Flying Air France, the holiday begins

OK, it is a while ago, but I still need to tell you how my vacation started.

I was supposed to fly in the evening with Delta from Washington to Amsterdam and then with KLM to Cape Town.Unfortunately the first flight was already delayed by the time I checked in, so the lady at the counter looked for a new connection and luckily found one immediately, flying with Air France to Paris, then change planes and then I would still be able to catch the original flight to Cape Town.

I needed someone to accompany me to the plane in Washington as time for a normal check in was too tight. Did you know that this way within 10 minutes I was from the check in counter to actually sitting in the plane? I do like to shop a bit at airports, or at least look around a bit and usually have plenty of time to do so, so this time I missed out on it, please don't ask me how the airport in Washington is, I have no idea!

The flight was OK, the on board entertainment system didn't work for the first 2 hours and then the movies weren't new, what a bummer. The highlight of the first flight was a glass of Canard Duchene Champagne....yes the rest was not that exciting, service was friendly but food was bad.I have to say bad even so I don't like to be negative. I had a lovely sounding "Beef Parmentier" which is usually a tender beef stew with potatoes. What we got served is a tiny layer of mince meat topped with mash potatoes made out of powder, I could not eat it so the only thing what I did on the flight was sleeping.

The Airport in Paris (Charles de Gaulle) is very good, easy to find everything a bit weak in shops where I was but by good chance I met Cem, an Assistant Maitre'd from Mercury, he was actually on the same flight like me, but we didn't see each other. He was now on the way to Montpellier in the same part of the airport, so we had a cup of coffee together for about half an hour before we parted again to catch our flights. Was really nice to see him again and catch up a little bit.

The next Air France Flight was really good, just a short jump to Amsterdam, had a quick snack and we were ready for landing again. Overall I have to say that I was not overly impressed with Air France, very little leg space, disappointing movies, service friendly but not wowing me away, I am glad the next flight is KLM, I hope it is as good as last time.