Wheelchair Worries *Puissalicon Edition - Roooooad Trip

I want to be completely transparent. This video was recorded at 23:23 on Thursday 12th September 2024, not 06:30 on Friday. I even wore the t-shirt I would be wearing the next day. I'm sorry, feel free to leave now if you are too disgusted with me to carry on.

Still here? I'll continue then.

Dad picked me up at 08:00 and we started the long journey down to Folkstone. The weather had been miserable for the past few days but today was quite sunny. It was early in the morning but the temperature was already fifteen degrees. It would be sods law if the weather in England was going to be nice for the next week and not nice in France.

We set off and the sat nav was saying our arrival time was going to be a lot sooner than we expected. Our calculations were a bit off, Folkstone wasn't as far away as we thought. No harm no foul, I don't like rushing, it stresses me out. Hence why I got up an hour and a half before we left. 

The roads were fairly empty and we had a fairly leisurely and relaxed drive, as there was no danger of being late for the train.

Even though the motorways were quite empty, everybody chose to drive in the right hand lane. I thought we were in France already but then remembered, it's a British tradition to drive in the right hand lane on the motorway.

We arrived at Le Shuttle with over an hour to wait for our train. Fortunately my Uncle and his partner Kaz arrived a few minutes after us. What are the chances they would be going to France on the same day, getting the same train and would be staying in the same villa.

Our train came up on the screen 'now boarding' and we took that as a subtle hint and headed for our cars. Within a few minutes we were in a small line of cars, presented our passports to a gentleman in a booth, had our car searched and headed for the train...via a mahoooosive traffic jam. It looked like the abandoned freeway in season 2 or 3 of The Walking Dead'. Most of these cars did have people in though. Those that didn't were standing around in the warm sun.

Sod's law was a worrying possibility.

An announcement came over the Tannoy, boarding was about to start. Car engines started switching on, people standing outside started walking briskly to their auto mobiles. The cars in front moved forward and it was our turn to keep the traffic moving. There was one small problem with that. We were in a DS. It's not the 1st time this car has acted like a toddler throwing a tantrum and refused to move, or just turned off mid drive leaving us stranded until the early hours of the morning.

"Do you want some jump leads?" A helpful woman calls over.

"No thank you, it's the computer refusing to start the car. It sometimes does this." Dad replies.

After a few minutes the car's stuck behind us breathe a sigh of relief as the temper tantrum subsides and we start moving.

We're ushered onto the bottom floor of the carriage, sit in our car for half an hour and hey presto we're in France.

The first thing I noticed was how big France was. I know that's quite an obvious comment. And how could I notice that just staring out of the window of a car? Well, it was 15:30 and the motorway was fairly empty. As the journey went on there were times when we couldn't see another car. Some things don't change though, everybody still drives on the right! 

Sod's law had come to fruition, as the relatively nice weather we'd left behind hadn't followed us across the channel. It was dry at least, but there were clouds in the sky. I hadn't signed up for clouds.

As the night drew in and we got closer to Paris the traffic became more and more congested. The sat nav was giving us simple instructions like "turn right" but there would be no right turns, just several roads forking to the right taking you to different parts of Paris. Fortunately, Dad somehow took us in the right direction and managed to stay in convoy with the two hangers on we met at Le Shuttle. We had reached our stop for the night - Brit Hotel Privilege Paris Rosny-sous-Bois.

I Writed A Book...

Back in 2007 I had a brain tumour, it was a Hemangioblastoma. It's a rare non cancerous tumour that occurs in about 2 to 3 people per million per year. It was supposed to be a fairly simple operation. Hemangioblastoma's are slow growing, and the tumour was 'away from all the major clockwork'.

Unfortunately MRI scans had failed to portray how “entangled” the tumour had become in hundreds of blood vessels.

Any of the blood vessels could be an essential supply to the brain stem. Each one the surgeon cut was likely to starve a part of the brain of oxygen, so he knew he was going to cause damage, but it was near-impossible to predict to what extent. I’m now forty one, I was twenty four when I had my brain tumour removed. I'm in a wheelchair, have Ataxia and have double vision and speech problems.

I've written a book; Brain Tumours, John Bonham and Fat Pigeons. It’s a cautionary tale, but also one of hope. I feel very fortunate to be able to share my story, and who knows it may help somebody going through similar times. It may help somebody identify the problem instead of making the same mistakes I did.

Plus, you want to know why fat pigeons are mentioned, don't you...

I did an interview on Vibe Radio breakfast show with Stu Haycock you can listen to it by clicking here

There is an article on the Brain Tumour Research Website - braintumourresearch.org

And an article in The Sentinel

Wheelchair Worries *Sorrento Edition - Tuesday 27th June 2023

Going Home

Our flight wasn't until 20:30 so we did some mooching around and then headed back to where we'd parked the car at Polio supermarket. It was going to take over an hour to drive to Ecovia so I thought I'd have one last Sorrento pee, ya know just for the memories. Dad checked out the public toilets and said the gents was going to be difficult and had no toilet seat, but the ladies looked do-able and it had a toilet seat. I jumped at the chance... an Italian women's toilet! I know how to make the most of my holiday...

The toilet was at the end of a two metre long very narrow stall. I transferred to the loo and Dad took the chair and waited outside. He shut the door. Click.

"I think that's just locked itself" Dad announced.

"Really?"

He tried the door and it wouldn't open.

"Nope it's locked. Is there a panic chord in there?" Dad asked

"Nope and I can't reach the door."

Great, I thought. They don't have toilet seats. Most toilets aren't disabled. Some are down stairs and they lock you in. I'm getting the feeling I'm not welcome here...

The stall was so narrow I could stand up and keep my self upright by pushing against the walls either side. Like Spiderman I crab walked down the stall and unlocked the door.

All that was left was to return the car to Ecovia, we were expecting them to make this as difficult as our arrival. We arrived three and a half hours before our flight took off so we wouldn't miss our flight if they were as difficult as they were on our arrival.

Here's the rest of Dad's review

On our return, the same person was much more welcoming and helpful, saying that she'd hold the shuttle for us. Unfortunately, the driver had other ideas and left. On his return, after about 30 minutes, he wanted to put my son and his chair in the luggage area, unsecured and among other unsecured luggage. We argued that this was unsafe and I helped him into a normal seat. I'm astonished that this company remains in business, and can only assume that they survive thanks to Easyjet, who should be more selective about whom they recommend.

You read that correctly, they didn't have any facilities for disabled passengers, so they were going to stick me in the boot like luggage.

I'll explain exactly how this went. I was invited onto the bus, I am in a wheelchair. A couple of inches off the floor is a rusty step into the bus. I asked if their was another way to get on and pointed at the wheelchair. He didn't speak a word of English, he said something in Italian gave a signal that I thought meant roll on and went inside the shabby looking port a cabin. He came out with another member of staff who was fluent in English.

"You want to get on the bus?" He asked

"Yes please"

They then got either side and were preparing to lift me.

"Whoa whoa whoa, are you going to put me in with the luggage? You can't put me in there".

The non-English speaking driver just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what I said, but it was pretty clear I was refusing to go in the boot. This is a perfect metaphor for my experience of Italy. Wheelchair users are as insignificant as luggage and they care so little they just shrug.

I proceeded to wheel round to the side of the van with Dad trying to point out "it's not safe." Dad helped me step up onto the rusty step which moved under my weight as if it was going to collapse. I sat in the front left seat directly behind the driver. It was a boiling hot day, there were lots of us in the bus and we were barely moving. I felt the occasional cold air from the drivers air con. It must have been misery for the other passengers.

I checked their website to see what it says about disabled customers.

I didn't realise the first link on the Google results page was a sponsored link for a different company.

Ecovia have got a lovely website, I thought. It's like a travel website. You enter your pickup destination, your arrival date and departure date, then you are taken to a page where it checks all of it's suppliers and then comes back with pictures of all the cars they offer, their prices and customer reviews.

This website wasn't in keeping with how Ecovia present themselves. To get to the premises, you drive through the back streets of Naples until you get to a portacabin in a public car park behind an Esso garage. This website says they have a rating of 4.48/5 from 234,117 customers. It also says 'Compare car rentals and save up to 50%'.

The penny drops.

This is a car rental comparison site and Ecovia barely feature in the results. When they do you can see that they have a poor rating.

This site is economybookings.com and shame on them for not even mentioning how disabled customers are catered for. There should at least be a notice before you purchase "economybookings.com is a price comparison website, please check the providers website for their disability access." Not all wheelchair travellers can get out of their chair. A wheelchair bound passenger who can not get out of their chair might have flown for hours, reached their destination and then find they can't get in to the car. The car rental sites MUST notify you before you rent the car how far it is from the airport. How you will get there (a shuttle bus at their expense or public transport) and if it is via shuttle bus, whether it has wheelchair access or not.

So, I'll give Ecovia benefit of the doubt and make sure I'm checking there website.

They have a very nice website, there's a booking form and then it brings up a list of cars matching your search criteria and informs you of a few features like number of doors and seats and whether it's auto or manual. I followed the buying process all the way through to providing payment details and there is no mention of disability access. So I went to their FAQ section to see if disabled access is mentioned for the shuttle to pick up the car. It wasn't.

So I had a quick look at some other car rental websites and did a search in their FAQs:

Europcar - no

Hertz - yes

Hertz have a search box that I entered 'disabled' into. There was one answer and it just directed you to the contact us page and it was about adapting the car. They do at least acknowledge disabled customers exist which puts them ahead of Ecovia and there might be nothing about transport to pick up the car because they are on site.

Avis - yes

Avis have a search box that I entered 'disabled' into. There was one answer and it was about adapting the car.

Enterprise - yes

They actually have a link on the main page - Customer Service > Disabled Customers. They have a section of the website dedicated to it. There are three sections - Adjustments, Surrogate Drivers and Permanently Adapted Vehicles and a link to contact them if they haven't answered your question.

Sixt - no

Now I only had a very quick search in the FAQs. In the case of some sites (Hertz for example) there are dozens of links that could hide information on what I'm looking for.

when I was looking at the Ecovia website, I noticed a link to 'Become an Affiliate'. I don't know if Ecovia do any due diligence, because I would say that either Ecovia don't know who's representing them at Naples airport or they do and aren't concerned that it's affiliates are representing them this way.

In Conclusion

Sorrento was an adventure and a place I would like to return to, but I would do it completely differently.

First of all I would stay in an accessible hotel. I didn't enjoy staying where I did, I don't like that the accommodation lied that there were 'disabled facilities'. I felt like an afterthought and expected to just manage. The person who rented us the accommodation could have ruined my holiday because of her desire to make a quick buck. Fortunately I'm a swell guy who managed to soldier on...<-sarcasm

However, I wouldn't do Sorrento again unless I could rent an electric wheelchair. I wouldn't go to Italy unless I was with people who could help me get to the loo. 

I would put up with the cobbled streets and the lack of drop curbs because I don't see it ever changing. I don't see how the cobbled streets could change and I don't think it should. I think the look of Sorrento is to perfect to modify.

I wouldn't go to Pompeii. Again there's an awful lot they can't make accessible but there's an awful lot they can and have, I did this completely wrong. I would say if you're disabled you should go on a disable friendly tour, check out https://disabledaccessibletravel.com/accessible-pompeii/

If you are disabled I would highly recommend viewing the website Sage Travelling

Wheelchair Worries *Sorrento Edition - Monday 26th June 2023

General exploring

It was Monday and we'd be flying back tomorrow evening, we were going to have dinner tonight at Da Gigino so we had a look around town. We went down some of the alleys and side streets. Again it was exactly how I had imagined Italy. It was generally the rear of shops, but the doors would be open, so I could see in. You would hear people chatting in Italian, mopeds were parked up that employees of the various shops had ridden to work. A side street would suddenly open into the outside seating area of a restaurant. We would walk down side streets with restaurants on one side and then an outside restaurant on the opposite side. Whenever you were near an outside restaurant (which seemed to be every few metres) there would be music playing. When there was a shop that wasn't a restaurant it would generally be a gelato shop.

The streets are particularly unforgiving in these side streets. Think of the classic Hovis ad where the lad has got the bread in the basket of the bike and he's riding on a cobbled street.

There's a lift down to the coast so that one and all can get down to it. I think it costs €1.10. I say 'think' because we never had to pay it as I'm in a wheelchair and they always let me go through free.

I didn't think the view from down here was as good as the views from up above, the views are better when u can look down at the boats from above or across at Vesuvius. Although the view down here wasn't too bad I s'pose (I'm currently looking out the window at a wet drive and some wheelie bins).

Now came my loooooooooooooong quest to find a toilet. We rode the lift down to the coast and I announced my need for the loo. It wasn't urgent as I'd learnt now that I had to find a suitable toilet, which in Sorrento ain't easy, so I gave notice long before it was needed.

We saw a sign for toilets, followed the direction into a little courtyard but couldn't see any toilets. After an investigation of all the shop fronts we noticed that one was open. It had a sign above the door saying ATM inside. We went in and saw a small queue of people waiting to go into a room and a bathroom attendant handing out single sheets of toilet paper. I didn't like the look of this, I had the distinct impression it was going to be the nastiest of public toilets. It wasn't! There idea of not having a toilet seat means that men have got a larger target to aim for so the toilet and toilet floor isn't as it would be in an English toilet, if this was England you'd have had to burn your trainers after walking on that floor. Not surprisingly it didn't have any grab rails though so I wasn't able to use it. Dad said no good to the attendant and he signalled to us to follow him and he unlocked a door and revealed a toilet with grab rails either side of the toilet. I couldn't believe my eyes and pushed down on the bar to see if it would hold any weight. It did but the grab rail had a single metal pole that connected the grab rail to the floor, like a walking crutch does. With a crutch though your weight is directly over the foot of the crutch, so the crutch foot can't move. That's not the case when you're holding these rails so these grab rails moved all over the place as soon as I put weight on. I shook my head, said thank you and continued our quest.

We stayed down by the coast and were walking up and down wondering if we could just wander into a hotel reception and ask if we could use the toilet as non customers. This wasn't going to be an easy conversation to have in different languages. We kept this idea as a last resort and kept searching.

We found a bar and Dad went in to see if the toilet was suitable, it looked like a nice bar so we'd stay and have a drink, I didn't want to do a 'piss and run'. The toilet was up a flight of stairs, it did have a bannister but was to narrow to walk side by side. The manager knew where we could try but her English wasn't very good so the owner came over to translate. The manager suggested we try just next door, but the owner pointed out some issues with that idea. The owner told us to go back up via the lift again and there's a public toilet there although she can't remember if it's disabled or not.

We went back above and found a public toilets. Now my memory is we found it by following a sign which showed disabled toilets, but this toilet wasn't disabled. I don't think I've mis-remembered this as it was in a massive stall which would suggest it is what they consider a disabled toilet. There were no grab rails and no toilet seat though, it was what I consider NOT a disabled toilet. This was a big room with a seatless toilet in. I could at least have the wheelchair in front of me so I could hold onto the chair for balance. It didn't do the trick though as I started to tip to my right, I was heading towards the concrete public toilet floor but luckily my leg pressed against the toilet bowl allowing me to put more pressure on the chair to hold myself up.

We had our final meal at Da Gigino, a restaurant Adam and Ruth had stopped on there way back from Mount Vesuvius yesterday.

They raved about the food here, but warned me that wheelchair access is non existent and the toilet is down some steps again. Although nowhere near the amount at Fauno Bar. This place even had a toilet seat!

I said "not a problem" but secretly thought "bit of a problem!" and enjoyed another amazing pizza. This one had cheese on (I point this out because pizza in Italy doesn't have cheese unless stated), Aubergine and several chunks of freshly cooked sausage sprinkled all over. Not discs of some sort of meat as you would get in England, but chunks of actual sausage. I needed to go to the loo before dessert, so Adam wheeled me as far as he could (people were moving their chairs to let us through) we were packed in like sardines. We get as close to the stairs as we could and then walked to the top of the stairs. Then holding on to the bannister I descended the steps to a toilet I could actually sit on.

Adam joked with a lady I was drunk, a joke that normally destroys in England but he had to assure her he was just joking.

This toilet trip was relatively simple compared to others I'd experienced in Sorrento.

Once again we returned to the table for dessert. Dessert is the best course of any meal. You're just plain wrong if you disagree with me. The first thing I do is look at the desserts, if they're not on a separate dessert menu. I've been known to refuse to go to places based on their dessert menu.

Wheelchair Worries *Sorrento Edition - Sunday 25th June

 

Vasame Part II

Dad and I went back to Vasame for dinner as it seemed like a nice place to eat outside, the disabled loo wasn't a deciding factor. Honest... We ate outside, it was early in the evening, the temperature had dropped to about twenty six degrees and there were hills in the distance. It was hell <- more sarcasm. My Italian experience was mainly about the food. Italian cuisine is my favourite, so I wanted to try Italian pizza ✔ I wanted to try Italian pasta, which I could now ✔ off my list and I wanted to try an Italian Tiramisu ✔

Wheelchair Worries *Sorrento Edition - Saturday 24th June 2023

Pompeii

We were going to get the train with Adam and Ruth but they rang us the night before to say they'd met some locals who recommended we shouldn't risk taking the train. There is a gap from the platform to the train, the aisles are too narrow to fit a wheelchair and finally apparently there are two stops the train can stop at. If the driver is instructed, they will re-route the train at Pompeii Scavi and you will depart at a wheelchair friendly stop. If the train isn't re-routed visitors coming from Sorrento will have to go down and up many stairs. 

We arrived there and one of the employees asked us if we were going into Pompeii, we said we were and he said there were steps. We said we'd pre-booked the tickets and we were assured Pompeii was wheelchair accessible. He volunteered to take me and Adam on a considerable walk to get to a lift that would take us to meet Dad and Ruth. It would miss out some of Pompeii as there wasn't wheelchair access to some parts. Seeing Pompeii was the reason Adam and Ruth had wanted to get Dad out here, he'd always wanted to see it. 

Adam and I got into the lift and after a short lift ride, we met up with Dad and Ruth. I have done some research before writing this bit, because my opinion of Pompeii is very negative and I didn't want to write my negative views and then have people commenting telling me I'm a moron because I didn't take the disabled route. 

We had been informed from a few sources that Pompeii was accessible, so maybe my lack of research meant I took the wrong route?

Reading the blog How Accessible is the Ancient Roman City Pompeii for Wheelchair Users? It would appear we didn't take the disabled accessible route. There is a route called 'Pompeii For All'. Although when we booked the tickets we made it clear we had a wheelchair user. So I don't know why we weren't told of this route. I don't know if the employee at the start thought it better to take me past the inaccessible entrance rather than having to send me away to a different area. He really did go out of his way to help when he could just given us directions rather than show us. We kept thanking him profusely and he kept saying he's happy to help and helping tourists like us coming from all over the world is what he enjoys.

I believe our journey began at the Basilica which looking at the map of Pompeii is quite far to the west, missing out a vast part of Pompeii.

It's clear that me reviewing Pompeii would be like reviewing a fridge that I thought was a freezer. So I will just make these points;

Wheelchair access throughout the streets is atrocious. I saw videos on YouTube of a person in an electric wheelchair going over a large impassable rock and there were two ramps either side of it that were at the exact same height of the impassable rock. I can only assume they filmed this when the ramps were first installed and they hadn't had thousands of wheelchairs going over them and the rock hasn't suffered from erosion and been chipped and battered. This YouTube video is a very idealistic view, like when you bake bread so there's a nice smell when your house is viewed. I think if you're going to show this video to get disabled custom you must keep the disabled access to this standard.

The signage in Pompeii is very poor. Pompeii is vast, but there are virtually no signs when you're not in a main street. When you are they are still very few and far between. There seemed to be hundreds of tours going on, lines of tourists following people holding flags of the language they were conducting the tour in, many people seemed to be on these tours and would be able to ask the guide if they wanted to get somewhere. The people that weren't had to rely on the odd sign. For example there would be a sign that says disabled toilets <-, so you would follow it, but after walking in this direction (for a long time). the next sign you come across points you back in the opposite direction, or doesn't mention disabled toilets at all.

There are only four disabled toilets at Pompeii, one at the Porta Marina Superiore, at the Porta Marina Inferiore, the Villa Imperiale and one at the other entry point, the Piazza Anfiteatro. The Villa Imperiale is the only toilet located within the site. The other three are located at the entrances. The remains of Pompeii's city walls are 2 miles in circumference.

Pompeii is a site to behold and if you get the chance and are able bodied I would go and see it. If you are wheelchair bound, I don't think you get the full experience and I would strongly advise you go on a wheelchair tour. I would say this is unavoidable though as this is an ancient Roman city and it might ruin the authenticity if there are grab rails and lifts attached to it. That said I think they have done the bare minimum in most cases or not at all in examples like the train. My experience was dampened by my uneducated expectations and also my woefully inadequate wheelchair. I have a manual self propelling wheelchair. It has big wheels at the back and small trolley wheels at the front. It has small anti-tip wheels attached to metal bars at the back to stop the wheelchair tipping backwards. Both Dad and Adam's legs were gushing blood where their legs had been hit while lifting the wheelchair up one of the streets high curbs. My manual wheelchair did allow me to see areas an electric wouldn't, but I was bothered I was damaging the ancient streets.

Wheelchair Worries *Sorrento Edition - Friday 23rd June 2023

I woke up the next morning and my phone wasn't on charge on the night stand as is usually the case at home, so I asked Dad if he knew where it was, and he didn't. I had an immediate nauseous feeling, my whole life is on that phone. "I can't believe I would have left it somewhere, it's always in my pocket, I never leave it on a table I put it straight back in my pocket." We logged onto Google and using Find My Android saw that it's location was behind the hotel, a few minutes walk away. Dad went to go and see if the taxi we went home in was there. It wasn't so he tried the 'play sound' hoping it would work. It said it was ringing but he couldn't hear anything, he was walking up to parked cars, staring in and listening for a faint sound. Nothing. However the phone that was under my bed was ringing clear as day! I shuffled up the steps on my ass and slid into the bedroom, it had fallen off the night stand onto the floor. It was reporting that it hadn't got any signal so we didn't try to play the sound. There was normally no signal up in the bedroom and the wi-fi couldn't reach it, so it was reporting it's location incorrectly.

Dad came back via the local supermarket Polio and picked up supplies, oh and chocolate! We had breakfast and then late morning ventured into town.

We got our first taste of rolling around Sorrento. Every street is cobbled some more severely than others. They look gorgeous though, exactly how I pictured Italy. I can fully understand why there is no accessibility on the streets because you would have to make modifications and then it would lose its distinctly Italian look. 

However, I don't think there's any excuse for the lack of drop curbs or in some cases there is a drop curb on one side of the road and an inch and a half high curb on the other that you have to pull the wheelchair backwards over because the smaller front wheels can't manage it. Or paths are so narrow you have to walk into oncoming traffic. As we were walking into town there was an elderly couple, the husband was walking next to his wife in a mobility scooter. They reached the drop curb and couldn't go any further because there was a car parked across it and a man in the car reading a paper. When Dad pointed out he was blocking it, he was very apologetic and said he would park somewhere else. This was the attitude I encountered all the time, the people couldn't be nicer but they clearly don't encounter disabled people often and don't consider them.

Vasame

Later on that day on our way back to the accomodation We happened to notice a sign on the corner of the street. Cafes and shops shaded by a portico were on the left hand side of a road that looped back on itself and came back in the same direction about a hundred feet away. More shops/cafes were shaded by another portico, again on the left side of the road. We walked under the shaded roof on a smooth marble 

like walkway and after a very short walk, we were outside Vasame. We weren't that far from our accommodation, but ol' Tommy here needed a tinkle. As I hadn't much luck finding a disabled toilet in Sorrento so far, I said to Dad "it would be great if it had a disabled loo". I said it more as rhetorical comment, never thinking for a moment this was anything but a reconnaissance mission for dinner later.

The manager said Vesame had a disabled toilet and the cynic in me thought "yea, of course you have." Earlier that day we had been to a restaurant to book a table for that evening that had said it was disabled friendly on their website. We parked outside and Dad went in to make the booking. There was nobody at reception but saw there were stairs up to the restaurant... in this accessible restaurant... Maybe there was a lift or another way upto the restaurant, we'd never know though as there was nobody in the restaurant either.

This was only my second day in Sorrento but I was already learning that disabled access had a completely different meaning here.

The whole of the front of Vasame slides open to either side so their was acres of room to move the wheelchair through. The floor was smooth from the outside walkway into the restaurant, there wasn't even a noticeable join in the floor where the glass front opened and closed.

The restaurant was lovely inside, divided into a small bar area and a restaurant. The tables are nicely spaced out, there's plenty of room to wheel through the restaurant, everything is on one level and the floors are smooth. They had a vast range of drinks and by the looks of the restaurant they would have a good menu as well. There were table and chairs directly outside and if you crossed the road there is even more tables.

I went to the loo. In the UK, the toilet area is usually behind a door (that opens outwards) separating the restaurant from the toilet area and for some reason the disabled toilet is behind a similar door. This toilet was behind a sliding door. 

I almost passed out with what I found. The disabled toilet was separate from the other toilets, there was enough room for two wheelchairs. I couldn't believe my eyes, there was a retractable guard rail! There was still no toilet seat and my thighs were on fire from yesterdays adventure at Fauno Bar, but it's so much easier when you've got something to hold onto.

Just out of shot on the right is a full length mirror, so you haven't been forgotten if you are in a wheelchair and can't see into the mirror above the sink.

This place has been designed with disabled access in mind from the start.

I had a BrewDog waiting for me on my return and with an accessible toilet and the freedom to get around on my own we stayed for a few. Adam and Ruth came to join us before they went out for their anniversary dinner. They found Vasame but were puzzled because the lights were off, it looked shut but the front door was open. Vasame normally close for a few hours in the afternoon, but they allowed us to stay. As Adam and Ruth had dinner plans we needed to find somewhere to eat, so we did. Here. The pizzas are to die for! The bases are like a light bread I would say. Here is the Tripadvisor page. There isn't one bad review and barely any that don't give it full marks. 

They have two outside sitting areas as well. The first is directly outside the restaurant which is as accessible as the inside, which if you go in the summer like I did, you're going to want to take advantage of. The second seating area is across the road. The road loops round so the exit is next to the entrance. The road is one way so the second seating area is on your right as you come in and on your right again as you're heading out. It's not easy to get to - especially in a wheelchair - but once you're there it's as accesible as any other table.

I highly recommend Vasame if you're disabled or not, but if you're disabled I would say it's a must. My experience of Sorrento would have been so much better if all bars and restaurants were like Vasame.

Wheelchair Worries *Sorrento Edition - Thursday 22nd June 2023

Gatwick

The flights were departing at six thirty am on Thursday morning from Gatwick so we left home at midnight. It would take us about three hours and twenty minutes to get there and we were required to check in three hours before the flight departed. We anticipated some problems as the original flight we were booked on had been cancelled and we transferred to another plane, our extra leg room seats that we booked had been erased from our booking as well as the fact we were sat either side of the aisle now. There were no problems at Gatwick and check in was very fast as there were no customers yet.

There was quite a small queue at security but as I'm in a wheelchair I was able to skip the queue, I was ushered through a gate, frisked and my chair dusted down. My leather man bag that had my laptop in and another item caused suspicion so it had to go through the scanner.

The suspicious item was a deflated haemorrhoid ring... I like to blow it up and stick my face through the ring... That sounded dodgy, let me explain.

Being constantly in my wheelchair, or sitting or doing activities that involve my back, mean that my back aches. For an hour or so each day I lie on my stomach to give my back a rest. Sticking my head in a haemorrhoid ring means my air ways are clear and I can breathe.

As we'd booked special assistance we were directed to a desk where they gave us a small electronic device that would bleep when we needed to come back to the desk ready to board. We were free to do as we wished until then. 

Even though it was the early hours of the morning there were thousands of people milling about. We went to Wetherspoon's and were told it was about an hour wait for a table but as I get special assistance we can go and sit in the special assistance lounge, download the app, order from there and they will bring our food to us, "although there is a twenty minute wait for food". Wait for 20 minutes or queue for an hour we thought. It wasn't a very hard decision. As it was four in the morning we thought we'd be sensible and just order one beer each. Within about ten minutes our breakfast arrived.

Special assistance cab. Does anybody 

remember the Jonny Cab from Total Recall?

The electronic device went off and we joined a few other people who had also booked special assistance. All had difficulty walking long distances and hitched a ride in the special assistance cab. As there was nowhere to store the wheelchair on the cab, we walked behind it. Well, Dad walked behind it, whilst pushing the wheelchair, wheeling a big heavy suitcase, carrying a rucksack on his back and carrying a laptop case. I was pulling my weight though, I was carrying my leather man bag with the deflated haemorrhoid ring, until we hung the man bag off the handlebars.

We followed the Jonny Cab/Special assistance cab to a lift and then took the lift to the floor of the gate, this had to be done in two journeys, because somebodies wheelchair took up lots of space in the lift.

Getting through boarding was incredibly quick and easy. I haven't flown much, but as I understand it's never this simple. I presume this was because of the special assistance. The whole experience was stress free, we got to have a nice breakfast, sit away from the crowds and were left with plenty of time to board.

I was then taken onto the tarmac and wheeled over to what looked like a mobile storage unit. I was wheeled onto a scissor lift which lifted me up and I and the other special assistance customers had a small ride to the plane. The mobile storage unit got as close to the plane as possible so I could just wheel onto the plane. I was then transferred into a small wheelchair that is narrow enough to fit in the aisles. 

I transferred into the plane seat and as the wheelchair was being rolled away I realised I needed the loo. Trying to cause as little burden as possible I said I can walk with the help of my Dad. With my hands on his shoulders he walked back slowly while I took tiny steps forwards trying not to lose my balance and fall into the lap of bemused holiday goers. The cabin crew organised some seats at the back of the plane so I didn't have to walk so far back to my seat. I was sure this flight was fully booked but there was a whole aisle free on my return.

It was about two hours and forty five minutes to Naples, long enough to watch several episodes of New Girl on my phone.

Naples International Airport

We landed and waited for about fifteen minutes while everyone departed and special assistance arrived with a small wheelchair. We got off the plane into the mobile storage unit and I was immediately drenched in sweat. The small amount of hair I've got formed a widows peak that would remain until I got home and my hair was no longer wet all the time.

I transferred back into my wheelchair and was wheeled onto the lift so the scissor lift could return us to the tarmac. I knew Naples was going to be hot, but I didn't expect this. Fortunately I was wearing a cap, long trousers and a long sleeve top as I hadn't thought about putting on sun cream in the dark, moderately warm early hours of the morning.

Everybody departing the plane had formed a huge line, waiting to produce their passports to gain access to Italy. At least half of the line were exposed to the baking sun, there was no shade and they were all dressed in shorts/skirts and short sleeved t-shirts. Many didn't have hats and probably hadn't put on sun screen. I noticed an extremely pregnant lady that looked eight to nine months pregnant. I don't know how pregnant you have to be before you're not allowed to fly, but whatever the limit is, this lady was the day before the restriction started. She didn't have a hat on. I just hope pity was taken upon her and she was moved to the front of the queue.

We followed the Italian member of staff, assisting me and a lady in a wheelchair. He repeatedly barked "Mi scusi" and the crowd started to part like the Red Sea. We moved to about fifth in the queue and we were still waiting for about ten minutes. There were about two dozen desks here, but only two were in use. There were two people at each desk checking the passports of about two hundred passengers, and they were incredibly slow. Suspiciously slow I would say, almost like they were trying to make a point. The other desk was checking in three passengers for every one of ours. We finally got through, went through security and were taken to baggage claim.

Next on the agenda was picking up our rental car... via the toilets as ol' Tommy here had to tinkle. We saw a sign for male, female and disabled toilets. We followed the signs and found the door hiding the disabled toilet, it didn't have any grab rails or any apparatus that would constitute an accessible toilet. I do have strength in my legs and can support my own weight, so I can transfer onto a toilet... but the toilet I'm transferring to needs to have a seat. Something this was lacking. Fortunately there was another disabled toilet next door which I was sure would have something that qualifies it as a disabled toilet. It didn't... Nor a toilet seat. We'd sort out the rental car and attend to my needs along the way.

In a noisy airport Dad phoned the number from his EasyJet flight info and was given some directions.

Ecovia

This is Dad's review on TripAdvisor, for which he gave an extremely generous one out of five. Presumably you can't give zero, which is why they have a higher rating than they deserve of one and a half from seventeen reviews.

The directions provided to find the shuttle bus were indecipherable. I wandered around, coping with a huge wheeled case, two rucksacks and my son in a wheelchair until a helpful local rescued us and took us to the bus stop. Here the driver refused to take the wheelchair. I had to leave my (adult) disabled son in the blistering sun to be allowed aboard. The driver dropped me at a huge car park, full of car hire companies, none of which was Ecovia. I was told by another company that I was 10-15 minutes' walk away.

On finding the right place (a portakabin with the name Autovia above it), I stood for some time in front of a woman taking and making numerous phone calls while other staff stood around chatting. Eventually, she extended a hand and said "voucher". My explanation that my disabled son had been left at the airport was greeted with a shrug and a muttered, "sorry".

I'd paid an extra £56 through the Easyjet site for cover against the 2000 euro insurance excess. The woman said this wasn't valid, and that I'd have to pay an additional 230 euro for cover. I refused and argued for some time before we were able to move on. All of this was interspersed with her breaking off for more phone calls, most of which seemed to be arguments with disgruntled customers.

The car was actually fine; clean and almost new...

This review doesn't end there, I'll put the rest of the review when we return the car. If you can't wait, you can read the whole review here.

So yes my experience of Sorrento wasn't great so far. I think their idea of disabled is vastly different from the reality. Not only were there no disabled facilities in the disabled toilet, all the paths outside of the airport were cobbled as well. Then the car rental place refused to take me to pick up the car.

Dad now had to navigate to where I was in the airport. I sent him my location in WhatsApp and after about fifteen minutes he rang me to say he was here, he'd put the car in a drop off space (some airport staff had said it was ok) and he was coming over to collect me. He was quite stressed at this point and Italy is like driving in a Dodge-Ems ride at the fairground. In the baking sun he wheeled the suitcase, two rucksacks and a wheelchair. "I should have rented an electric wheelchair" I thought, although on current evidence it wouldn't surprise me if the wheelchair rental place was up some steps. We put the luggage in the car, reversed out of the space and noticed there was an army Land Rover blocking the only exit. Two army men were by the Land Rover, Dad pointed at the Land Rover and one of the men took a cigarette out of his cigarette case, tapped it twice on the lid, put it in his mouth and casually walked inside. After about a minute three of them returned, so Dad with frustration, pointed at the Land Rover again, the army man just starred back. We couldn't see how arguing our point would be a good idea, we proceeded to reverse towards the entrance of the car park and then out into the oncoming Italian free for all traffic.

As I'm writing this I'm realising we reversed past the parking space we were in, so we could have reversed into that and driven forwards into the traffic. Yes we'd be going the wrong way on a one way, but we were anyway, but at least we'd be going forwards. Hindsight when you're not stressed is a wonderful thing...

As we were reversing we were too close to the side and were going to bump it so some men started shouting and signalling to us to straighten up. These men were sitting on a bench by the army men. They then started saying something to the Army and were gesticulating. The army men said something and they seemed to be intimidated into silence and sat back down.

We managed to reverse out without any further problems and set the satnav to where we were staying which would take an hour and ten minutes.

Even with the satnav we got lost and were going in constant loops. We worked out that when it said a right turn it sometimes meant a right fork. The roads were very short so by the time the satnav had told us to make a turn we were already past it.

We finally got onto the Autostrada and kept an eye out for toilet stops. We missed the turn off for a toilet stop almost as soon as we got onto the Autostrada, the instruction to turn came with almost no warning again. We picked up another sign and with our limited Italian managed to work out the sign for the toilets. 

About two and a half hours after I first attempted to go to the loo the mission was completed. There was even a toilet seat! Something I'd never considered a luxury until now.

The view heading into Sorrento

We stayed on the Autostrada for about twenty minutes and then the last half an hour was spent on single lane roads twisting along the coast with sheer rock faces on your left. The traffic is moving at about twenty miles hour allowing you to catch glimpses of the most amazing view to your right between the bushes and tree branches. The Mediterranean sea as far as the eye could see, Mount Vesuvius some distance away but clear as day. The peak appeared to be covered in cloud, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I can only assume as it's still an active volcano, these clouds are something to do with the gasses it's releasing. Far below floating on the sea are dozens of boats, yachts and super yachts, either parked in the harbour or sat away from shore having dropped anchor. Fruit stands, ice cream stands and people just parked up to look at the view, litter the side of the road. This reminds of some of the places Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan visited in The Trip to Italy.

The traffic is evenly distributed between cars and motorcycles. The majority of the bikes are mopeds and a small amount are classic white or sky blue Vespa's. Everybody wears helmets which makes me wonder is there any point wearing a helmet if you don't accompany it with protective clothing? Although I understand why people take the risk, this really is the ideal way to travel in Sorrento and it's already far too hot without wearing heavy bike leathers.

Driving a car requires you to constantly check your wing mirrors to see if there's a motorcycle coming up on you. They overtake you on blind corners hugging the white line separating them from oncoming traffic, but somebody coming in the opposite direction might be doing the same. It all seems to work though. In the time I was there I never saw an accident or anything close to an accident.

We got to where we were staying and the owner greeted us within five minutes of our arrival. She opened the electronic gates revealing a courtyard for us to park off-road, something that appears to be a luxury in Sorrento.

DOMINO HOUSE - Il Casale

I wasn't very impressed with the accommodation. The images that are provided on the website don't reflect it's current state accurately. My main issue is that when you list a property in Sorrento on booking.com (that's how we found this accommodation) there are around 152 items you can check. The same checkboxes appear in your search results. Properties that match your search criteria are shown. 'Facilities for disabled guests' appears in this properties search criteria which I think is quite naughty. Let me explain.

facilities for disabled
guests isn't even
viewable by default.

'Facilities for disabled guests' isn't even visible in the search criteria unless you click 'show all'. I'm not quite sure what the intention of this checkbox is? The last two sections of the search criteria are about the property and the room accessibility, which cover every search term I can think of.

All this criteria is doing is allowing accommodations like this one to get business from disabled customers. I realise it clearly says 'facilities for' and not 'disabled access', but I was just looking for the disability icon and didn't read what it said. You might say I got what I deserved, but I think a lot of people will make this same mistake.

accessibility criteria

There is a whole section on the booking.com search criteria that is dedicated to disabled access. The property I stayed in could not answer yes to any of these questions.

The bathroom had a floor that was like stepping on ice when it got wet. There were no grab rails around the toilet, the shower was barely big enough to fit a person in. I require a shower chair as I can not stand and I need the arms of the chair to stop me falling to the side and out of the chair. We asked the owner if she could provide a chair. She did and there was barely enough room to fit the chair in and even less room for my elbows and knees.

The gap to get into the shower was so small you had to slide in sideways. When transferring to the shower chair I usually put my wheelchair next to the shower chair and transfer from one chair to the other, but there was barely enough room between the toilet and the shower cubicle and I couldn't fit through the gap to get into the shower on my own, so I had to get my Dad's help. I backed the wheelchair into the gap between the shower and the toilet and on the wet icy floor, trusted my Dad could hold my weight as I flung myself to the shower chair, contorting myself sideways.

There were no grab rails around the toilet, but there was a screw sticking out of the wall, I presume a picture used to hang here. So I would position my chair in front and to the side of the toilet, retract the left arm of my chair, hold the right arm of the chair with my right hand and hold onto the screw with the fingertips of my left hand. If Dad had used the shower beforehand, the floor would be so slippy I couldn't get enough grip to elevate myself to get my trousers down. I had to put trainers on with rubbery soles and dry the floor as well as possible with a towel. From then on we always made sure I showered first so at least I was transferring on a dry floor.

One of the many facilities
for disabled guests?

The main bedroom was up four steps. I was limited to the kitchen, living room and bathroom. There was a bed in the living room I could have used but the bed was tiny and the main bedroom had a double bed... Or so I thought, it actually turned out to be two single beds pushed together. 

There was an outside terrace with a table and chairs and some sun loungers, but again these were up four steps.

There was an overgrown garden, to be fair I think it had been left to over grow on purpose, it would have been a small haven for wildlife. There were lemon and orange trees. It was lovely, it looked like a set from The Godfather. I went to investigate but couldn't go very far, so I had to get Dad to video it and show it to me.

Bar Ercolano

On our first evening Adam and Ruth had already scouted out a wheelchair accessible restaurant we could eat at and had been told they should book in advance if they wanted to eat anywhere in Sorrento as just turning up hoping to get a seat usually ends in disappointment. I don't know if it's like this all year round, but the place is just as busy in the evening as in the day.

Our accommodation was about a five minute walk from Piazza Tiasso and about another five minutes from Adam & Ruth's hotel (Grand Hotel Royal). We met on the ground floor terrace overlooking the coast with Mount Vesuvius in the distance, we would finish the evening with a few drinks here. An option only available to guests of the hotel. The hotel was also five minutes walk from Piazza Tiasso and I got my first taste of the cobbled streets. We walked in the cooling evening heat sharing the streets with dozens of other people, some who seemed to be non-Italian but the majority were. I believe Sorrento is a popular holiday destination for Italians as well.

We stopped at Bar Ercolano which was at the opposite end of the square to where we would be eating. I sat with a big grin on my face, "this is exactly how I pictured Italy" I thought. We were sat outside, it was very warm but it was about 17:30 so it was cooling, but still in the mid twenties, sipping on Aperol Spritz (my drink of choice while in Sorrento) and munching on the snacks they had brought over with our drinks.

Fauno Bar

We then went across the square to Fauno Bar the restaurant we would be eating in. There was a long line of people hoping to get a seat, I doubt they were particularly successful because it seemed pretty full. We went to the front of the queue and were shown to our table. We were sat on the outside corner. The tables are nicely spaced so you've got some privacy, you're not in the middle of the square so people aren't walking by your table, but you're close enough to still say you're in Piazza Tiasso. Then I found out that 'wheelchair accessible' in Italy means "we'll say it is so we get your business".

I needed to go to the toilet, so Adam took me to go and find it. First problem, the toilet is inside and the inside is up a step. Adam asked if one of the waiters could help us. A waiter lifted the front of the wheelchair while Adam lifted the back. "This isn't what I would call accessible, but I've seen worse" I thought.

We asked where the toilets were and were pointed to an arch way in the corner. Adam went to investigate and asked a nearby waitress if there was a disabled toilet, he walked back shaking his head. This wasn't a situation I could delay so I asked if there was at least a bannister. There was and so holding onto the bannister with my left hand and Adam with my right hand I slowly made my way down the steps. Very slowly, because there were about nineteen steps down to the toilet in this 'wheelchair accessible restaurant'. I was knackered when I got to the bottom and then I spotted the toilet seat, or I should say, I spotted the lack of a toilet seat. There weren't even grab rails in this 'wheelchair accessible restaurant'. Adam said the words I was both grateful and embarrassed to hear. "I'll hold you up and look away." I eagerly accepted, but as I was readying for my first stand up wee in years, my shaking hands reminded me I have Ataxia and not being able to stand wasn't the only obstacle. "I'm not going to be able to". So I somehow (and I can't remember how) managed to squat over the toilet and not topple to the side. I think the cubicle was so narrow, I couldn't topple to the side and was able to prop myself up on the wall.

With very tired legs I then made my way up the steps and about ten minutes after I last sat in it, collapsed into my chair. I washed my hands with the hand sanitizer I always carried around and handed it to Adam to do the same. The waiter helped Adam lift the wheelchair down the step so we could return to our table. 

Fortunately it was dessert next and I have a major sweet tooth. I'm not normally one for taking photos of what I eat but holy shirtballs this was amazing! The adventure I'd had moments ago was forgotten.

The food, the setting, the staff everything but the disabled access I would give ten out of ten. If you are disabled I STRONGLY advise you steer clear of it.

Grand Hotel Royal

We strolled back to the Grand Hotel Royal and closed out the night on the ground floor terrace overlooking the sea, the boats and the coastline in relative quiet as there were very few people here as this was a private area.

I had to go to the loo again. If you're tired of hearing about the disabled toilets of Sorrento I suggest you don't read on. This blog is basically a tour of the toilets. Grand Hotel Royal's accessibility was excellent. Everything was flat smooth floors, they had ramp access as an alternative to anywhere that had steps to get up to, they had lifts as an alternative to stairs, they had nice wide corridors and most importantly they had a disabled toilet, and we had to ask for the key off reception, it was locked and unavailable to other customers.

I opened the door and I could hear a choir singing a single note as I opened the door 🎵aaaaaaarrrrr🎵 the light came on automatically. There was a retractable grab rail on one side that was fixed to the wall. I was able to shut the door behind as there was so much space.

this is the last thing I remember...I can't remember what I was drinking, but they were cocktails, and I was drinking through a straw. My next memory is waking up the next morning in bed at the accommodation. The bedroom that was up steps... I can't imagine it was easy getting me up their.