Four sleeps until departure, 8 sleeps until we hold Ren! Wow. It's almost surreal how fast everything has gone on our journey to Ren.
Except for finishing packing and a few odd things around the house, we're ready to go. We got our itinerary from FOI last week and although it is pretty much as we expected (very similar to our trip for Claire), it's still very exciting to see it all in print.
Here's a brief version of our itinerary, including our first few days on our own.
Thursday, February 19: depart for China!
Friday, February 20 at approximately 6 p.m. China time: arrive in Hong Kong!
Saturday, February 21: Disneyland Hong Kong!
(Okay, I'll stop putting exclamation marks after every entry. I'm sure it's very annoying to read.)
Sunday, February 22: travel to Guangzhou, Guangdong (approximately 2 hours by train) and settle into our hotel.
Monday, February 23: explore in the morning, receive Ren in the afternoon!
Tuesday, February 24: family picture, registration at provincial government office, and notarization of documents. This is the day the adoption becomes final.
Wednesday morning: administration activities. Free afternoon?
Thursday afternoon: receive Ren's documents.
Friday, February 27: depart Guangzhou for Beijing. Settle into hotel room.
Saturday, February 28: children's pictures in the hotel, group picture, assemble documents for Canadian embassy - all in the morning. Beijing Zoo in the afternoon.
Sunday, March 1: The Great Wall and the Olympic grounds
Monday, March 2: the Summer Palace
Tuesday, March 3: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City
Wednesday, March 4: Shopping (the Silk Store and Indoor Market)
Thursday, March 5: receive Ren's Canadian documents. Most families leave this day but we're staying an extra day because we'll have a better connecting flight the following day. Free day for us!
Friday, March 6: depart for Canada. Arrive in Canada the 'same' day (due to the time change) at around 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 7 - Saturday March 14: experience odd sleeping patterns with two toddlers still on China time!
As you can see, a big part of the travel itinerary is all the paperwork and other administrative activities related to Ren's adoption. There will be time for some sightseeing on our own too, but I'm pretty sure we'll simply spend a lot of our free time in our hotel room getting to know Ren and letting him warm up to all of us. Some of our best memories from our trip for Claire are just from hanging out in our hotel room, playing with Claire and rejoicing as she revealed more and more of herself to us.
We're also really looking forward to spending time with Carolyn, Marvin and Jaida, the family we travelled with in 2007 and the only other Guangdong family on this trip. I'm still in disbelief how this all came to be.
Okay, I better sign off now and get some stuff done while Claire is still napping. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I cannot believe your time has come!!! I am so happy for you, the trip will be great!
That's exciting to see your itinerary. I'll be thinking of you everyday, especially Monday when you meet Ren. You're not taking a laptop, are you? I keep forgetting to ask.
Single digits!! So exciting, and so very close to your Zhuhai boy!! Can't wait to "follow you" to China!
Blessings as you make the last of the preparations,
Tina
Yes, we're taking a laptop. I hope to keep up with the blogging but if time is really tight, I'll at least try to post photos. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
Oh Yes! Please post pictures. Although, as I think about it, sometimes the pictures are the frustrating part of blogging from over there.....
It's so hard to believe that you guys are leaving so soon. It seems to have gone by so fast. Ahhhh.... It's coming, it's coming!
Wowwwww, yes, this is all happening so quickly now! I bet it will fly by when you arrive in HK. We'll be thinking of you on Monday, thanks for sharing your itinerary.
We are excited for you and look forward to following along on your final steps (sprint, it seems like) to Ren. You've finally waited long enough. xoxoxoxo
To see everything scheduled day-by-day is soooo exciting! We'll be thinking of you every day and wondering how everything is going. I'm glad to hear you're taking a laptop -- just in case you have a photo or two you might like to share!
I hope you manage to actually sleep the next eight sleeps!
This time is so exciting!! I'm so looking forward to your post from China and meeting Ren (virtually).
We went with FOI in June to pick our son.
Have the time of your life.
TracyJ
Thanks for the the schedule - we will be thinking of you every step of the way. I am glad you have to time to get settled in at the hotel before Ren is with you. It was the one thing I had wished we could have done to make the initial transition a little less overwhelming.
Cecile
Cecile
Post a Comment