Traveling with eighteen year old grandson

Return question: what are the rascal's interests?

What cities are you traveling to? I'd ask your grandson to help with the planning. Our 18 year-old nephew had a guidebook and ideas for places to visit that we hadn't thought of--it was fun for us!

Hhmmm. I'm pretty sure an 18 yr old would like to feel sophistacated, sit in a cafe, and meet young Italian women. The scenery and historic stuff-just background.

We are planning to see Rome, Florence and Venice.
He loves sports and eating. The eating part is why he wants to go to Italy.

We gave him the tour book, but he hasn't really gone through it yet.

I agree he will probably want to sit in a cafe and look cool while looking at the Italian teenagers.

Just looking for ideas to keep him engaged

The 'Mouthwatering Italy' thread on the Graffiti Wall has some suggestions on food tasting tours/ places to eat. As for hanging out, perhaps the evening passegiata (that time of day when locals walk around and gather in the piazzas and main streets) in Florence and Rome might be prime young-people-watching time. I remember seeing young people gathering around the Duomo in Florence and the Spanish Steps in Rome during passegiata hours.

He is old enough to research options himself, either with guidebooks or on the internet. If he does no research, that indicates he is not interested in the trip. Just something to take into consideration. :-)

Is it just the two of you, or are you part of a group? That would make a difference in what you might want to do.

There will be 3 of us.. Myself, my husband and our grandson. The trip is his high school graduation gift.
He is excited to be going. He picked the places.
It is just me wanting to make it the best it can be for him. So I keep wondering if there is something we could do or sign up for that would be really engaging to him given his age.

We love Italy and are excited to show it to him.

Italy itself is its own best attraction. Just being in Sienna, or Rome, or Florence, is really cool. My 18 year old daughter enjoyed them all 2 years ago. the ambiance of each city will be different, so a little perfunctory reading would help. I really can't wait until I can take my grandkids to Italy. Cudos to you! Really Cool Grandparents! Don't forget to enjoy the trip yourselves! Jeff

Send him on this quest:

"Who was Bella Simonetta?"

Every Age has its Rock Stars.

If he doesn't find it interesting, well.....there's no hope...

Just, off hand,.... ask him to look it up.