Originally Posted by
Perche
I'm wondering how spinners work in Italy where there are many cobblestone streets. With two wheels you can just pull the bag along, regardless of the surface. I've seen people have real trouble with a four wheel, upright spinner in Rome.
My guess is you can tilt over a spinner and use it as if it's a two-wheeler. If it's one that doesn't tilt to allow it to be used as a two-wheeler, I think that could be a problem. Even then, spinners are great to wheel around the smooth floors of an airport, but they tend to have very small wheels that don't do very well on large cobblestones, where they get caught in the cracks. For luggage in Rome, be sure to take the size of the wheels into consideration if you are the type of person who walks.
I guess traveling with small children that's not a big problem because there won't be too much walking. When I get to Termini I always walk to where I'm staying, which is always in Monti or near the Pantheon. That walk would be impossible pushing an upright spinner.
We've walked a ton from the various stations with our luggage and it's not as difficult as we'd originally imagined it would be. If you have a stretch of smooth pavement, you can push the bag, but for the most part just tilt it like a regular roller. Pulling it gets you through the rest. I wouldn't recommend a spinner that can't tilt and be pulled on 2 wheels, though, that would not work on the cobblestone.
We tend to travel with 1 large bag and 2 smaller (carry-on sized) + stroller. The usual drill is for one of us to take the large bag and the heavier small bag, easy enough to pull. If we also have a car seat, I'll stack the small bag on top of the large one and use a bungee cord - can still push or pull. The other person takes a small bag plus the stroller.