Itinerary in China

So, in case you are interested in following our day to day journey while in China.....Here's the rundown! Now remember that China is 13 hours ahead of Minneapolis. So, when we meet our new son at 1:30pm on May 11th, that's really...12:30am early Monday May 11th for all of us in Minnesota.  So...just barely after Mother's Day :) So, to make it easier - when you wake up and happen to read our itinerary....if you are matching up the date with US time, we will have just completed the day you just read about and will be about to head to bed.

 

May 7th -Mpls time

We depart by United Airlines 7:42am landing in Chicago at 9:12am.

Leaving Chicago at 10:40am and arriving in Shanghai at 1:55pm May 8th.

 

May 8th - China time

Arrive, be taken to our friend Jan's apartment - eat dinner - crash!

 

May 9

Spend the day in Shanghai with our friend Jan. We're hoping he can take us to some interesting places that we might not have known to visit. We have heard Shanghai is an eclectic mix of history and modernity. It will be like nothing we've ever experienced before. So glad to have this day to settle in with a familiar friend.

 

May 10th

Take the bullet train to Nanjing. Sounds like when we get off the train, we will have to look for a distinguished Chinese national standing with a sign with our name on it. How many times will we have THAT happen in our lifetime!? That person will take us to our hotel the Holiday Inn Aqua City, where we will meet our contact/translator for the week. We also will meet a handful of other families who are adopting this week as well. AND, our social worker Pam (who is from New York) will actually be there too! She is there gathering info on 55 children to find host homes for the summer and the timing just happened to line up with ours.  So, it sounds like there will be tons of support as we arrive in the capital city of the Jiangsu province. Here is a map if you'd like to see the cities.

 

 

May 11th

We meet Peng! Our schedule says our translator will meet us in the hotel lobby at 1:30pm and take a van with us to the Civil Affiars Bureau.  At that point, some of the orphanage staff will bring Peng to us.  What a day that will be. We will spend some time with the orphanage staff, sign papers of temporary custody and then bring Peng back to our hotel for the night.

 

May 12th

Our contact will bring us back to Civil Affairs Bureau to do our adoption registration. From my understanding - this is our final stamp and when we walk out of that office we will officially be Peng's parents. This is also the day we'll hopefully announce and introduce his new name to all of you :)

 

At night, Pam, our translator and the rest of the adoptive families who are on the same schedule as ours will have a celebration dinner together.

 

May 13th

A down day.  I'm sure this will be a welcomed day.

 

May 14

Take a van to visit Yangzhou Orphanage. This is in the city of Yangzhou (see map). about 1.5 hours each way. We will likely have lunch there and spend about 3 hours there. We are hopeful to get lots of pictures and lots of good conversations.

 

May 15th

Our Chinese contact will pick up our child's passport and send it to our hotel. Other than that it sounds like another down day.

 

May 16th

Apparantly we are going on a Nanjing city sightseeing tour for 4 hours. We do want to get to know the Province and the country where Peng is from. At the same time, taking ANY 3 year old on a sightseeing trip that long is a risk....we will hope for the best!

 

May 17th

9am - check out of our hotel and we will have "our driver" take us to the Nanjing Airport. We have learned that having a driver is fairly common and it's quite a career opportunity for many Chinese. I'm not sure we'll ever feel more pampered.

 

11am - Flight leaves for Guangzhou. This city is in the most southern province on the eastern coast of China. I don't have a map to easily attach, but you can find it easily as it's very close to Hong Kong.

 

1:30pm - Arrive in the Holiday Inn Shifu in Guangzhou. Google it. It looks pretty amazing. Nanjing actually looks amazing too.

 

May 18th

Cordelia, a new translator will meet us in the hotel lobby to take a van to the Medical Clinic for our child's check up. This might not be a fun day. It sounds like they have to take him into a room away from us and he might get some pokes. I'm not sure how it'll all play out. But I anticipate not enjoying this very much.

 

May 19th

More sightseeing. Again, important to see the country and hopefully it will all work out. There is always the option to opt out if Peng needs a break.

 

May 20th

Bright and early 7:30am Cordelia will meet us in the hotel lobby to take a van to the American Consulate for our appointment.

 

May 21st

Cordelia will pick up Peng's visa in the afternoon. Otherwise a down day for us, it sounds.

 

May 22nd

4:30am YIKES! "our driver" will pick us up and drive us to Hong Kong.

 

We fly out of Hong Kong at 11:40am, arrive in Chicago at 1:45pm (the same day!)

Then we head back to Minneapolis from United Airlines flight 1142 arriving at 5:34pm.

 

A number of you have asked us about coming to greet us at the airport. While we can't promise we'll be in prime form, we'd love to give you a quick introduction to our new son and take a hug or two. It will be a very special time for us and we'd love you to be there if you can. We will all just have to use discernment and flexibility as to how Peng seems to be handling it all.   

 

The United baggage claim is typically at carousel 11, so this is the best place for us to meet. Then just look for two exhausted grandparents hanging out with our three kids :) Just kidding - they're going to be in great shape. And just to avoid confusion, we will be coming in from Chicago, so we are not technically an international flight at that point. Those enter from the other end of the building.

 

If for some reason there is a huge change in this plan, we'll try to let you know via this blog.

 

Well - there you have it for today. Back to packing!!!!