Sunday, August 8, 2010

New Pics and Travel Updates

Hello Friends-
After receiving TA, our adoption facilitator in China asked Jade-Rose's SWI more questions about her. One of them was "Does she have a nickname?"
It is Jie Jie. Her Chinese name is Lu Chen Jie.
Jie Jie is very cute, and I like how the two "J's" of Jie Jie and Jade-Rose go together.

They also sent us more pictures.
Check out the water fountain on top of her head! I love how the pony tail on top keeps getting bigger and bigger with each new set of pictures that I receive.


I also love these pictures of her eating rice with a friend. (By the way, if you are an adoptive parent, and recognize that friend in the pic as your daughter, please let me know. I have many pictures of her. She is in many of the same pictures that I have of Jade-Rose, and I would be happy to share.)
As far as Travel Updates....
We have our flights booked going and coming. What a whole new concept in the adoption process to stress over!!!
Summer time is the most expensive time to fly to China (take heed all of you AP's out there). Our travel agent Sue Sorrels said that she had never seen prices as high as they had been for this summer. Don't be misled by Sue's very simple landing page at her website. She is an expert in her field and very highly recommended in the adoption community. We tried figuring out our own flight plans, but nothing we came up with worked as well as what Sue came up for us.
Because Tallahassee only has a regional airport, it's hard to get flights in or out of here without a bunch of layovers. We are flying on August 18th Tallahassee>>Miami>>Chicago>>Beijing.
Our Gotcha Day is August 23 and we leave China on September 4th
Hong Kong>>San Francisco>>Chicago>>Miami>>Tallahassee.

We still have to book our in-country flights from Beijing to Hefei and then Hefei to Guangzhou.

We have Chinese travel agents booking our hotels in China, and the train we will need from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. We know where we are staying in Hefei (the capitol of Anhui Province, where they will bring Jie Jie to us). We also know where we are staying in Guangzhou (where most of the adoption requirements take place). We have asked the travel agents what they recommend for Beijing, but we haven't heard back yet. There really is SO MUCH to coordinate for a trip like this, and I thought the stress from the paper chase was bad...


3 comments:

  1. The pictures are precious, your little girl is charming! Love how her hair is growing, she has the most expressive face. So exciting to hear all the details. I have a friend in China now picking up her two daughters, one under 3, one 11 and another friend traveling for her under 3 yr old. I'm sure all will go well for you.

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  2. The train from Guangzhou to HK was very nice. We spent one night in HK and it is a beautiful city. I wish we could have stayed longer. If you are spending the night there, I would recommend the Metropolis. It is right across from the train station.

    Your daughter is beautiful. We will enjoy watching your journey. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Hi there, Good luck on your trip...we are waiting on TA for a 9 year old girl in Guangzhou and have a 5 year old we adopted from Guangxi in 2007. We stayed at the Radisson in Beijing next to the Carrefour - it was very convenient as there was literally a KFC and Pizza Hut right next door...and the Carrefour was fun to explore the first day. We used Sue the first time and everything was perfect with our travel! Good luck!

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