Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Quelli del Vesuvio

Our Hotel in Naples, Italy

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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You have to understand.

We were coming from two small, sometimes quaint, incredibly clean, historic beach towns in Southern Italy.

In Anzio, we had the "perfect" hotel room with a fabulous breakfast included and a view from our balcony of the ocean and the colorful street traffic below.

In Gaeta, we had a roomy 2-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and a large sitting room.

So when we arrived in Naples, we were undoubtedly spoiled.

Our hotel room with balcony

It was a rainy, chilly morning in Gaeta when we waited for the taxi driver to take us back to the train station. This was a $25Euro ride in the taxi, but travel by train is affordable, quick and clean.

After an uneventful train ride, it was still raining in Naples when we arrived. We walked to our hotel - which wasn't far - but this area of town ... was dingy and dirty!

Or maybe all of Naples was! We weren't sure...

I get it, Naples is a large city in Italy, but we weren't prepared for the amount of trash, piles of dog poo and the massive amount of traffic.

Our room, however was very clean and it had a balcony and a split air conditioner on the wall.

The clean bathroom

It seemed that the boys were disappointed in the room, thinking we had rented a 2 bedroom place, but such was not the case.

There was a bit of misunderstanding on that. However, I must really stress that our room was bright and neat, and our host, Elvira, was so enthusiastic and engaging, that this just had to work out.

Desk with a view and refrigerator

Here you see a desk with a view, a small refrigerator and there's a wardrobe closet to the left just out of the photo.

Seriously, this room would have been perfect for two people. But there were three of us traveling together, so at times (and especially at first) it seemed a bit cramped.

We paid $673Euros for 7 nights, so about $105USD per night.

Panoramic view from our balcony

In all, we had a view, a veranda, a desk, free espresso any time we wanted, a coffee/tea maker, a mini-refrigerator, a microwave perfect for leftovers or small meals and maid service.

Looking back, there really wasn't much to complain about.

Travel is all about adjusting, and as we have said, Traveling isn't for sissies.

The above photo is a panoramic view taken from our balcony.

Mount Vesuvius (yes, THAT Mount Vesuvius) is on the left a bit hidden from view and these are the streets below our room.

A better view of Mount Vesuvius

From our balcony and bathroom window we had this view of Mount Vesuvius.

We weren't far from the train station which was great, as we took the train to various places during our stay in Naples. The proximity to the train station was one of the advantages of our hotel room - Pompeii was only a few train stops away, as was the Herculaneum.

Sorrento, another beautiful seaside town in southern Italy, was also a day trip from our apartment.

We found out that getting to and from the train station easily was an important feature in lodging location.

We were going to be leaving from here (Naples) to get to Faeto and the train was our transport.

So once again, that was a beneficial feature to staying here.

Our balcony where we had many of our meals

Having this balcony with table and chairs also turned out to be a huge bonus. We were able to shop locally and get foods from a Salumeria or take out from a pastry shop or restaurant and have meals here outside of our small sized room.

Billy thinks Naples is generally a deli society, with the ability to eat very well with pastries, various breads, wine, cheese, cold cuts, olives and other marinated items. We did see a store with cuts of beef and pork, but those choices aren’t that available in the grocery stores.

From our balcony we could watch humanity going about their daily lives without feeling that we were intruding.

For instance, in the corner apartment building in the center of this photo a woman took in laundry. She was located on the floor with the blue towels hanging outside.

Every day, men on their motorcycles would honk, and this woman would drop a bucket on a line down to the street. The men put a bag of laundry in the bucket and then the bucket would rise up to her apartment.

The next day they would honk again, and she would send the bucket down, they put payment into the bucket and she would lower their washed, dried and folded laundry back into it and return their clothes to them!

The view from our balcony

The weather in Naples seemed to change every 5-10 minutes.

It could be warm and delightful or it could turn blustery with a rainy drizzle like an October or March morning.

Right before we arrived, I had a zipper blow out on my trusty daypack, so we went shopping for a replacement.

The view from our balcony facing the other way

As we walked around town, we went to an open market where I  found a "temporary" daypack for $10Euros. I just wanted it to last me through the trip, then I'd replace it with something more serious when I returned home.

While we were at it, we gave away our 20 kilo capacity wheelie suitcase and purchased two 10 kilo capacity wheelies to put overhead on the planes.

In this way we were able to break up our stuff and each carry our own things which was far more convenient. And we also didn't have to check our baggage.

Because we purchased two at a time, we were able to bargain and get them both for $40Euros, about $22USD each.

Once again there are high-rise apartments everywhere. Here in Naples there are 10 story apartments and one doesn’t see any single family dwellings. Streets are crowded with cars parked or driving down the street.

Billy, Elvira and Akaisha

Here we are in front of a poster of Naples

Elvira is both vivacious and helpful and she absolutely MADE our trip to Naples worth it. She was available any time we needed assistance, we just needed to WhatsApp her.

She was also willing to answer questions via Google Translate so that we felt comfortable and so there weren't any miscommunications.

Espresso machine, coffee pods, and little cups

 Our hotel has excellent espresso which we could make any time of day or night.

There was a microwave for heating up leftovers including pizzas or deli items and a refrigerator inside our room.

Our balcony provided us a place to eat outside and gave us a change of scenery.

Elvira at her computer

Here's Elvira at her desk. She always seemed to be in good humor and tried to accommodate us in any way possible.

Honestly, she was very easy to like.

On the other hand, we'd like to say that Naples has grit.

Are you ready for her?

Would we recommend our hotel?

Yes!

__________

Quelli del Vesuvio

Corso Arnaldo Lucci, 28

Napoli, Italy

Tele:  081 976 2722

Email: quelledelvesuvio@libero.it 

Elvira 389 922 6005 Carmine 338 915 8104

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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