France - 8 Lafayette to Nice

10/8 and I'm off to the Tauck French Escapade Step one - Kali goes to LVCC (Lafayette Veterinary Care Center) for boarding and four hours of play with her friends each day. Thankfully she loves it there. Step two . Check in and fly through TSA with my new TSA Pre-check. What a difference! Step three - off to the gate two hours early. I love being early. Next stop Atlanta via a Delta commuter jet, but they had a decent first class. Transferred planes in Atlanta. The International Terminal was very busy. Of course, the plane is late. I'm worried about the transfer in Paris to Nice. Bet the bags don't make it. Would be the third trip in a row, Croatia, Alaska, now Nice. But I'm hoping for the best. Electric window shades are really cool, when they work. There were several of them that did not work and were even labeled inop. So much for flying first class. No sleep for me!! Actually, I crammed an extra pillow between the window and the seat in front of me to block the sun. Well, it turned out fine. It was dark when I wanted to sleep. The food and service was perfect. I sampled all 5 wines, which were excellent, and eve had some calvados after dinner. The little cheese biscuit snacks, Crepes Fuorrees were an incredibility tasty snack. I'm going to look for them state side. The transfer to my Nice airplane in Charles de Gaulle Airport was a very long walk and wore me down pretty bad. I should have taken assistance. The Hermes shop was inviting, but I was too tired to check it out. Then the confusion set in. I couldn't find my flight number going to Nice, but I did find a flight leaving at the same time to Nice, but different flight number. Some staff said I should use this flight at Gate F3o. Others say that my flight number will board at Gate F 30. But that sign says a Flight to Bordeaux only 5 minutes before my boarding time. So I tried to board the loading flight, Gate F33 and the check turned red. Not allowed. So back to Gate F30. Exactly at the boarding time agents showed up and the signage changed to Nice, but Good Lord, what a lot of worrying. Best I can figure out my flight had international connecting passengers who did not clear customs in Paris and would clear customs in Nice and was therefore an international flight. The other flight had people already cleared customs and was just a domestic flight. A little explanation would have been helpful. Air France has set new low standards for boarding, though frankly Delta wasn't much better in Atlanta. At least the food and service and wines were 5 star on all flights.