Once upon a time, I stumbled upon a picture on #pinterest. Well, it was just a random picture but I knew right away, that it was love at first sight❤️. The website described this place as the reflection of heaven on earth, to which I’m not too sure -whether to be pleased or terrified. Positano, a word I have never heard before, I pencilled it into my virtual travel bucket list and many years later, here we are! Where I am about to painfully rub your eyes sore with all these beautiful pictures -which btw, took no effort to take nor edit.
But before that, let me break down the not-so-glamorous part of the whole thing, PLANNING! As Amalfi coast in general is rather pricey to stay at, I looked for a reasonable-ish apartment to stay which needs to fulfill pre-requisite number 1: facing the Spiaggia Grande. If you looked it up way in advance, they may not open yet for reservation as like a lot of other holiday spots, they only operate 6 months a year. It will just come up as ‘fully booked’ but in actuality, there is no one at the other end to deal with your reservations. Unless of course, you are booking your holiday via a travel agent -something I have yet to experience.
An apartment with 2 bedrooms costs us £200/night (5 nights) and our flights were £85pp -which I think were absolute steal!
A month prior to our travel, my only brother Paul, decided to join us and the rest was history.
Day 1:
Breakfast at 3am @wasabi @ Luton airport. The journey has just began!
Woke up at 1.30AM. Used taxi to coach station. Bused it to the airport. 3 hours flight to Naples. 90 minutes bus to Sorrento. 50 minutes packed ride to Positano. The latter almost witnessed me and brother involved in a gang fight (a gang fight in my head just because my brother has an enormous tattoo and his temper is no joke, as well as mine😡) with another tourist who pushed us around inside the cramped bus. Luckily, we rise above our ego and the need to feel right all the time, so we did spare his life😝
Upon arriving, we lost our way trying to find our apartment in the midst of millions of steps in Positano. Thankfully we bumped into David (pictured below) who kindly showed us around! Thank you🙏🏽, David!
‘Every act of kindness creates a ripple of no end’ -unknown.
We were all looking rather exhausted but at the same time, extremely gratefulful to meet kind people along the way! Finally arrived! And this is the view from our apartment😍 The apartment has a rather traditional touch and was beautiful with its colourful tiles
Was starving after the looonnnng journey so, instant noodles provided a quick fix! From here, our feet walked involuntarily to the bed and nap happened🙈 I smelled delicious food and thought it was in my dream 😴so I woke up. It was my brother. Glad we have chef in the house so the presentation was on point. Bon appetit!🙌🏽 Fine. It was more for my pictures. Pasta everyday errrdayyy! Yup, you gotta burn all those calories! Gosh my calves hurt. So. Bad! My feet were walking down the stairs for cardio. Meanwhile my fingers were doing yoga by pressing the shutter speed. My right index finger, to be precise. Just exploring the area and doing some mental notes for photo session the following morning. May buy tickets for your water taxi or tour here, preferably a day before. I booked ours 3 weeks prior and seriously never had such #FOMO in ma life!😰 You could dine here, at restaurants overlooking Spaggia Grande. Just remember that you’re paying for the view, not the food. Lemon everywhere!! Lemon trees, lemon art, ceramic lemon, lemon cello (100% alcohol), lemon sorbet, lemon dessert. Okayyy, lemonade anyone?🍋🍋🍋 Why is this picture here? Hmmmm, just to perhaps say….. #nofilter? In your face!💩🙊 Santa Maria Assunta Church in the heart of Positano, which caters for those wedding vows. Or even 100,000th day anniversary like us. Wait, I will let my husband count first and get back to this caption. After that you could have a romantic dinner surrounded by lemon tree. Because, hmm why not?🤔 Disclamer: I did not take this picture. This picture has taken me. And. My breath. Away. (Whoaaaaaaa!) P/s Manager, please copyright that catch-phrase🤣🤣🤣 Yasssss, getting their calves ready for the romantic walk up the stairs. Are you ready peeps? P/s: tattoo does not equate to strength. Just sayin’✋🏽 Survived the what-seemed-like-eternity climb of stairs to the apartment. And this is a view certainly worth climbing for. Errr, okay. Maybe just once a day.
Day 2:
So, the following morning, we were just staying around Positano so that we could truly immersed ourselves in its culture and natural beauty. The colourful vertical city was full of life at night, abundant with human basking under the sun ☀️in the afternoon but its morning was quiet and undisturbed.
But above all, there is one culture that takes precedence. Photography 📷culture. Even if that means you have to wake up at 7am to put your make-up and deodorant on #priorities #areyoujudgingme🙄
This time around, I have my baby brother to take my pictures, yaayyy! Someone who I could simply summon to get that illusion of long legs and torso. Oh wait, don’t I have that kind of ‘someone’ already?😅 Ahhhhhhh, he’s on time-off. For now.
My morning routine: opened the door, breathed in deeply, smiled like no one is watching, took my camera and snapped! The church and me. The perk of taking pictures early in the morning is the lack of millions of things we called homo sapiens. Win!🙌🏽 The flowery roof yet again. It took a while to get this picture but baby brother was still in the induction phase, so I shall have more patience.😇 Positano and me, on Spiaggia Grande. You have no idea how long I have imagined this picture in my head, over and over again. Can we take some popcorn, sit down and just stare at it??🤘🏼 Why is you so bloody gorgeous? Those grammar-police out there, ‘why is you’ is deliberate okaaayy?? Calm down!!😾 Exploring the small walking path to Fornillo, a smaller and less crowded beach on Positano Fornillo Beach overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. According to my brother, they have more water activities here as compared to the main beach. You know what else I saw from here? Instagram!!😆 Restaurants along Fornillo Beach The price for the sunbeds are no joke. €10 each, and extra €5 for the umbrella. You have no idea how many cashew nuts I can buy with that!🥜 We walked up the stairs, so high that I was able to obtained this picture that could almost mistaken as a drone shot. I said, almost.🤦🏻♀️ What you see: WOW, me looking longingly into the distance amidst the calm blue sea. What you don’t see: my feet curled upwards because my manager forgets to check if the Tyrrhenian sea contains crocodile, shark etc. 😱 Scouting areas for photography. Have you ever been to places where other people who have bigger camera than yours keep on following you around to take the same photo angles? It just dawned on me -is this called plagiarism?👮🏽♀️
As you can see, we had such a successful morning of self-appreciation with our selfies and self-absorbed emo pictures🤷🏻♀️. I do have a lot more gorgeous pics but I think you might have reached to the point where enough is enough 😆#sisredha So shall we moved on to food pictures now?
At Restaurante Saraceno D’Oro, recommended by our friend David A mandatory wefie. Smize!!☺️ It was a blazing hot day so we decided to walk around to burn those calories off and feast our eyes with views such as this. My tribal skin has no shame in turning several shades darker despite my generous spread of sunscreen. When cam-whore and flower-whore collides. Instahubby cropped my legs in the initial pictures. Please gais. NEVER. EVER. CROPPED. THE. LEGS!🙅🏻 Right here, what I lived for.
Grocery store just 2 minutes away form our place. Apparently my brother and instahubby spent quite a bit of time here. Not gonna ask exactly what they were doing. But they do come home at night, all that matters.
Day 3:
Today marked the most important day in this whole trip. We woke up early, showered and ready to go by 8am. It was the day when we were going to sail along the Amalfi coast towards Capri, with several stops along the way -namely White cave, Green cave and Blue Grotto. The whole tour will take about 8- 9hours. So first, breakfast! Thank you chef!🙏🏽👨🏻🍳
I was given the responsibility to take pictures. And to eat. So I must not disappoint.
Bye-bye Positano! We will be coming back for you! A mandatory feet selfie. Despite my ugly feet, yes it is mandatory. Although I know you’re scrutinising them rn. A classic lovey-dovey picture overlooking Positano is also a mandatory. Especially when you’re looking kinda cute in it. #logic Wefie! He finally looked more chubby than me here, yayyy! #relationshipgoals #morelemonsorbetplease Going through the Arch of Love, Capri. Legend has it that if a couple kissed here, their love will lasts for a very long time. But they never say anything about her handbags. Like, do they lasts for a very long time too?😬 @Green Grotto. As much as I love this pic, I was more amused by the number of passengers in that boat that were trying to take a picture of a tiny hole or ‘natural stone’ (aren’t they all natural anyway?) Sometimes, you just need to take few steps back and look at the bigger picture. Ahhh, deep!😆 Just me. Casually sitting there and casually looking over to my right shoulder with Arch of Love behind me. You know, just casually candid. As I whispered to my brother: Never. Cropped. The. Damn. Legs (even if they have cellulites cuz I could smooth those out)👯 Just me hangin’ with ma girls. I need to get my tan asap. I need to fit in. I need to fit in.🙇🏻♀️ One with the bro
After almost 3 hours in the boat, we stopped at Capri (Marina Grande) for lunch and was given 3 hours to roam by ourselves. It was quite exciting to explore new territory so we need to make the most out of it. To go to the main town, we could either walk for 30minutes (which under the scorching hot sun, this could mean 9 years of Goblin walking in the desert -only Goblin lovers would understand the torture) or 7 minutes of cable car ride. The choice was obvious, no? But first, picture!
I know he was looking into my eyes. But I wished he didn’t keep asking: Are we done??🙄
We got lost in the small Capri and not sure where to stop to feed our hungry tummy. The thing was, we were more thirsty than hungry so this one will do for now. Finally, I got to rest my Kardashian bum and the boys were just too happy to rest their feet!
Close observation: The middle candidate is the pro. He was looking directly to the audience while the other two, hmmmm, too immersed with themselves in the flip screen.😬 Just a burger. After a satisfying lunch, we walked around for a bit along the small paths that coalesced onto one another. As you’re aware, I was not permitted to go inside the shops so instahubby was more than willing to take my pics as a form of compensation. I think he got a pretty good deal. The Lucky-Bells shenanigans in Capri. Each bell costs €10 at least. Question: If you need to pay for the said ‘luck’ -is it still lucky?
After 3 hours, we returned to our boat and gladly surrender to the cold breeze and sea water that spat our way. More than an hour later, we arrived at Positano, tired but extremely grateful.
My most favourite view❤️😍❤️ Casual dinner prepared by the chef. Tasted as yummy as it looked, promised!😉 Calculating the sunset with some beer and peachy drinks Here, I just wanna show off one of the pictures I took of my brother. Well, if only people could have the same talent to return the favour, I would be grateful.🙄
Day 4:
The next day, I suggested we visit this village called Ravello. Everyone who went to Positano highly recommend this place so I told the boys we ought to go. A breakfast was made and we booked our ferry ride to Amalfi on the same day. It only took less than 30mins
Beef burger with croissant. Had to improvise with whatever we had. Cam-whoring while waiting for our ferry. Such a warm and lovely day! Majestic Positano from afar Upon arrival at Amalfi, we took an ‘express bus’ to Ravello. The bus ride was beautiful but painful at the same time (bloody 30C!) But never shows the camera your pain. And your wet armpits. 🙈 On the other hand, these people were busy, brewing possible skin cancers.‘The wait is long but the meeting is short’ -Kim Seon, Goblin. Finally arrived at Ravello! I wanted to go to Villa Rufolo so bad, so the boys decided to skip the tourist trap and just hang out at the Snack Bar. From here on, it’s just me, myself and I. The entrance fees was very expensive so to make it worth my every penny, I had to take every single photos -of every arches, corners, flowers, its living things and non-living things. Taken with live-view-shooting. Not difficult at all. And not self-absorbed at all. The key was to use your peripheral vision to ensure no one snatched your brand new camera. High risk, high return. Another one taken with live-view-shooting. Although an elderly couple was sitting right next to my camera, it was not awkward at all. Told you, I will take pictures of every flowers and their shadows if I can. And every single pillar counts. They were building a stage facing the sea for the soon coming classic musical concert. Beautiful chambers. Lush green garden. Very well kept and considered one of the best gardens in the world. This place previously housed Rufolo dynasty, several popes and even a King I lurked around this villa for more than 2 hours. Once I came out, looked who I found! Two oh-so-tired tourists who sat on their bum all day. Thug life. Had to drag these two out of their comfort zones and engaged more in picture-times. Ah well, only if he could master one thing: Never. Cropped. Them. Legs.🤷🏻♀️ I googled the name of this church and it says: Ravello Cathedral. Duh, Sophia. Duh. Wow. As if he has done all that. Not. #nofilter. But seriously, why people bother to tag #nofilter? So if #nofilter, meaning your pictures are virgin? And innocent? Don’t. Even. Start. Let’s move on before Trump starts tweeting.🤣
We had some ice-cream and my brother even had a ‘skinny’ dip in the ocean. Before we knew it, it was time for ferry ride home to Positano.
Ferrying it back to Positano with scattered villages along Amalfi Coast as my back drop. In the evening, we were just chilling having our beloved pasta meal, overlooking Spiaggia Grande. From the far left: pursed lips, addicted to smoking. Centre: Just happy to be alive. Far right: Bare-faced and thought she could get away with just her dimple. As long as she looks cute, no one else matter. True story.😜
Day 5:
Prior to my brother leaving for Sorrento, I decided to bring him to Case e Bottega, a place I heard a lot from a youtuber I followed; Mimi and Alex Ikonn. They are younger than me but very inspiring entrepreneurs and human in general.
Manoeuvring the only road in Positano with quest to find Casa e Bottega
Finally here!❤️ Errrr, Bailey’s coffee anyone? Every single time that I momentarily forgotten that I’m in Italy -a small serve of coffee feels like a slap back to reality.😅 Hafta steal this insta-story from my instagram (gloriously kept in highlights) cuz I took none with my camera. Sophia, just stop with this ‘living in the moment’ sh**. It doesn’t suit you🙄 Had my banana pancakes. Pretty. As pretty as the bills that came with it.🤑 And yes, we met Mimi ❤️ Alex Ikonn. Not planned at all but very thankful that we crossed paths. I genuinely like them and can only wish for their continuous success. The mandatory wefie.
After the brunch, we took a lengthy walk to the shops to buy some bus tickets to Sorrento. In the afternoon, my brother left us, but we shall see him the next day, back in London! Travel safely!!
Veni. Vidi. Amavi ( I came. I saw. I loved) Our last evening in Positano. Trying to soak in all the one hundred tones of warmth. Finally getting into the swim wear to get ‘the’ picture. Had a lengthy disagreement with instahubby in order to achieve this -all kept in my insta-stories highlights #marriedaf😭 Me and Positano. Positano looked awesome in whichever angles. But me on the other hand, trying to suck in the tummy without looking constipated at the same time. Sis mampu?🤣 Green, blue and pink -all my favourite colours.
These ceramic art tho, dope!! Small boutiques that flanked the small street of Positano
Silently saying goodbye to Positano. You shall be missed.
Day 7:
Woke up early as we knew the journey gonna be long and tedious. We decided to take our time and enjoy every moments together. At the same time, while looking back at those pictures, I feel extremely blessed and loved. This was the first time that I travelled with my brother abroad and despite our differences, we do come together as a family unit in the end.
And if you thought ‘Yes! The pictures are over now!’, you couldn’t be more wrong. This is my blog space as well as my travel journal. I wish someday, our younger generations will look back and said -wow, grandma used to be sooo cooool!😆😅 A last few ones, I promised!😘
Okay lovelies, thank you for your patience. I hope you love this super long entry with pictures! Enjoy your weekends! XX Sophie Voon
