Heights

[JohnC6]

We'd booked the Bristol hotel in Sorrento for September.I usually do my homework but,on this occasion, I didn't see a video, by a guest, of an identical room we'd booked. I saw it two days ago. I'm posting about it wondering if anyone else would not be able to cope with the height. I take quite a few photos of sunsets/sunrises/storms from the balconies so need to be on level 3 or 4..Anything lower and there are often palm trees or regular trees anything higher and it's a no-no for me. We went into our room at the Arona Gran hotel, Tenerife last year, having booked a sea-view room/balcony and were barely able to see the sea because of a tall palm tree...one of many. We got a change of room.IAcrophobia is an intense fear of heights..even ladders. I just feel very uneasy. Not dizzy. Apparently, for many, like me, it's just a safety issue and is normal ..nature's safety alert kicking in.

A copy/paste.
"A certain amount of concern around heights is normal for all people, and most people are more cautious than usual when they are at a significant height. Most of us may feel uneasy or a bit shaky if we look down from a tall height, such as from a bridge. But people with acrophobia experience intense and unreasonable fear when they’re faced with heights, including everyday tasks such as climbing a flight of stairs, standing near a balcony, or parking a car in a multiple-floor parking garage"

This is the video I saw. It's very short. The view comes at 2.0 on the timeline. There's no way I would be able to go to the window, likewise down the couple of steps to the narrow balcony. Fanatastic views. That's Mt Vesuvius in the distance. Today, we booked another Tui hotel in Majorca..Cala Bona SE Majorca and we only had to pay £100 to change which I thought was very good.

This photo is of Marco Pierre White's restaurant at The Cube,Birmingham city centre. We were staying overnight in the hotel there and going to a show in the evening so went into the restaurant at 5.30pm.Not many in so we were taken to a table by the window. I thanked him but declined it. I told him why and he gave us a table away from the windows.


Sorrento.
The video.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0DsjlyV_zY

 

[woof woof]

Heights have never really bothered me. Years ago when I was an electrician I sometimes had to build staging and work at heights and it never really bothered me. These days, last year we went to "Level 50" in Thailand and I was fine with that and we've just come back from a cruise and visited Santa Maria de Montserrat and standing on the edge of things didn't bother me. I never gave it a thought.

I hope you can cope, relax and enjoy it.

 

[mj4456]

I don’t like heights either, nearly need 3 hands when up a ladder painting/papering in the house, really hated having to work in the shaft when in the coal industry, ok all I call see in the shaft was by the light of my cap lamp but I knew how far apart the two small dots of light that were the pit head and the pit bottom, a harness did nothing for my confidence. Shaft depth at my first pit was 419m one could get up a good speed in that if in free fall.

 

[JohnMcL7]

We'd booked the Bristol hotel in Sorrento for September.I usually do my homework but,on this occasion, I didn't see a video, by a guest, of an identical room we'd booked. I saw it two days ago. I'm posting about it wondering if anyone else would not be able to cope with the height.

I don't think it matters whether I or others could cope with the height, what does matter is if you can cope and do what you're comfortable with.

Personally I've not given a thought to heights in hotels and restaurants but I have a terrible phobia of needles which as much as I've tried to be logical with but I think the analogy of a short circuit is accurate, I just black out.

 

[JohnC6]

Heights have never really bothered me. Years ago when I was an electrician I sometimes had to build staging and work at heights and it never really bothered me. These days, last year we went to "Level 50" in Thailand and I was fine with that and we've just come back from a cruise and visited Santa Maria de Montserrat and standing on the edge of things didn't bother me. I never gave it a thought.

I hope you can cope, relax and enjoy it.

My bold,Alan. I wouldn't have been able to cope/relax at that Sorrento hotel so we aren't going. You must have missed that bit in my post. Tui only charged us £100 to change so we're off to Majorca. I can't recall having been there. We didn't really have time to search because we'd like to go to one of the Greek islands. We've been to Skiathos and love the fish dishes..sword fish,salad/fries. I've started looking now for next September..it's cooler then.

 

[Nod]

Not fond of heights unless there's a reasonable barrier of some sort. Can't get within about 10' of a big drop off unless the barrier is around 4' tall and looks fairly sturdy.

 

[JohnC6]

I don’t like heights either, nearly need 3 hands when up a ladder painting/papering in the house, really hated having to work in the shaft when in the coal industry, ok all I call see in the shaft was by the light of my cap lamp but I knew how far apart the two small dots of light that were the pit head and the pit bottom, a harness did nothing for my confidence. Shaft depth at my first pit was 419m one could get up a good speed in that if in free fall.

I've just had a look to see how common it is. Amazingly, about a third of people experience it and I came across another term which seems more approriate for those, like myself, who don't suffer the extreme debilitation of acrophobia. Visual height intolerance...vHi. I've never heard of it.

 

[Nod]

Not sure I'd class my dislike as a real case of acrophobia. For a start, it's perfectly rational and the 10' from the edge thing allows me to fall over and slip around 1/2 my height - and I'm not yet of an age to "have falls"!!!

 

[JohnC6]

Not fond of heights unless there's a reasonable barrier of some sort. Can't get within about 10' of a big drop off unless the barrier is around 4' tall and looks fairly sturdy.

Unfortunately, barriers, such as a railing, doesn't help me atall. Even something more substantial. Having said that, standing on top of a hill that has a sloping side wouldn't bother me. As you say..it's the vertical, or almost vertical, drop that triggers concern. This problem can even occur looking up at high buildings, too. I experienced it in Dallas looking up at the skyscrapers. That, by all accounts, is part and parcel of this vHi. It seems that the reason that people like Alan(above)..don't experience it is to do with brain-wiring. When this subject is discussed I expect most people are reminded of that famous photo of the men, who were building the Rockefeller Centre, Manhatten..1932..69th floor... 850ft.sitting on girders,legs dangling down, eating lunch and reading newspapers. I have a reaction just mentioning it now, let alone looking at it. On a visit to my doctor, for an annual check up one year, I told him, re my blood pressure, that it didn't help having that photo..a large framed one, in the waiting room. He laughed. Even though,as it turns out, that photo was staged and there was a platform below them not the 850ft drop, it's unnerving if you didn't know that .which I didn't at that time.I just Googled it to get the date and height and read that.

Window seats on planes.This question came to me because we pay extra for window seats so I can photograph the clouds and as we approach landing. On May 9th I posted photos of clouds at 38,000ft.. "From a plane". So.....this is a copy/paste of an AI answer. It's really interesting and I definitely feel the last explanantion... 'Seated stability'.

Lack of a Reference Frame: To trigger spatial disorientation and vertigo, your brain needs foreground objects to connect your position to the ground (e.g., looking down the edge of a tall building). At 38,000 ft, clouds and distant landscapes lack the scale and proximity needed to trigger your spatial awareness.

The "Aerial Map" Effect: Because everything is so far away, your brain doesn't interpret the view as a "drop." Instead, it is processed like a flat, static aerial photograph or map.

The Stabilising Frame: The aeroplane window acts as a physical boundary. Looking out through a contained, familiar frame stabilizes your vision, preventing the peripheral visual distortion that often causes height-induced vertigo on open balconies or bridges.

Seated Stability: Proprioception (the sensation of your feet and body being firmly planted in a stable, enclosed cabin) tells your brain you are safe, completely overriding the visual triggers that would normally cause anxiety when standing in an exposed, elevated location.

 

[JohnC6]

I don't think it matters whether I or others could cope with the height, what does matter is if you can cope and do what you're comfortable with.

Personally I've not given a thought to heights in hotels and restaurants but I have a terrible phobia of needles which as much as I've tried to be logical with but I think the analogy of a short circuit is accurate, I just black out.

A lot of people fear needles..I assume in relation to injections, vaccinations etc. That sounds extreme, though..passing out. You have to wonder how such fears come about. Maybe bad experiences.

Re me asking about unease with heights....on this particular occasion, that hotel room. I wasn't asking for advice, or even validation, on whether we should have changed our holiday location or not which seems to be the gist of your first paragraph. It's quite normal to want to know how many others, in any given environment.. ..eg on a forum like we are on here, to be curious to know how many others experience it..or any other personal experiences any has. Infact, you've given a good example by disclosing your fear of needles. It prompted. me to want to know what phobia it was. I'd never heard of it before. Trypanophobia. I'll bet others who have read your post didn't know that,either so, that came about because I posted about my fear/apprehension re heights. As I say, John, it's a perfectly valid question. I don't even need confirmation that what I experience is a shared experience because I know many people feel the same but learning if anyone on here has these experiences is interesting to know.

 

[JohnMcL7]

Sorry, I completely misunderstood your post but hope others have helped.

 

[munch]

I have a mixed relationship with heights. I used to have to inspect cement silo's as part of my job whilst I never enjoyed climbing up them there were times when I just couldn't. There was no logic to it, just how I felt on the day.

 

[Tringa]

My relationship with heights depends on the geography. This is a video someone made of walking over one of the Torridon mountains, Liathach.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb0LXzY0Kq4


When I did this hill with my son years ago we followed the path shown in this video(start about 3:35) and then as this videos shows we also took the bypass path(starts about 4:10)

The camera footage does make it look worse than it is, but this I have no problem with this terrain and it one of the best walks.

However, I could not go anywhere the edge of any of the Seven Sisters in East Sussex. I'd want to be metres(eg at least 10) away from the edge.

I assume the reason is the vertical drop from the Seven Sisters even though a slip on the Torridon hill could be equally terminal.

Dave

 

[andya700]

Following my multiple bad reactions from the first AZ Covid jab on 27th February 2021, one of the reactions, was extreme vertigo, to the extent, that I have to plan journeys and days out very carefully. To give an example, in September 2022, we were coming back from Dinard, our first holiday since 2019. I had failed to avoid the Pont du Normandie, the very high bridge which straddles the Seine estuary. I had a complete meltdown, there was nowhere to pull over, I had to keep on going, with my wife holding the wheel. My heart rate was through the roof, my head was pounding and once over the bridge, I had to pull over and rest for half an hour. I cannot use escalators, or walk up or down steep, open stairs.
Regarding the Marco Pierre White restaurant, The Cube in Birmingham, is this where you have to pay extra for a window seat?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS1-1GIGBsc

 

[JohnC6]

Sorry, I completely misunderstood your post but hope others have helped.

No problem. Misunderstandings happen frequently with online as you've probably seen in other posts on here.

 

[JohnC6]

My relationship with heights depends on the geography. This is a video someone made of walking over one of the Torridon mountains, Liathach.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb0LXzY0Kq4


When I did this hill with my son years ago we followed the path shown in this video(start about 3:35) and then as this videos shows we also took the bypass path(starts about 4:10)

The camera footage does make it look worse than it is, but this I have no problem with this terrain and it one of the best walks.

However, I could not go anywhere the edge of any of the Seven Sisters in East Sussex. I'd want to be metres(eg at least 10) away from the edge.

I assume the reason is the vertical drop from the Seven Sisters even though a slip on the Torridon hill could be equally terminal.

Dave

That narrow rock walk first climb....ridge ?. and on to.... 1.53 ..timelime..would concern me ie.... slipping going over the rocks..broken ankle even leg or arm. In addition the sheer drop either side. Timeline 4.00 would terrify me..lol. It does just watching him walk it. I'm getting waves of nerve tingling in my legs.

Putting all that aside,though.....fantastic views.

 

[JohnC6]

Following my multiple bad reactions from the first AZ Covid jab on 27th February 2021, one of the reactions, was extreme vertigo, to the extent, that I have to plan journeys and days out very carefully. To give an example, in September 2022, we were coming back from Dinard, our first holiday since 2019. I had failed to avoid the Pont du Normandie, the very high bridge which straddles the Seine estuary. I had a complete meltdown, there was nowhere to pull over, I had to keep on going, with my wife holding the wheel. My heart rate was through the roof, my head was pounding and once over the bridge, I had to pull over and rest for half an hour. I cannot use escalators, or walk up or down steep, open stairs.
Regarding the Marco Pierre White restaurant, The Cube in Birmingham, is this where you have to pay extra for a window seat?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS1-1GIGBsc

What a dreadful experience. All because of one vaccination that were all urged to have.

Re the video. Yes,that's the restaurant.I wasn't aware of a surchage for a window seat and I see it's £10 for a couple but that's if you book it and then it's secured. We were just taken to it. The maître d'/receptionist (?) thought he was doing us a favour..lol. The chap making the video also has a problem with heights,I see, because he did go outside but stayed back from the rail. I suspect that's why he wasn't making his video at a window table.

 

[mj4456]

A lot of people fear needles..I assume in relation to injections, vaccinations etc. That sounds extreme, though..passing out. You have to wonder how such fears come about. Maybe bad experiences.

I don’t do needles either, getting bloods taken, vaccinations, and definitely no tattoos. When the first two must happen I close my eyes, look the other way and talk aimlessly until it’s done, I have passed out, once.

 

[Nod]

I'm similar with needles and have to look the other way when I'm jabbed. However, I do have several tattoos!

 

[lindsay]

I can't cope with heights well, I get very nervous on a ladder, and I'd struggle with that fixed window in the hotel room but the balcony looked ok as there was reasonable space and seemed to be another balcony sticking out further below it.

However, when I was a pilot of small planes, I didn't get this problem, and someone opined that it was because in a building or on a ladder, you are connected to the ground through it, so you are conscious of distance (height), whereas in an aeroplane, you are not in contact with the ground at all, so the height is intangible and not a problem.

The only time this didn't hold true for me was after witnessing an aircraft accident where a plane span into the ground after takeoff, killing 4 occupants. After that it took me a lot of coaching to be able to turn - dip the wings - more than modestly, as I was terrified of the risk of spinning into the ground. I did get over it though thanks to a great gliding instructor then a great light aircraft instructor. Sorry to digress.

 

[JohnC6]

I can't cope with heights well, I get very nervous on a ladder, and I'd struggle with that fixed window in the hotel room but the balcony looked ok as there was reasonable space and seemed to be another balcony sticking out further below it.

However, when I was a pilot of small planes, I didn't get this problem, and someone opined that it was because in a building or on a ladder, you are connected to the ground through it, so you are conscious of distance (height), whereas in an aeroplane, you are not in contact with the ground at all, so the height is intangible and not a problem.

The only time this didn't hold true for me was after witnessing an aircraft accident where a plane span into the ground after takeoff, killing 4 occupants. After that it took me a lot of coaching to be able to turn - dip the wings - more than modestly, as I was terrified of the risk of spinning into the ground. I did get over it though thanks to a great gliding instructor then a great light aircraft instructor. Sorry to digress.

Even with that 'roof' below the balcony it's really high. What I didn't realise when we booked was that the hotel is 200ft up the cliff face and then 10 floors. I imagine some people would pay extra to get floor 10...lol.The swimming pool is on the roof. The lay-out,pools,restaurants, gyms etc are sited to get these views.They have a bar and a swimming pool on the roof.

If you look at these photos from the Tui online page, the first one is taken from high up and you'd be forgiven for thinking it had been taken from a drone which is the norm now in holiday brochures. The rest of the photos look ok. Photos of rooms are taken from the door so you don't get to see 'the drop'.

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/europe/italy/neapolitan-riviera/sorrento/hotels/hotel-bristol.html

I appreciate it's quite time-consuming reading all the posts in a thread, even a short one, so far, so they're likely to be skipped but re planes ..if you scroll back to my post #9 there's an explanantion there. It goes into detail what you've mentioned.

 

[lindsay]

This is why I cannot appreciate the pleasure of so-called "infinity pools" that are also sited on cliff edges.
Funnily enough though, as a kid, in 1964-67 we lived in a block of flats on the 4th floor, the block being built on stilts sticking out of the hillside above Happy Valley in Hong Kong. There was a probably 500ft drop from our front windows or balcony to the valley below. I guess as a child of 8-11 I didn't have the fear of consequences hat I have as an adult!

 

[Dale.]

Heights, spiders, cows and tight spaces.


Oddly, I don't mind heights if I'm the right side of a barrier/window/fence or whatever. I don't mind spiders if I can see them and they're not running about. Cows, they're ok the other side of a fence or river. Tight spaces, well, I just avoid them. Put me the wrong side of any of those though.... yup, the panic kicks in.

 

[JohnC6]

Heights, spiders, cows and tight spaces.


Oddly, I don't mind heights if I'm the right side of a barrier/window/fence or whatever. I don't mind spiders if I can see them and they're not running about. Cows, they're ok the other side of a fence or river. Tight spaces, well, I just avoid them. Put me the wrong side of any of those though.... yup, the panic kicks in.

Heights, spiders, cows and tight spaces.


Oddly, I don't mind heights if I'm the right side of a barrier/window/fence or whatever. I don't mind spiders if I can see them and they're not running about. Cows, they're ok the other side of a fence or river. Tight spaces, well, I just avoid them. Put me the wrong side of any of those though.... yup, the panic kicks in.

If I were crossing a field with cows in I'd be wary, too. They can sometimes attack and even kill people. I found this.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-54268160. There's a photo in the article of the cuts and bruises suffered by the man after a cow attack. It sounds funny but, obviously wasn't... the cow not only attacked him but when he fell to the ground it sat on him

"Members of the public are rarely killed by cattle, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) data.It investigates these incidents along with those that involve farmers and farm-workers.Between 2015-16 and 2019-2020 the HSE investigated 142 incidents. Only 22 of them resulted in a death and the majority related to people who worked with cattle.
Members of the public accounted for only four of those deaths, the HSE confirmed.It added that it investigated 65 non-fatal incidents involving cattle and members of the public over the same period."

Reference your issues with enclosed spaces.I don't like them,either. I wouldn't go caving, for instance. I don't panic but I feel very uncomfortable. Seems that 12.5% of the population suffer claustraphobia and most are female. That's strange.

The worse any given situation gets, the calmer I get. I say to people that if they put as much effort into controlling or dealing with a situation as they do into panicking it would serve them far better and get them out of the situation far more quickly and safely. Those feelings re restrictive spaces and restraint came from what happened to me as a child and all these years later I can still recall it. When I was very young, 3-5 years old, difficult to recall the exact age, my mother thought it was a good idea to tightly tuck in the bed sheets..I assume to stop me falling out of bed. I could barely move. It's not my imagination because whenever we stay in a hotel, be it overnight or on holiday ,inevitably the room staff make a lovely job of the beds and fold a top cover(bedspread) into a pattern BUT..they tuck in the sheets. My first job is to walk around the bed and pull them out. Sometimes, if I've just done that two-thirds the way along and get in and feel the tightness a short time later, I try to 'ease' the sheet out with my leg and if it doesn't move after a few efforts I start to get agitated and realise I need to get out of bed and do it. Having said that,having had that experience a few times, pulling out the sheets is the first thing I do when we go into our room.

I wonder which of your fears are rooted in childhood experiences ? As I've just mentioned, they are very importnat re what transpires in later life. You've probably noticed my passion for storms,severe weather and especially lightning. We lived half-way up a hill and from the top the view overlooked the Manchester Ship Canal and river Mersey to Liverpool. It was covered in purple heather. When thunderstorms came along my parents sat myself and my younger sister on the front bedroom windowsill to watch and the hill lit up purple.. It was fantastic. My friend's mother drew the curtains and all but had the family under the dining room table..lol.He ended up being afraid of thunderstorms.

It's turning out to be a really interesting thread.

 

[Dale.]

If I were crossing a field with cows in I'd be wary, too. They can sometimes attack and even kill people. I found this.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-54268160. There's a photo in the article of the cuts and bruises suffered by the man after a cow attack. It sounds funny but, obviously wasn't... the cow not only attacked him but when he fell to the ground it sat on him

"Members of the public are rarely killed by cattle, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) data.It investigates these incidents along with those that involve farmers and farm-workers.Between 2015-16 and 2019-2020 the HSE investigated 142 incidents. Only 22 of them resulted in a death and the majority related to people who worked with cattle.
Members of the public accounted for only four of those deaths, the HSE confirmed.It added that it investigated 65 non-fatal incidents involving cattle and members of the public over the same period."

Reference your issues with enclosed spaces.I don't like them,either. I wouldn't go caving, for instance. I don't panic but I feel very uncomfortable. Seems that 12.5% of the population suffer claustraphobia and most are female. That's strange.

The worse any given situation gets, the calmer I get. I say to people that if they put as much effort into controlling or dealing with a situation as they do into panicking it would serve them far better and get them out of the situation far more quickly and safely. Those feelings re restrictive spaces and restraint came from what happened to me as a child and all these years later I can still recall it. When I was very young, 3-5 years old, difficult to recall the exact age, my mother thought it was a good idea to tightly tuck in the bed sheets..I assume to stop me falling out of bed. I could barely move. It's not my imagination because whenever we stay in a hotel, be it overnight or on holiday ,inevitably the room staff make a lovely job of the beds and fold a top cover(bedspread) into a pattern BUT..they tuck in the sheets. My first job is to walk around the bed and pull them out. Sometimes, if I've just done that two-thirds the way along and get in and feel the tightness a short time later, I try to 'ease' the sheet out with my leg and if it doesn't move after a few efforts I start to get agitated and realise I need to get out of bed and do it. Having said that,having had that experience a few times, pulling out the sheets is the first thing I do when we go into our room.

I wonder which of your fears are rooted in childhood experiences ? As I've just mentioned, they are very importnat re what transpires in later life. You've probably noticed my passion for storms,severe weather and especially lightning. We lived half-way up a hill and from the top the view overlooked the Manchester Ship Canal and river Mersey to Liverpool. It was covered in purple heather. When thunderstorms came along my parents sat myself and my younger sister on the front bedroom windowsill to watch and the hill lit up purple.. It was fantastic. My friend's mother drew the curtains and all but had the family under the dining room table..lol.He ended up being afraid of thunderstorms.

It's turning out to be a really interesting thread.

I'm not sure John, where I got my un-easiness of heights. I don't have a fear of them as such. I often think of the times I've stood on top of Claerwen dam in Mid Wales and been able to comfortably look over the edge, from the safe side of the stone barrier. If I were the other side, I'd be panicking. This might just be normal, I'm not sure. This is the dam that Richard Hammond 'drove' a Landrover up (more winched up it), it's a beast at close to 200 feet tall.

I've been up Blackpool tower, no problem, but I couldn't go any higher than the enclosed room where the lift lets you off. It's open, steel staircase and a gridded floor from there to the top.

Not for me.

We live in a bungalow, the actual bottom face of the soffits are just about 8 or 9 feet off the ground and the bottom edge of the roof about 9.5 feet above ground level. I have tried to step off a ladder over the gutter and onto the roof a few times and I've never been able to do it. The roof isn't particularly steep either.

Same with spiders, I don't like them but I don't know how or where I learned my fear of them, as we are not born with these fears, we learn them. We do get some monster ones here but if one ran across the floor now or was on the wall, I'd be ok about that, as long as it was well away from me and I could see it. Would I pick it up? No!!

Cows. well, I've had a few unsettling encounters with them. One time, as a lad, I was on the Welsh hills with my Dad and cows were grazing on the common land. We had our dog with us, who was running free at the time ( ) but well away from the cows. The cows saw the dog and a few of them ran for him but I perceived this as them coming for us all. I ran, jumped a fence, shortly followed by my dad and the dog.

I got the rollocking of my life from my dad, for running, he said I should've stood my ground. I've never tested that theory though.

I have had 2 encounters with cows since as an adult, both times being cut off from where I was heading by them and they closed in, out of curiosity I think, they probably meant me no harm but I didn't like it. On one of those occasions, I was carrying a 12g, 3 shot, semi automatic shotgun with 3 in the chamber but I was still spooked by the cows.

What's odd about this though is that I was wary of cows long before the dog incident. We used to play football as lads on a flat piece of land on the common ground and we sometimes had to walk through a heard of cows to get there. I always bricked it and would go home if the cows were there. I don't recall any negative encounter with cows before that and I don't know where/when I learned my aversion to cows.

Again, if there's a fence or river (for example) between the cows and me, I barely notice them.

The tight space thing is quite a new one for me, I don't recall ever being bothered by them up until about 8 years ago or so and I'm at a loss to explain why I don't like them now.

The common theme for me with it all seems to be control, if I'm in control of the situtation, then I'm fine but I do overly panic if I'm not so much in control of it.


I can remember being scared during thunderstorms when I was young........ now, I love them.

 

[mj4456]

Even with that 'roof' below the balcony it's really high. What I didn't realise when we booked was that the hotel is 200ft up the cliff face and then 10 floors. I imagine some people would pay extra to get floor 10...lol.The swimming pool is on the roof. The lay-out,pools,restaurants, gyms etc are sited to get these views.They have a bar and a swimming pool on the roof.

If you look at these photos from the Tui online page, the first one is taken from high up and you'd be forgiven for thinking it had been taken from a drone which is the norm now in holiday brochures. The rest of the photos look ok. Photos of rooms are taken from the door so you don't get to see 'the drop'.

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/europe/italy/neapolitan-riviera/sorrento/hotels/hotel-bristol.html

I appreciate it's quite time-consuming reading all the posts in a thread, even a short one, so far, so they're likely to be skipped but re planes ..if you scroll back to my post #9 there's an explanantion there. It goes into detail what you've mentioned.

Off to Sorrento in 10 days, our hotel has only 4 floors and away a 100 yards ish from the edge, but it has a great restaurant and a quiet location in Sant'Agnello.