Keeping picnic supplies fresh?

Ice in large quantities is difficult to come by.

If you have a fridge in your hotel room, you can freeze a water bottle or two and stick that in your cold bag. Refreeze it at night and put your grocery items in the fridge overnight. I take all the minibars items out to make room for my stuff.

The cold bag idea is great! I will remember to take one with us to Italy this summer! We saw styrofoam type coolers at the Super U, a big grocery store in Isle Sur La Sorgue, France, last summer. I don't recall seeing any in Italy though. You are right that it will be hot in Sorrento. We were there in Mid-July last year and it was very warm but we still loved it! Happy travels!

Europeans don't understand what we love about ice. We ran into this problem camping in Europe several years ago. A nice man at a campground in Lerici explained to me that the Italians use the blue freezer packs. You buy two sets. Write your name on them and ask your hotel (or campground in our case) to put them in their freezer. You take one set with you for the day, then exchange them for the other set the next day and have them freeze them again. Sometimes they charge you a little money for this service. You should be able to buy a cooler and ice packs at a big store like Ipercoop or Carrefour.

We always travel with an ice pack that can be used for a sprain, sore muscles, etc. I think the brand is Nexcare--about $5 at Walmart. Finding a way to cool/freeze it can be a challenge, but we have done it often. It is very lightweight and easy to pack--very handy item.

I often wondered about doing the blue ice pack. i think I shall try it this trip. Thanks for the great idea!!!