Travel Diary - October 2008

There is no excuse to leave this island!
Since we arrived here, Maria's uncle and aunt have been pressuring us to visit them in Nantes. And like I reported a couple of months back, we found a great promotion with Ryanair and paid only £4 for the two of us to fly there and return. Last week we finally went... and it felt really good!

I was a little skeptical with Ryanair, specially after a week of tales in the press about planes almost crashing, having just enough fuel to land, etc etc, but I really enjoyed both flights. The crew was very young but good (all of them seem to be Spanish!!!). What surprised me the most was how fast they get a plane starting after they just landed! And the fact that flying from Stanstead to Nantes takes no more than 90 minutes!!!!

I already know fairly well the north coast of France, from a previous journey I made along the beaches of Normandy and the stories related to World War II, but I had never been to Nantes before.

We had a wonderful stay there and I really enjoyed visiting the city centre. Being the capital of Brittany, Nantes may come across dark and grey, but it is actually quite lively. Great shops, a beautiful medieval castle and ancient building make it a very close-knit city.

Maria had been when she was in her teens, so it was like she was visiting for the first time again. We visited for the first time the beach of La Baule and the fortified port of Saint-Malo and I paid a second visit (Maria's first) to Mont Saint-Michel, France's most popular visitor attraction!!!

All in all, a great five days away from the routine, and a proof that we don't travel more because we are too lazy to search for great deals!!