Controlling Placement of Text Bubbles on TimeLinePlot

I am creating a TimeLinePlot with text bubbles connected to the time interval lines. The option PlotLayout -> "Stacked" ensures the interval lines do not overlap but I can't figure out how to prevent the text bubbles from overlapping.

See MWE below.

As a bonus question - any idea how to rotate the Tick labels? FrameTicksStyle -> Directive[TickLabelOrientation -> "Vertical"] seems to be ignored in a TimeLinePlot?

Thanks.

ClearAll["`*"]

titles = {"aaaaaaaa", "bbbbbbbbbb", "cccccccccc", "ddddddddd", 
   "eeeeeeeee", "fffffffffff", "gggggggggg", "hhhhhhhhh", "iiiiiiiiii",
    "jjjjjjjjjjj", "kkkkkkkkk"};

start = {"11/7/2020", "7/4/2021", "12/6/2021", "3/30/2022", 
   "11/18/2022", "3/13/2023", "10/19/2023", "4/24/2024", "8/6/2024", 
   "1/4/2025", "7/5/2025"};
stop = {"1/3/2021", "8/14/2021", "1/19/2022", "7/3/2022", "1/8/2023", 
   "5/8/2023", "12/3/2023", "6/2/2024", "10/13/2024", "3/15/2025", 
   "8/22/2025"};

begin = FromDateString[start];
end = FromDateString[stop]
days = Table[DateDifference[begin[[i]], end[[i]]], {i, 1, 11}];

bubbles = Table[titles[[i]] <> "\n" <> ToString[days[[i]]], {i, 1, 11}];

tlp = Table[DateInterval[{begin[[i]], end[[i]]}], {i, 1, 11}];

TimelinePlot[AssociationThread[bubbles -> tlp],
 PlotStyle -> Directive[Black, AbsoluteThickness[3]],
 PlotLayout -> "Stacked", LabelStyle -> Directive[Blue, 14, Bold],
 FrameStyle -> Directive[Black, AbsoluteThickness[3] 18, Bold], 
 Frame -> True, AspectRatio -> 1/2, ImageSize -> {1400, 1400},
 FrameTicks -> {{None, None}, {begin, None}},
 FrameTicksStyle -> Directive[TickLabelOrientation -> "Vertical"],
 FrameLabel -> "Starting Date", 
 DateTicksFormat -> {"MonthShort", "/", "Day", "/", "YearShort"}]