Itinerary help - retirement trip for mom

Congrats to Mom! And to you for your thoughtfulness...

You're right... Too much getting there and not as much being there. You'll be in London just long enough for your jet lag to subside. London, NYC, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Chicago, Rome... Big cities deserve the time it takes to drink them in.

You can do a week in London -- and the environs -- and not be bored. You could train up to Edinburgh for a week seeing the tip of the iceberg in Scotland... Or you could take a train and ferry to Dublin and swing through southern Ireland.

OR fly to Paris (or take the Chunnel) and spend a week there.

And that's STILL a lot for two weeks. You won't even see everything if you stop in two major cities for a week each.

I agree this is too much. But since you asked for advice I'll take even another step back. Have you asked mom what she wants to do? You write "my itinerary" and not "our itinerary" which seems like a cue this is your plan. Did mom say "You plan everything?" Or is this going to be her one and only trip to Europe?

If the answer to both is no I'd start by asking mom what it is she wants to see on a somewhat brief trip. London sounds like it's more about you; I'd drop that and fly mom over for a longer London visit sometime in the future if you get relocated. Does mom have any spots in Italy she's always wanted to see? Is she a museum goer? Like/hate cities? Like oceans, or wine regions like Tuscany, or hill-towns, or religious sites such as the Vatican and Assissi? And for that matter is Italy where she'd like to go or might she prefer somewhere else? With her interests in mind I'd then suggest planning a trip with 3-4 nite stays.

What an incredible gift!
As a mom and also soon- retiree I will chime in. Unless your options away from London are on her wish list, if you are very likely to move to there why not focus on the city (based on her interests) and train travel around England/Scotland - maybe add the Chunnel towards the end for just a taste of Paris and fly back to the US from Paris?
Then for her future visits to see you embark on other countries together?
Just another concept!

What a very special way to celebrate retirement!

A lot of my answer would depend on your mother’s interests. What does she think are her 3 most important places to see? I ‘m guessing her favorite take away memory from this trip won’t be the places she sees, but the fact that you traveled together.

..... and I have a feeling the feedback I will get is this is too much,

You said it, but if this is the trip your Mom wants, do it.

Varenna has no lodging for that extra day? I think Florence would be better over night stop vs Milan, as it seems you are using it as a 'we need to sleep somewhere' stop.

Where in Puglia are you planning to go? There is more than enough to do closer to Sorrento, that going to Puglia is probably not the best use of your limited time.

Definitely no Puglia for such a short visit. It's an area where you'd want to hop around and see a lot of towns. It takes time to do that.

Looks good to me. It sounds like you and your mother have been working on this. I do agree that if you are transferred to London, your mom will have plenty of opportunities to visit. Flying there first is an easy landing to start getting over jet lag, but those nights could just as easily be spent on the Continent. Thursday is a long haul from Milan to Sorrento. Can you travel any closer than Milan on Wednesday? In Naples, you don’t need to stay by the airport but can stay in a more interesting area. It’s about a 15 minute cab ride to the airport. Ye, Puglia deserves its own trip. Too far.

It is fast, but it’s nice. I don’t know why people are suggesting totally different itineraries unless you had that in an earlier question.

Since you already have hotel reservations, I suppose you also have your flights booked and can't change them? Unfortunate. I agree that the short stay in London is time that could be better spent elsewhere. Your arrival day will be jet lagged, leaving only one day to really see much of anything. A proper visit by your Mom, once you relocate, would likely be much more satisfying.
And unless there are sights you really want to see in Milan, I agree that travelling further, like to Florence, or just moving over to Varenna might make more sense.
Sorrento can easily be filled with things to see and do in the limited time you have earmarked. And you really wouldnt need to arrive in Naples until evening. Puglia is definitely a step too far.
I, too, would be interested in knowing how much input your mother has had in planning this itinerary, since this is her first trip to Europe. Has she suggested places she wants to see, or is she just acquiescing to your plans?

Mom probably wants to see a lot of different places.

I took my mother with me on several trips to Europe (usually 4 weeks) when she was between 60 and 70. I consulted with her on a broad target area (Austria/Croatia, Morocco/Portugal, Greece/Istanbul, that sort of thing) then sent her newspaper and magazine clippings and guidebooks to review. She identified the places she most wanted to see, and I tried to accommodate her. This was between 1985 and 1995, so pre-internet; the amount of information available was easier to manage then.

Looking back on those trips, we moved a lot faster than I prefer to do now, but I was aware my mother probably didn't have a lot of trips in her future. Believe me, she wasn't asking me to go to fewer places! She wanted to see everything. She just didn't want me to walk so fast.

I would not spend the night in Milan. Can you stay closer to Naples? Someone did mention Florence. If that won't work how about Rome? or Bologna? They both have train stations.. Just a thought.