Capistrano - another reason to love Nerja

I'm posting this from the new Blogger App for iPhone so apologies for the layout.
It's nice to be able to live blog though- give you a feel of why it is possible for a family with 2 quite severely autistic children to enjoy a holiday in the sun abroad, with plenty of local culture.

The "urbanisation" where we rent a house (in Ireland you would call it an estate) is called Capistrano Village. There are lots of whitewashed stone terraced houses with gardens, access to a beautifully landscaped communal pool and a lovely pool bar. I prefer a communal pool as private pools are rarely fenced and i don't think i could sleep knowing one of the kids might wander in.
There is a little supermarket and a large part of the village is paved and pedestrianised- so I can let go of little hands and let Boo & Bratty run free.

We book privately through an owner's agency called Spainaway - choosing whatever house suits our timing. We try and go out of season and fly on quiet days, never a Saturday to Saturday for us. My only stipulation is safe windows - and preferably an older house that makes use of natural breezes. We stayed in a modernised one 2 years ago and it was boiling hot, will never do that again.
With our own garden & sun terraces - we only walk down to the pool to swim and then walk back to lie in the sun at our leisure. The kids have their own space in the house and their own stuff so they are pretty content.

A top tip this year was getting a couple of local sim cards for the iPads.
After suffering from YouTube withdrawal, Gracie is now enjoying Teletubbies in Danish and the "Columbia tri-star home entertainment previews" repeatedly for only €3 per day with Yoigo.

Huge thanks to Pat Phelan from Maxroam for that advice which came via Twitter.
If you are travelling with autistic kids and iPads, get a maxroam sim and save yourself a lot of hassle. I can take Liam out to cafes with wifi but Gracie has limited tolerance for change so we need broadband access at the house. It's a small thing but it makes her feel less homesick and that equals a better holiday for all of us. And a note to Henry at Spainaway: get your owners to install broadband. We would pay extra for the privilege and probably stay even longer.

xx

Comments

K.Line said…
Oh, and Grace is gorgeous - looks just like you! BTW, just read this article this morning: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/autistic-and-seeking-a-place-in-an-adult-world.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=nyregion&emc=ura1

Have you seen it?
Liam looks so grown up and Gracie looks so pretty. And this is a timely reminder to look for youtube videos that will actually play on the iPad for Smiley to add to our app collection. Glad you're having a good holiday xx
jazzygal said…
Fabulous photos of faubulous HAPPY kids! So glad it's workin out ;-)

xx Jazzy