Down to the Wire

We leave in four days.

Four days.

After a process that has stretched over a year, it's hard to believe that the time is finally upon us.

Things are coming together, however. We have an itinerary for the three days we'll be spending in Beijing. From seeing the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, the silk factory and other sights to trying out real Chinese food (perhaps even the famous Peking roast duck), we have a full schedule for the touring portion of the journey. My hope is that jet lag does not interfere with this too much.

Then it's on the overnight sleeper train to Xi'an, a 12 hour trip into central China, arriving on Sunday morning, November 9. We will meet our daughter for the first time on Sunday afternoon, after which she will be with us for the rest of the journey. Our contact in Beijing put in a call to the orphanage yesterday and emailed the following:

Hi Tim,
I have just talked with the orphanage again. The director told me Tong Cheng Ying is doing well. I asked her if she is prepared well. She laughed and said I think she is all READY. She said it's very good that you sent care packages to her and that helped so much. She was very happy to received little gifts and letter from you.
Have a safe trip!

The rest of the schedule is pretty much as I've posted before, although now we have hotel reservations in Xi'an and Guangzhou and in-country flight reservations in place. We have names of who will be our coordinator/guide in each of the two cities. We also have a last minute list of paperwork that needs to be taken along, documents needing notarization, and suitcases to pack. Once this is all done, we're outta here!

In four days.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Now that all the proper documentation and paperwork is in place, I have the green light to actually buy plane tickets.

Obstacle 1: During my first attempt at making reservations, I discovered that it costs three times as much for a ticket for a little girl one-third the size of the rest of us to travel only half the distance as the rest of us. A one-way ticket was hideously expensive. And we don't really have the option of leaving her there to save the plane ticket since bringing her home is what this trip is all about. My second attempt was through a travel agent whose name was suggested to me after I posted a frantic plea on an internet group. This travel agent specializes in international adoptions and I could tell right away that she knew the business. After I indicated some flexibility on flight times and connections, she put forth an itinerary that actually had Abigail's ticket costing somewhat LESS than the rest of us. Which leads us to obstacle #2.

Obstacle #2: This itinerary has us leaving for home from Hong Kong. Not Guangzhou, where we are staying. This is not a huge obstacle since Hong Kong is only about 170 km from Guangzhou. We'll just take the train. I hear that Hong Kong is a pretty interesting place. And Chinese rail travel also can be interesting.

I'm sure there will be more obstacles as this whole process plays out... hopefully none of them will be show stoppers.

This could be quite a trip. Here's how it's starting to shape up:

Day 1 - Leave the US
Day 2 - Arrive in Beijing
Day 3, 4 - Take in the sights and sounds of Beijing
Day 5 - Finish up in Beijing. Take the evening sleeper train towards Xi'An
Day 6 - [Gotcha Day] Arrive in Xi'An in the morning, receive Abigail in the afternoon.
Day 7 - Paperwork and hang out. Begin to get used to the freaky idea of being a family of five (with TWO females).
Day 8, 9 - Free days. Check out the sights of Xi'An. Orphanage visit, if possible.
Day 10 - Pick up paperwork. Hang out.
Day 11 - Fly to Guangzhou.
Day 12 - Physical examination (Abigail, not us). Hang out
Day 13, 14, 15 - Free days. I hear that the zoo in Guangzhou is pretty cool.
Day 16 - US Embassy appointment.
Day 17 - Oath Ceremony. Pick up immigrant visa. Flee by train to Hong Kong.
Day 18 - Free day in Hong Kong. I've been told that Hong Kong makes Los Angeles look like farmland. I grew up on a farm, and I've been to Los Angeles many times. This oughtta be interesting.
Day 19 - Leave Hong Kong for home. Crash, big time.

Travel Approval

The last major hurdle was cleared today when we were notified that we had received travel approval to go to China. This is almost exactly one year from when we received Abigail's referral information.

Abigails referral picture

Abigail's 9th birthday

We will be tentatively leaving on November 7 and returning on November 19. Once we get confirmation of visa appointments, then we will be able to put these dates on the calendar and book flights.