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Old 1 Apr 17, 04:15 PM  
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Bartswife
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Sorrento for a 21st birthday present

Bit of background first. Ashley my baby, the nicest, kindest son anyone could wish for is celebrating his 21st birthday in May. He has learning difficulties which mean he's not going to having the celebrations most 21 year olds would want, he only has 2 good friends and isn't capable of going on holiday alone. He's had a lot of tough times in the past including trying an apprenticeship in childcare (which he thought would be easier than it was - loved playing with the children, found it tough to do the paperwork side of things). He stuck it out for well over two years before deciding he'd had enough, stress and tears often came home with him and it made me feel stressed and tearful too seeing him that upset. He also had a second job helping groups of disabled people access bike sessions on specially adapted bikes, his employer gave him a few more hours after he left the nursery, also he now does a little cleaning job with me in a leisure centre but at least he goes to work with a smile on his face and not taking school holidays benefits him as he also works in holiday scheme play sessions. The upshot is, knowing he has always wanted to go to Naples (because Gino de Campo originates from there and Ashley likes him) I asked him if he would like to go for his 21st birthday present but we would have to go with him. We are leaving his 24 year old brother at home as he is currently studying nursing and is on placement (he's had plenty of treats in the past and we are not paying for him to go, he's had the last 3 summers in Camp America and touring to get any more free holidays out of us).

After researching a bit about Naples and asking my sister in law who has travelled a lot I decided against actually staying in Naples but perhaps just visiting there. I asked Ashley his opinion and he agreed to us staying nearer Sorrento. We have actually chosed to stay in a little place 20 minutes walk away in Sant'Agnello. We have booked 4* Hotel Caravel which apparently serves buffet style breakfast to set us up for the day and a 3 Course evening meal, main course of our choice with salad bar. From the photos I've seen it appears to have lovely views over the Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius. Has a pool too to keep us happy on hot afternoons after sightseeing. We visited my brother last night to see his photographs of Pompeii and Herculaneum and came away armed with all of his guide books. It prompted me into action today so this morning I have booked a private car tour of the Amalfi coast calling at Ravello, Amalfi and Positano with lunch anywhere we want to call in and numerous stops for photographs along the coast. The owner of the company emailed within the hour of my initial enquiry with detailed itinerary of the day stating that any alterations we wish to make are absolutely fine, payable on the day €300. It's an 8 hour day so bit extravagant but so was our first trip to WDW! I then went onto looking at boat trips to Capri. Initially we were going to make our own way over on the ferry (cheap option) but I found a company doing boat trips all around the island with stops for swimming and snorkelling and visiting the grottos with free time on the island, drinks and snacks provided €85 each just deposit required today. Herculaneum and Vesuvius we plan on making our own way to on public transport which I believe is easy to do. Previous visitors to the hotel have commented on Trip Advisor that the hotel is very good at helping tourists source the best value trips compared to just going with the holiday company's organised trips so we will see. Our friends visited the same area last summer and they spent a fortune on organised days out which gave them so little time in each town. In fact some of their photos were taken through the coach window. They did the mistake of going to the first morning rep meeting and ended up with a walking tour of Sorrento and some of the afternoon visited some factory! That was more or less their first day gone and as we only have a week we are not going to make that mistake. I've been trying to learn a little bit of Italian and made the mistake of trying it out on some Italian nurses I work with. I had to respond with one of the phrases I knew - non capisco. I'm sure you can imagine what that means Having just had a foot operation at the beginning of March and have still got another month off work (possibly longer) I just hope that by the time we go I can manage to walk around enough to not spoil it for anyone. As long as my wonderful son enjoys himself that's all I want.

5.4.17 contacted the hotel today to enquiry about a cake or fruit basket for a treat for him and they very quickly and very kindly offered to make him a cake to be served with our first evening meal and said they will do something special for him. Very impressed.

Edited at 09:24 PM.
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Old 1 Apr 17, 04:44 PM  
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emmabanana
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That sounds like a great trip, I'm sure you will all have a great trip, I loved Capri when we went there.
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Old 1 Apr 17, 04:48 PM  
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We love that area. Capri is gorgeous - lovely views too from the chair lift to the top (and not scary!) We've done a couple of private car tours (when we've been on cruises) with a company called Allarounditaly and they can't be faulted. Hope you all enjoy it.
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