Italy is one of those countries you dream about taking your kids for years....because, it's Italy! If you're itching for a family trip to Italy, we have some ideas and starting points for you.

There are 20 distinctive regions, and today we're zooming into Southern Italy - the CAMPANIA region! This "happy land" is the region that gave us Amalfi Coast, Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento.

Luigi Panella is a Southern Italian luxury chauffeur who was born and raised in Campania and has spent the last 15 years guiding families through the region he knows through and through. He's the kind of guide who doesn't just drive you somewhere, he tells you what you're standing on. I've trusted him with two of my own Italy trips, including one with two very small kids, and he is a big reason those trips worked so well for us.

This episode is a window into what a Southern Italy trip for a family could look like, the sweet hidden stops along the coast, the food, and how to approach it with kids. It's an insider's guide. I truly think if you go with your kids, it'll leave a lasting impression on all of you.

Wherever you are in your planning — just dreaming or actively researching — we hope you leave feeling inspired. Andiamo!

• Why the Romans called Southern Italy's Campania region Campania Felix — the Happy Land — and why it still earns that name
• The mindset shift Luigi says will make or break your Italy trip: come as a traveler, not a tourist, and choose one or two regions to really sink into
• The case Luigi makes for ditching the car and seeing the Amalfi Coast by boat with young kids (from the man who's driven that road hundreds of times)
• Where to base your family on the Amalfi Coast, and how to hop between villages by ferry like a local
• The layers hiding underneath the coast's 13 towns — including an ancient Roman villa buried beneath a church in Positano, the cave at Conca dei Marini (La Grotta dello Smeraldo), and why Ravello inspired a Wagner opera
• Why Luigi calls Naples a "giant playground of history and flavors" — and what it takes to see it that way
• Sorrento as the ideal family home base: stroller-friendly, walkable, connected by train, and deeply local
• Why kids love Pompeii (the volcano backdrop, the Romans' big cobblestones, the sense of a city frozen in time)
• Making the case for Matera — a UNESCO World Heritage city where people lived in caves until the 1950s — and its neighbor Alberobello and its iconic trulli stone houses
• Luigi's cheat sheet for spotting a tourist trap restaurant vs. the real thing (short menu, slow pasta, dinner at 7:30)
• What Southern Italy's food culture teaches kids about slowing down, lingering at the table, and what it means when someone says prendiamoci un caffè

🌐 Luigi Panella: luigipanella.com 📱 Instagram: @LuigiPanellaLuxuryChauffeurs

📩 Questions or feedback? hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com 📱 Follow along: @untethered_childhood

You go to Italy for the views. You leave with something deeper. Keep raising explorers.

You did not come this far to leave without knowing about luggage forwarding.

Part 2 of our Japan series with Jo MacGregor is here — and this one is all about the stuff that actually makes or breaks a trip. Phrases to teach your kids before you land. The konbini experience that her kids sprint toward the second they touch down. Omakase with children (yes, really). Playgrounds that look like they were designed by a giant who loved Godzilla. And the luggage forwarding system that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about traveling with kids.

If you missed Part 1, go back and start there — it's a full three-week itinerary, city by city. This episode picks up where that one left off.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Two mistakes families make when planning a Japan trip (and one of them will surprise you)
• Why Jo says strollers are non-negotiable
• Are kids actually treated like celebrities in Japan? Jo gives an honest, nuanced answer
• What to do if your family has gluten-free needs — including a Facebook group Jo recommends and a kitchen hack that changes the equation
• How to read a room, Japanese-style: the cultural motto Jo uses with her own kids everywhere they travel
• Japanese phrases to teach your kids before the flight lands (including the one that will make every waiter light up)
• Konbini culture — what it is, why whole YouTube channels are dedicated to it, and why it might become the highlight of your kids' trip
• Omakase explained: what it actually means in Japan versus what we think it means, and how to do it smartly with a family
• The playgrounds. We talk about the playgrounds.
• Sumo and baseball — the seasonal schedule you need if either of these is on your list
• Luggage forwarding: the system that lets you travel like a local and pack like a human being
• What Jo would say to a family the night before their first Japan trip if they called her in a panic

LINKS + RESOURCES thetokyochapter.com — Jo updates her area guides constantly with new finds. Bookmark it!

Jo on Instagram @thetokyochapter

Find me at @untethered_childhood or hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com

Japan has been peeking out of your bucket list for years. Today we're handing you the map — and for the next hour, we are transporting you there.

We are thrilled and honored to bring Jo MacGregor to the show for a special two-part series on Japan. Jo is a mom, language aficionado, Japan expert, and the author behind The Tokyo Chapter — the most-read Japan with kids blog out there. She is precisely what you need if you're interested in Japan — she brings a level of detail that will make your heart smile and immediately put you at ease.

She fell in love with Japan at fifteen as a full-immersion exchange student, spent most of her twenties living and working there (hotel concierge, ballet school, you name it), met her Scottish husband in Japan, and then moved back with babies. She's been going back three to four times a year ever since, keeping every restaurant rec, every playground tip, every detail on her blog FRESH and CURRENT. She lives in Melbourne now. She leaves no stone unturned. When you'll meet her you'll get it. You'll understand why I say we need a Jo MacGregor on every continent!!

Here's what makes Jo different from every other Japan resource you'll find: her blog is the tips, the findings, and the honest mistakes — so you don't have to make them. Their life in and out of Japan is colorful and adventurous, and also beautifully normal and relatable.

This is Part 1 of a two-part Japan series. Today: the destinations and a full three-week family itinerary, city by city. Part 2 next week covers the practical details — what to book and when, those legendary Japanese playgrounds, convenience store culture, phrases you can practice with your kids and more. So make sure you come back next week!

IN THIS EPISODE

• Jo's three-week family itinerary: Tokyo → Takayama → Kanazawa → Kyoto → Hiroshima → Miyajima → back to Tokyo
• How a fifteen-year-old exchange student became the internet's most trusted Japan-with-kids resource
• What Japan smells, sounds, and feels like before you've even formed a thought
• Futuristic and modern meets old world elegance — the striking contrasts that make this country unlike anywhere else on earth
• Takayama: dreamy mix of old wooden streets and mountain air where time slows
• Ryokans, onsens, and the story of Jo's son who was a terrible sleeper — until Japan fixed him overnight
• How to take your kids to Hiroshima in a way that's honest and age-appropriate

LINKS + RESOURCES thetokyochapter.com — free area guides for every city in the itinerary, broken down neighborhood by neighborhood. Start here. Jo on Instagram @thetokyochapter — real-time tips, kids on trains, convenience store runs, all of it.

Find me on Instagram @untethered_childhood or at hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com — tell me where you want to go next. Part 2 with Jo drops next week.