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This is my review of my trip to the Rugby World Cup in Nantes that I took between 6/10/23 and 9/10/23. This was for Wales final group game with Georgia, and I also went to Japan v Argentina game.
I made my way down from Leeds where I live on the 5/10/23 and stayed overnight at the Celtic International hotel which was on the approach road to the airport and was a decent place to stay for the night. After killing some time on Friday, I got to the airport to park my car just after 3pm and headed into the terminal to meet one of the Gulliver’s Sports reps for my group.
We were flying with Volotea who had put on special flights to Nantes and previously Lyon for the World Cup. The departure time was 18.00 so we couldn’t check in until 16.00 but after that I was able to head up the stairs to departures where there is security upgrade work ongoing in the area where Café Cwtch used to be. After stopping at the new Greggs outlet at the top of the stairs I went through security and duty free, which neither had changed since the last time I used the airport, into the departure area which it too hadn’t changed since the last time I used it with exception of a Wales football mural on the wall to the right and the dragon statue being moved by Costa and Café Ritazza. The departure area was nice and busy with people for the waiting for flights to Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Nantes.
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After chilling out in departures and finishing my corned beef bakes my gate came up and I headed to gate 4 and we proceeded to board my flight to Nantes via the passenger boarding bridge on stand 9 which was unusual for me at Cardiff as I usually boarded aircraft by steps. I lucked out with my seat as I got a window seat (I couldn’t preselect my seat) 18A. Our aircraft was a 19 years old A319 (EC-MTC) but the cabin appeared pretty new with modern and pretty comfortable seats. There was a little delay with the departure, but it wasn’t long before we were taxiing out to the runway and departed on runway 30 and headed south. Interestingly one of our pilots was originally from Barry, and this was his first time flying out of Cardiff as a commercial pilot. The flight was full of rugby fans so there was a good bit of singing during the flight and a good atmosphere. The crew were friendly and kept the service going right until the last minute so people got a chance to buy food and drink. The flight lasted just over an hour, and we approached Nantes from the south and the pilot from Barry got a good cheer when the aircraft landed. After taxiing to our gate and deboarding via steps and heading through immigration we collected our baggage and not even 30 minutes after parking at the gate I was on the coach that would take me too my hotel in Nantes which was the Adagio Access Viarme which was about 15 minutes’ walk away from the city centre and about a 40-minute drive from the airport. The hotel was nice and had a mini kitchen giving me a self-catering option with a continental breakfast offered in the morning.
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Next day was game day! After breakfast and a wander down into the city in the morning which seemed quite a nice place, I was picked up by my match transfer and taken to the game which was staged at the Stade de Beaujoire the home of FC Nantes. The stadium isn’t modern, but I had a good view of the game from the upper-level corner of the Jules Verne stand and had a great time watching Wales beat Georgia in what was my first Wales away game and first World Cup game, Wales won by 43-19. The next day I returned to the stadium again to watch Japan v Argentina, my seats this time were in the stand behind the posts and the view was a bit more restrictive, but I still had a great time, the Argentinian fans especially were good, singing and jumping up and down and the whole atmosphere of the game was great. This was my first international game as a neutral and I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed it more than I did the Wales game! Argentina won by 39-27 and will play Wales in the quarter finals in Marseille on the 14/10/23.
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After 2 great days of rugby, it was time to head back to Wales with an early pick up from the hotel by the rep and then we were bussed to the airport.
My return flight was with KLM via Amsterdam. The departure from Nantes was at midday, on 14 years old Cityhopper E190 PH-EZE.
Nantes airport itself handles roughly 7 million passengers a year with airlines like Volotea, Easyjet and Air France serving it as well as KLM and other seasonal airlines but it’s not that impressive, though security was pretty quick, the duty free seemed quite small and there didn’t seem to be that much in the way of food outlets apart from a Pret a manger, I don’t know if other parts of the airport had more as there was 2 departure areas. Boarding was via a passenger boarding bridge and there was a bit of boarding but not boarding situation where we the passengers were lined up ready before being able to start boarding.
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The flight had a little delay due to Air Traffic Control, but we departed Nantes heading over northern France and Belgium approaching Amsterdam from the south with the flight taking just over an hour, after landing we taxied to one of the B gates and then preceded to head through immigration to D6 where my flight to Cardiff was to depart from. That flight was from a bus gate and was delayed by 30 minutes, the Captain said due to ground handling issues. The aircraft for this flight was a 6 years old E175 PH-EXL. Our flight time was about an hour and took us out over the North Sea, over north London, then south of Bristol airport approaching over the Severn sea and landing on runway 30. This was the first time I’d flown with KLM in a while and both flights were good despite the delays with good service from both crews. After landing at Cardiff we went onto stand 10 and deboarded and within 20 minutes of landing I was out of the terminal heading to the car park to pick up my car.
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I had a great trip thanks to Gulliver’s Sports; it was a great experience to go on my first rugby dedicated holiday and experience an event like the Rugby World Cup and mix with fans from different parts of the world and is something I’ll look to do again. The passenger experience at Cardiff, Nantes and Amsterdam airports was good as well and both airlines were excellent. Greggs is a great addition to Cardiff airports offering and it’ll be interesting to see what the area undergoing work will be like.
This is my review of my trip to the Rugby World Cup in Nantes that I took between 6/10/23 and 9/10/23. This was for Wales final group game with Georgia, and I also went to Japan v Argentina game.
I made my way down from Leeds where I live on the 5/10/23 and stayed overnight at the Celtic International hotel which was on the approach road to the airport and was a decent place to stay for the night. After killing some time on Friday, I got to the airport to park my car just after 3pm and headed into the terminal to meet one of the Gulliver’s Sports reps for my group.
We were flying with Volotea who had put on special flights to Nantes and previously Lyon for the World Cup. The departure time was 18.00 so we couldn’t check in until 16.00 but after that I was able to head up the stairs to departures where there is security upgrade work ongoing in the area where Café Cwtch used to be. After stopping at the new Greggs outlet at the top of the stairs I went through security and duty free, which neither had changed since the last time I used the airport, into the departure area which it too hadn’t changed since the last time I used it with exception of a Wales football mural on the wall to the right and the dragon statue being moved by Costa and Café Ritazza. The departure area was nice and busy with people for the waiting for flights to Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Nantes.
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After chilling out in departures and finishing my corned beef bakes my gate came up and I headed to gate 4 and we proceeded to board my flight to Nantes via the passenger boarding bridge on stand 9 which was unusual for me at Cardiff as I usually boarded aircraft by steps. I lucked out with my seat as I got a window seat (I couldn’t preselect my seat) 18A. Our aircraft was a 19 years old A319 (EC-MTC) but the cabin appeared pretty new with modern and pretty comfortable seats. There was a little delay with the departure, but it wasn’t long before we were taxiing out to the runway and departed on runway 30 and headed south. Interestingly one of our pilots was originally from Barry, and this was his first time flying out of Cardiff as a commercial pilot. The flight was full of rugby fans so there was a good bit of singing during the flight and a good atmosphere. The crew were friendly and kept the service going right until the last minute so people got a chance to buy food and drink. The flight lasted just over an hour, and we approached Nantes from the south and the pilot from Barry got a good cheer when the aircraft landed. After taxiing to our gate and deboarding via steps and heading through immigration we collected our baggage and not even 30 minutes after parking at the gate I was on the coach that would take me too my hotel in Nantes which was the Adagio Access Viarme which was about 15 minutes’ walk away from the city centre and about a 40-minute drive from the airport. The hotel was nice and had a mini kitchen giving me a self-catering option with a continental breakfast offered in the morning.
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Next day was game day! After breakfast and a wander down into the city in the morning which seemed quite a nice place, I was picked up by my match transfer and taken to the game which was staged at the Stade de Beaujoire the home of FC Nantes. The stadium isn’t modern, but I had a good view of the game from the upper-level corner of the Jules Verne stand and had a great time watching Wales beat Georgia in what was my first Wales away game and first World Cup game, Wales won by 43-19. The next day I returned to the stadium again to watch Japan v Argentina, my seats this time were in the stand behind the posts and the view was a bit more restrictive, but I still had a great time, the Argentinian fans especially were good, singing and jumping up and down and the whole atmosphere of the game was great. This was my first international game as a neutral and I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed it more than I did the Wales game! Argentina won by 39-27 and will play Wales in the quarter finals in Marseille on the 14/10/23.
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After 2 great days of rugby, it was time to head back to Wales with an early pick up from the hotel by the rep and then we were bussed to the airport.
My return flight was with KLM via Amsterdam. The departure from Nantes was at midday, on 14 years old Cityhopper E190 PH-EZE.
Nantes airport itself handles roughly 7 million passengers a year with airlines like Volotea, Easyjet and Air France serving it as well as KLM and other seasonal airlines but it’s not that impressive, though security was pretty quick, the duty free seemed quite small and there didn’t seem to be that much in the way of food outlets apart from a Pret a manger, I don’t know if other parts of the airport had more as there was 2 departure areas. Boarding was via a passenger boarding bridge and there was a bit of boarding but not boarding situation where we the passengers were lined up ready before being able to start boarding.
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The flight had a little delay due to Air Traffic Control, but we departed Nantes heading over northern France and Belgium approaching Amsterdam from the south with the flight taking just over an hour, after landing we taxied to one of the B gates and then preceded to head through immigration to D6 where my flight to Cardiff was to depart from. That flight was from a bus gate and was delayed by 30 minutes, the Captain said due to ground handling issues. The aircraft for this flight was a 6 years old E175 PH-EXL. Our flight time was about an hour and took us out over the North Sea, over north London, then south of Bristol airport approaching over the Severn sea and landing on runway 30. This was the first time I’d flown with KLM in a while and both flights were good despite the delays with good service from both crews. After landing at Cardiff we went onto stand 10 and deboarded and within 20 minutes of landing I was out of the terminal heading to the car park to pick up my car.
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I had a great trip thanks to Gulliver’s Sports; it was a great experience to go on my first rugby dedicated holiday and experience an event like the Rugby World Cup and mix with fans from different parts of the world and is something I’ll look to do again. The passenger experience at Cardiff, Nantes and Amsterdam airports was good as well and both airlines were excellent. Greggs is a great addition to Cardiff airports offering and it’ll be interesting to see what the area undergoing work will be like.
