Today was my last day of work and we had our travel meeting. I managed to finish all of my projects early, so I kind of snuck out a little early. The travel meeting went well. We had most of the paperwork all organized and ready to go. I had to print a few things that we needed, but other than that, I think we are good. CAWLI said they sent us a travel package in the mail that has our travel approval and such in it. We should be receiving it by monday at the latest. Lillian answered all of our questions about the guides, gifts, and tipping, so I think we are good for now. After we hung up the phone, we both had to take a deep breath and try hard not to panic! It is all coming together now and we are very excited and anxious and nervous. Lillian also gave us some advice about how to handle meeting our daughter for the first time. We are nervous, but I know that things will all work out.
I still have not heard from Lily at the travel agency about how much we are supposed to pay her. She is supposed to be booking our flights from Hong Kong and the hotels we are staying in during our time in Hong Kong. I meant to call her today, but time just got away from me. I will have to call her tomorrow and see where we are with travel arrangements.
5 Days before we leave. Chris is still not packed. That would drive me crazy! I told him if he ends up with nothing to wear in China, I'm sure I can find a skirt or two of Saiya's that he could try. HAHAHA!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Travel Confusion and Only a Week Left!
We have exactly one week before we leave for China. The past few days have been interesting. I guess we were a little confused about the travel arrangements for China. According to our agency, they only planned travel for us within mainland China, which does not include Hong Kong. That means that hotels in Hong Kong and the flight from Hong Kong to Yinchuan had to be set up through an outside travel agency. We are working with that travel agency, but I was under the assumption that the check we sent CAWLI for travel costs included those things. I was wrong. Oops! So we will have to make arrangements to pay for those things directly to the travel agency that is working with CAWLI. It’s not a big deal except that we will not have as much money as we thought we would have left over at the end of our trip.
On a happier note, I get these weird moments where I am absolutely THRILLED to be a mother! Every now and then it just hits me. We are really looking forward to traveling to China next week! We got a few e-mails from some of the other families who will be traveling with us. One of the families is traveling through Hong Kong as well, so hopefully we will be able to meet up with them while we are there before we head to the province. Each one of the families is going to a different province. It is strange that only one of the families has adopted before (and this is their first child from China). The physician that CAWLI is sending to China will be traveling to Ningxia with us. We are happy about that! So far, our child is the oldest and I’m almost certain that we are the youngest parents traveling. Funny how things work out.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Final Travel Arrangements from CAWLI
We received our final cost assessment for our trip to China. Our agency has arranged everything from the flights to and from Ningxia to the train trip back to Hong Kong when all is said and done. We really appreciate them making all the arrangements for us. I will be sending the check for the travel costs to the agency today. Hopefully we will have our travel meeting sometime this week. We also received a finalized itinerary (posted below). We have 10 days to go until we leave for China!! One week of work for both of us (and for Chris, it’s a short week!).
As the day we leave approaches, we are getting more and more anxious, nervous, terrified, and thrilled! It’s a rollercoaster of emotion but overall, we couldn’t be happier and really look forward to meeting our daughter in China! I can only hope that she is as excited as we are. We are the only family in our group that is going to Ningxia. There are four families traveling to China in our group, but we will not meet up with the rest of the families until we arrive in Guangzhou because we are skipping Beijing and opting to go through Hong Kong.
DATE DAY EVENT DETAILS
27-Aug Fri Arrive in HK Marco Polo Hotel
28-Aug Sat free
29-Aug Sun fly for Yin Chuan
30-Aug Mon Adoption process full day with guide Meeting you child in orphanage!
31-Aug Tue Adoption process full day with guide Notary
1-Sep Wed Half day sightseeing
2-Sep Thu Free on own
3-Sep Fri Morning free on own. Meet guide at airport and transfer to hotel Guangzhou
4-Sep Sat Visa physical for your child
5-Sep Sun Free
6-Sep Mon Get physical examination results
7-Sep Tue Visa interview, Around 9:30am US Consulate In Guangzhou
8-Sep Wed Oath Ceremony, half day sightseeing Liu Rong Temple
9-Sep Thu receive visa Train to HK
10-Sep Fri Free
11-Sep Sat Fly back home
Monday, August 9, 2010
Hard to Stay Focused
We have 17 days before we leave for China. We are super excited and really wondering where the beginning of this month went. Work is slow at the moment and its hard to stay focused on work. I spend lots of time staring at pictures of Saiya and checking my e-mail to see if the agency has e-mailed me about our travel arrangements. We still have not had our travel meeting and we do not know the exact amount of travel costs for in-china yet. We have a tentative itinerary, but that’s it.
Working the weekends helps the time go by faster. I re-packed my bag again and added some things in there for Saiya. Right now my bag weighs exactly 40 pounds, so nothing else can go in there. Chris is on his own! Haha! I also managed to pack an extra set of pj’s and a comfortable outfit for the plane ride to Guangzhou and then home in Chris’s carry-on. I also have an extra outfit in there just in case she spills something on her clothes. I would hate for her to have to sit there for 20+ hours with juice all over her.
Not long now!!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A Busy Month for Sure!
I can’t believe we are four days into August already! This leaves us about three weeks before take-off! The days fly by, but the nights are slow. This month, there is a lot going on. My dad is leaving for Asia next Friday, my mother is coming home from a 3 ½ week vacation in New Hampshire, my niece and nephew fly home from Louisiana today, and of course, we leave for China on the 26th. We are still making a list of things we want to buy for the trip to China. Last weekend I took some Tylenol PM to see how well it would put me to sleep. I was shocked at how sleepy it made me. I guess we wont have any problems sleeping on the plane. I got Chris some more Xanax from the pharmacy, so he should be set with his “happy pills”. Other than that, we are trying to get/keep the house clean before we leave. My bag is packed, although I have to stuff some jeans I bought for Saiya in there in case it is a little cool in Ningxia. Sometime in the next few days or so, we should get a finalized price list and itinerary from the agency as well as have our Travel Meeting.
One of the families who went to China on July 29th was kind enough to take pictures of our girl for us. She is a cutie! In almost all of the pictures she is all scrunchy-faced and pouty! I can’t help but think about how much she looks like me when I was little. I used to scrunch up my face and pout like that too!! If you didnt know my husband (and thought that I married an Asian person), she could very easily pass for my biological daughter. Sorry, Chris, nothing we can do to make her look like you!
Friday, July 30, 2010
3 ½ weeks to go!
We are communicating back and forth with our agency about travel plans while in China. I think we have solidified plans for our flight from Hong Kong to Yinchuan and back again, as well as the hotel plans for while we are in Hong Kong at the beginning and end of our trip. I really wish we have more time to spend touring Hong Kong, but we only have one day at the beginning of our trip and one day at the end of our trip. I wanted to see Victoria Peak, but Chris is very unsure about the mountain. He’s a chicken! I think we are planning on seeing the big statue of Buddha and a few Taoist temples. I love touring temples. I’m sure Chris will like it too. After we pick up Saiya, we will probably be wandering around the many parks Hong Kong has. The weather should be very nice in the middle of September.
Friday, July 23, 2010
US Consulate Confirmation!
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