[McG]

We were there as a family (2 parents, 3 adult children) 2 years ago and stayed at an airbnb very close to the colosseum. I always recommend going shopping in Europe and getting non tourist prices. 1 euro bottle of wine? Yes please!

We used a tour guide in Rome for a couple of tours and she was an archaeologist which meant jumping the queue and getting personal knowledge of what was important. The other thing that we did was to go through open doors. There’s a church right beside the pantheon that was amazing but we knew nothing about it until we went inside. Time is a traveller’s ultimate commodity and I’ve just gotten to the point where I don’t want to waste time lining up for things so I try to get passes beforehand…cheaper too.

We did a pasta making session at a person’s home and the kids loved it, but it felt a bit weird to me.

The worst thing about travel is the disrespectful tourists. I’ve lived in a number of different countries as a foreigner and you get much better respect. On what planet is it acceptable to carve your name into the colosseum?

syd’s hat’s post was amazing and I wish I had that then!

Have a great trip!