Travel

Well, we got our "inside China" travel itinerary today. It looks like we have several days of paperwork activities (which we expected). But the do have a couple of tours or sightseeing trips set up for us. In Beijing we will see TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. While in Guangzhou we will see Yuexiu Park, Chen Clan Temple, and the Guangzhou Zoo. We also have a couple of free days scheduled (and I'm sure some of the paperwork days will have free time) - can you say shopping on those days. :) That's my kind of free day. The boys just groaned when I said that. I'm sure they will change their mind when they see all the cool stuff they can bring home. Monday, March 8th is Gotcha Day (for those not in the adoption world that is the day we will get little Paige). It doesn't look like we will get to go to the orphanage. The itinerary says we will go to the Guangdong Adoption Center. Too bad, I was really hoping we'd get to see the place that Paige called home for the last 9 months. The trip to the Guangzhou Zoo is on Mike's birthday, March 12th. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, huh?

Lots of the packing is done. I have clothes laid out to pack (don't want them in the suitcase a week early getting wrinkled). Everything but clothes and toiletries is already packed in the suitcases. So next week it is just a matter of folding the clothes are putting them in the suitcases.

It is really getting close now! By this time next week we will be on our way and a week from Monday we will have Paige!

Packing

Well, packing is well underway. There is so much to take "just in case". I have all of Paige's stuff together from snacks to medicines we might need to clothes. Hope I picked the right sizes! I am taking 12-18 months. I even put the outfits in seperate Ziplock bags to save space like the lists say to do but an added benefit is Mike doesn't have to try to match outfits! I have a lot of my clothes together or at least know what I want to take. The guys are another story. They will want to take the clothes they wear everyday so I'll be doing laundry and packing for them next week before we leave. All our paperwork is together too. That was a chore! We have to take copies of all the paperwork we've already sent to China plus our new paperwork and our passports, airline tickets...but we are so ready to go.

Travel Plans

We got confirmation of our appointment at the American Consulate for March 16th. So we will for sure be traveling March 4 - March 19th. Seems like such a long way off but I know it is only 4 weeks now.

Our travel schedule is like this:

Thurs, March 4: leave the US
Fri, March 5: Group arrive in BJ (Radisson SAS Hotel)
Sat, March 6: Group Sightseeing in BJ-TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall (Juyongguan), lunch is included; CHI orientation

Sun, March 7: fly to Guangzhou. If skipping BJ, arrive in Guangzhou today. (China Hotel in GZ)
Mon, March 8: meet your child
Tues, March 9: do adoption process, registration and apply for the passport
Wed March 10, sightseeing or free day
Thurs, March 11: sightseeing or free days
Fri, March 12: get the passport and all papers back. (other CHI families will arrive in Guangzhou today)
Sat. March 13: medical exam for all children
Sun. March 14: free day or sightseeing
Mon, March 15: medical rechecks for children over the age of 2
Tues, March 16: ACS appt confirmed
Wed, March 17: take oath at the ACS and sign DS230 forms
Thurs, March 18: receive children’s visas late in day depending on date of ACS appt.
Fri, March 19: you can leave Guangzhou on this day and return to the US


We are not skipping Beijing and we will leave Guangzhou on the 18th by train to Hong Kong and will fly home on the 19th from Hong Kong.

I can't wait to go.

We Got Them!

We got our Travel Approvals today! And our Visa's arrived via Fed Ex today. So, 2 more things off the list! Yippee! One step closer.

Now that we have our TA's our agency can request our appointments with the American Consulate. They have requested March 16 or 17 as our first 2 choices of dates. It they confirm one of the these two dates our travel will stay with the estimated dates of March 4-19th.

The agency has to give 3 dates so their 3rd choice was March 23rd. If this is the date confirmed we will not leave until March 11 and return on March 26th. Boo! Surely we will get one of the first 2 dates.

They said it could take several days for a response from the American Consulate. Hopefully we will know by the end of the week or early next week which date they confirm for our appointments and what our travel dates are.

Visa's and Travel Approvals

Well, our courier emailed me tonight that our passports and Visa's were picked up from the consolute today and sent back to me via Fed Ex. I should have them by tomorrow at noon. One more thing to not have to worry about.

We have heard since last week that travel approvals for 12/28 referrals were arriving but had not heard from our agency that our TA's were here. Today RQ reported that the next batch of referrals was arriving and I couldn't stand it anymore. TA's for the last batch are almost always here before or about the same time as referrals. I finally emailed our agency and asked when they thought we would get them. They quickly responded and said our TA's were sent on Friday and should be here today or tomorrow. One would think they would know for certain the date (since they are not sent USPS there should be tracking on them). But at this point any info is better than none.

I did not here from them before 5pm today so I am assuming we will here tomorrow that the TA's arrived. Now they can request our American Consulate Appointments. Once those appointments are confirmed we will have official travel dates and can book our airfare.

I am keeping busy washing and folding clothes that I've gotten from Jen, Cheryl and Nicole. I just realized that a tote in Paige's room (that I've had for several years now) contains clothes from Nicole and not toys. So I have to go through those. This is good news though as Jen gave me mostly dresses and I still needed more casual clothes and this tote is full of nice casual clothes. I'm feeling a little like I won't have to do any shopping for girl clothes, which kind of bums me out since I've only ever been able to shop for boy clothes and always looked longingly at the cute girl clothes. I'm sure I helped Nicole pick out some of the stuff Sabrina wore that is in that tote though! And I am certain a few new things will find their way into Paige's closet. :)

Hopefully late this week or early next week I can confirm our travel dates.