The family departs from New York, bringing their automobile along, on the Italian ship Rex. A week later the shores of Cape St. Vincent were seen, the family disembarked in Naples. Upon arrival in Naples it took several hours to get their automobile off the ship. The family then visits the Aquarium in Naples and the city of Pompeii, on their return they travel by back roads to visit small villages, they come upon "rough uneven stone roads" filled with people walking, children running heedlessly out onto them, and donkeys carrying enormous loads. Signs of the fascist regime are everywhere:

"The houses are printed with various propaganda of the present regime. Everything is displayed in these large signs to encourage a militant patriotism and pride. The virtues of obedience and courage are stressed."

Still using Naples as a base, the family then drove to Ravello, by way of Amalfi. Losing their way, they wind up visiting Sorrento as well, and the Cimbrone Gardens. The next trip was to "Little Vesuvius" and "Soltafara," several miles outside Naples. Ethelwyn recounts some of the difficulties of auto-travel in Italy at the time:

"We have two experiences often repeated that are hard on autoists and strangers. One is that the roads to very important places are either very poorly marked or not marked at all. The other is that if one stops in the narrow crowded streets, either in the poorer parts of the city  or in the smaller places, swarms of small boys crowd around the car, climb on the running boards and press their faces against the glass, Sometimes they attack the rear tires with sticks. Usually they clamor to accompany us as guides for a small sum. Usually too, they are very dirty and smell of garlic. These experiences are repeated so often we lock the car doors, and also make use of the gesture and expression that Miss Middleton taught us to get rid of beggars. It always makes Dan laugh when he uses them and sees the result."

       The Hotaling family traveled to Herculaneum and Vesuvius by way of the "autostrada," after which they returned to Naples and toured the city. While traveling within the city they are at times lost within the neighborhoods and relate how they are surrounded and harassed by young boys and other residents:

"Perhaps as here written down these events sound neither alarming or important, but to have about you a noisy, greedy, rather hostile group shouting a language you can not understand & to see no interpreter and no "arm of the law" in sight is not a pleasant experience. When I got to my room in the hotel I felt as shaken and weak as if I had just risen from an illness."

        From Naples the family proceeds to Rome, where they find better lodgings and find traveling within the city much easier than in Naples. They take a number of day trips to the "Roman Forum," the "Farnese Gardens," the "Coliseum," the "magnificent new Forum of Mussolini, now being constructed,"  "the graves of Shelley and Keats in the Protestant cemetery outside the city," and too many "cold old churches." The family also took in St. Peter's, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and the Pantheon. Ethelwyn took a trip one day by herself to the "Spanish Steps" and the house where Keats died. There is a nice description of the steps, which she adores and she also gives her impressions of the house and the rooms where Keats died, the manuscripts on display and the register she signed, noting that "Alfred Noyes & his wife were on the same page. They had been at the house just a few days before."

       After nine days in Rome the family leaves and heads to Florence where they remain ten days taking in the sights of the city. The family then drives to Venice a distance of 175 miles on good roads. The diary recounts their itinerary in the city and its surroundings. The family departs on March 24^th to Alassio, by way of Milan, where they spend two weeks on the Italian Riviera. The family then proceeds to Cap d'Ail, near Nice, they visit Monaco twice, from Cap d'Ail they proceed to Bandol, where the first volume diary ends.

      The family toured Switzerland, Lucerne, Interlaken, Iseltwald, Montreux, Lauterbrunnen and a small village named Stechelberg.

      They proceed to Paris, then Calais preparatory to crossing the channel to England, from Dover they drive to Canterbury, from Canterbury they proceed to London and stay in Kensington. The diary recounts their impressions of the city and its sights. The family departs London on July 8^th for Windsor, they then visit Oxford, and finish their trip at Stratford-Upon-Avon, where they remained eight days and saw nine performances. Here the diary ends and the family returns to America.