The Voyage from Melbourne to Milan

The day we’d been planning for months had finally arrived. Melbourne — the city that had been home — was now behind us. Ahead: a new adventure in Italy.

Leaving Melbourne

Although we had been planning this move for months, life events in February meant we ended up racing to the finish line. The final weeks were a blur of competing priorities: packing for seven months in Italy (trying to strike the balance between taking enough but not too much), while simultaneously clearing out our possessions so we wouldn’t return to a bunch of things that we didn’t need for our next chapter in QLD. That meant donating bags of things, hiring bins, and making a lot of decisions quickly about what actually mattered.

On the Thursday morning before our flight, I took the kids on one last Melbourne errand — a trip to the Salvation Army on Kororoit Creek Road in Williamstown to drop off some donations. Roadworks meant we couldn’t get to the Williamstown playground as planned, so instead we ducked into Edwards Reserve, one of our old stomping grounds. The kids had a blast and burned through a lot of energy, which, I hoped, would mean they would sleep on the long flights ahead.

Back home, the afternoon was a flurry of final tasks — preparing food for the kids’ journey, packing and repacking bags to make sure we hit the weight limits, and tying up whatever loose ends remained. We said our goodbyes to Nonna Anna and Nonno Bert, then drove over to pick up Dom. Here we said farewell to Nonna Frankie. Dom came with us to the airport, and then drove the Tarago back to his place. And just like that, the journey had begun.

The Journey

Melbourne Airport

We arrived at the airport two and a half hours before our 5:10pm flight — deliberately early, given we had four large suitcases, two small ones, four backpacks, a pram, and two small children to navigate through check-in. We wanted time, not stress.

We had already been on edge in the days leading up to departure. Multiple phone calls between Virgin and Qatar Airways had gone around in circles, with neither airline able to confirm that our family would be seated together in the four-seat middle section, or that the kids would receive children’s meals. It was frustrating, especially having had no issues at all on the previous times I’d flown Virgin codesharing with Qatar.

At check-in, there was a decent queue — nothing unexpected. While I waited in line with all the luggage, Rose took the kids to the customer service desk. She came back with good news: we were confirmed seated together, the kids’ meals were sorted, and we’d been bumped up to row 9 — right at the very top of the plane. Even better, because we had young children, we were directed to the priority check-in counter.

Then our luck ran out. Despite all four bags being within the weight limits, we were told we didn’t have an allowance to check in the pram — and if we wanted to, it would cost over $250. We were certain we could check in the pram, given that Ilaria was under two and travelling as an infant. But the rules, as presented to us, said otherwise.

After respectfully pushing back and making our case, the check-in agent came to a quiet agreement: if we split the pram attachments between our four checked bags, he’d look the other way on the fact they’d be slightly over the weight limit. We’d then carry the pram onto the plane. Deal done.

From there, the airport experience went smoothly. Security and passport control were straightforward. Ilaria and Issy entertained themselves by pushing the little suitcases through the terminal, and we boarded the plane to a very welcome surprise: empty rows of seats around us.

Melbourne to Doha — 14 Hours

We got lucky on the long leg. Plenty of seats were available across the cabin, and we managed to claim a whole extra row — Ilaria and I set up camp there while Rose and Issy had the main row to themselves. Issy slept for most of the flight. Ilaria was considerably more work, but we eventually got her down too. Fourteen hours is a long time to keep two small children settled at 35,000 feet, and we’ll call it a win.

Doha Stopover — 3 Hours

Three hours in Doha went faster than expected. We walked around the terminal, took in the famous indoor rainforest, and had a look around. It’s a genuinely impressive airport, and the stopover felt more like a brief interlude than a drag.

Doha to Milan — 6.5 Hours

The second flight was the easier of the two. Both girls slept for most of it. By the time we began our descent into Milan Malpensa, we were exhausted but intact. Italy was below us.

Touching Down in Milan

One of the quiet advantages of having Italian passports became clear the moment we landed: we bypassed the passport control queue entirely, kids in tow, and were through in minutes while others waited in long lines. A small thing, but after the journey we’d just had, it felt significant.

Waiting for us on the other side were cousins. We sat down for a coffee at the airport — our first of many — and it was one of those moments that’s hard to articulate. There’s something genuinely special about arriving somewhere new and being met by familiar faces that are happy to see you and ready to help in any way they can. It made the whole journey feel worth it immediately.

From the airport, we made our way to Paolo & Graziella’s house. We would be staying here for the first week before moving to our apartment in Merate.

One more thing worth noting: we later discovered that if we had flown just 24 hours later, our journey would have been caught up in the chaos of the escalating tensions between the USA and Iran. We had no idea at the time, but the timing of our departure turned out to be fortunate in ways we couldn’t have planned for.