On the Road Again!

Our room @ Casale Antonietta, Sorrento Back then I was a budding blogger of my travels and tended to write very little.  Verbosity was learned over the years. I saw an article about agritourism in Italy and how the market has blossomed in the Noughties and was now well established for those that wanted to be away from the city centre or beach location hotels. We stayed at Casale Antonietta in May 2009.  The place was a converted farm that was accessed by a very narrow lane, where even in a Fiat Punto we had to pull in the door mirrors to get past.  I had ordered a Fiat Panda from the rental company at Naples Airport but they did me a favour with a "free" upgrade to a bigger car. Fiat Punto T-Jet 1.4  My Tripadvisor review from 2009 Peaceful with excellent service I booked this place as I didn't want a town centre hotel with all the associated noise and parking difficulties. We weren't disappointed. It is easy to find and the bus stop is a short walk and is signposted...

After a week in Italy and the experience of driving narrow country and coastal roads with suicidal overtaking manoeuvres and the solid white line down the centre line meaning nothing, it was quite relaxing to ride into work today. In contrast with the Italian drivers, our great British commuters were the epitome of calm and manners. I suppose it is what you get used to. In Italy, considering the standard of driving, we saw no accidents where life or limb were at stake. Practically every other car on the road had a variety of bumps and scrapes on the body work. Some were vying for a record of having the most body panels dented or battered or simply scraped. The rental Punto we had came with the extremes of the front bumper (fenders?) scraped and the wheel trims scuffed on all four wheels. I added to these scuffs with both front wheels when forced to make a few avoidance manoeuvres when faced with a car coming the other way, sharing my side of the road. Brakes on the Punto were surpr...

Our room This is where we stayed when in Sorrento earlier in the month. The hotel is an agrotourism hotel in the hills above the city. A little more than a walk away, but and easy bus ride from just down the hill. We had a great time there and although not a motorcycling holiday it was a good area with so much to see. https://www.casaleantonietta.com/site/ https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g187782-d503636-Reviews-Casale_Antonietta-Sorrento_Province_of_Naples_Campania.html

Slight change to the plans for Italy . I saw an offer in the London Evening Standard for www.hotels.com and an extra discount they were offering. On the site they had the hotel we were already booked in at a cheaper price before the special offer, that when calculated came out at £104 less than both www.booking.com and www.activehotels.com . This is the biggest expense we have on the trip. In fact it amounts to about 55% of the total cost. Usually when we have a flying holiday it is to a timeshare where the accommodation cost is capped at £115 through RCI. As we planned this before the credit crunch hit we are committed to going. Everything has been paid for so to not go now will cost us dearly. We’ll just have to eat cheaply! Just under 4 weeks to go.

The plan was to get away for a few days over the May Half Term holiday to Italy, and more specifically to Naples, to visit Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Claire has been before and I have never been south of Rome . And then only once. Unfortunately, airfares were a bit on the high side as it is a kid’s holiday and so we had to cast about for dates where the weather would be t-shirts and so earlier in May was chosen. Flights with Easyjet were pretty reasonable outside Bank Holidays and so I booked and then checked on a few websites to get a hotel around Sorrento . In the end Active Hotels came up with the Casale Antonietta hotel. It looks pretty good and has car parking and free wifi! The car park will come in useful as I have booked a car. The airport to hotel transfers were pretty expensive although the train system looks pretty good, but I like the freedom of my own transport. We can always use the trains if need be. Searching the net came up with a FIAT Panda from Opodo with Hertz...