I guess you had to be there.