The Marathon Travel Day

Well the part of this whole thing that I've (R) been dreading for months went off without much of a hitch. I was NOT looking forward to taking a toddler on a 24 hour trip half way around the world. 4.5 hours on a plane from Guangzhou to Tokyo.
11.5 hours on a plane from Tokyo to Detroit.
1.5 hours on a plane from Detroit to Hartford.
+ many hours in the various airports.
+ security checks at all three airports.
+ checking luggage in China and rechecking it for customs in Detroit.
UGH!

It actually went amazingly well. As well as anyone would have a right to hope for. The first flight was wild because the whole back of the plane was filled with adoptive families. When one child started a chain-reaction of crying babies and toddlers one mother said: "Welcome to Hell." While there was plenty of fussiness to go around--it was endurable.

M. is quite happy when she's eating. So we kept the snacks coming, and coming and coming. She really doesn't like that seat belt, but mom could usually hold her. (Mom is TIRED!) That flight felt like it went pretty fast. Tokyo was kind of a mess. We had all been put on another airline for the first leg, which created chaos for us all in Tokyo. We had to walk (FOREVER) lugging our stuff to got through security. Then we had to cram onto a bus to go to our terminal. Then we had to wait in line at a counter to get new boarding passes. It's not really a big deal, but it is a hassle shuffling baggage, kids, and passports around and keeping track of everything.

The "big trip" went amazingly well. Once again--food did the trick. We burned well over an hour with the first snack and meal served on the plane. M. was pretty squirmy for a while after that. She wanted to be held. Wanted to be in her own seat. Wanted to stand. Back and forth and back and forth. In the end, she/we made a little next for her on the floor under our feet and she slept for about a little over half the flight! Mom and dad didn't sleep nearly as well, but got a few broken hours in there.

We got to Hartford two hours earlier--taking an earlier flight. I had to go back for our luggage later in the evening--but we were glad to get a few more hours with the boys.

Traveling across multiple time zones and the international date-line really messes with your mind and body. These next couple of days are going to be pretty rough: getting our bodies back on track, catching up on mail, bills, work, school status, etc. But we're glad to be home.

Flooded But Perfectly Safe

J. was very concerned about the Typhoon that was going to hit southern China before we left. She was envisioning a typhoon induced tsunami rushing all the way up the Pearl River (on which our hotel was positioned) and wiping us out. That, plus the excitement/anxiety of travel the next day made it very hard for J. to fall asleep.

We woke up a little before 5am to get our bags into the hallway and meet our group to go to the airport. When we got into the bus, we found that the Pearl River had actually flooded. It didn't get into OUR hotel, but it the lower level parking lot and (it seemed) many of the streets on the Island were under water. Hardly a tsunami--but an added adventure, none-the-less. Some of our friends stayed one more day to shop--not sure if they were able to or not. A fellow traveler on our airplane said the water was IN her hotel and the staff had to carry her luggage over their heads, wading through water. She also saw an old Chinese woman SWIMMING down the street. Glad we we left when we did.

HOME!

We are safely home--exhausted--but safely home.

Typhoon?

Apparently there's a typhoon coming in our general direction. Please pray that our flights are on time and safe.

M.'s First Flight

Well, we've arrived safely in Guangzhou, China. This is our last stop on the adoption journey before the trip home. Here we will have doctor's appointments, visa applications, and "swearing in" at the US Consulate--AND lots and lots of shopping.

To get to Ghuangzhou we had to take a one hour plane ride, thus requiring us to break a primary parenting rule: Avoid plane flights with toddlers at all costs. Ah well. M. was great while she was eating (the first half hour) not so great the second, when she was tired of being belted in. She cried. And cried. And fussed. And cried.

Boy are we NOT looking forward to next Wed. We want to be HOME---but we don't want to GET there. yikes.

Schedule

Not sure how much more we'll post for a while. Maybe some more this evening still. We're packing up for a move to our next city: Guangzhou. There we'll have a medical exam, get M.'s visa, swear the oath at the US consulate, tour, shop ETC. We'll stay at the White Swan in Guangzhou.

We've got an early start tomorrow--luggage in the hall at 8:00am. Off to the Airport at 9:30am. This will be M.'s first plane ride! It's only an hour in the air, so that's a good thing. (WHAT will we do NEXT week for the marathon ride home?!)

We're excited to move one step closer to home. We're also looking forward to reuniting with some friends from our group who've been in other provinces this week. Can't wait to meet their new children!

One Week

One week ago we were waking up to our first full day in Changsha.
One week ago we still hadn't seen that beautiful smile, or heard her infectious giggle.
One week ago seems hard to even imagine any more.

One week from now we'll be in our final descent into Hartford.
Will all of this seem a blur?

Safe Water

No one (not even the locals) can drink the water in China. It must all be purchased (bottled) or boiled for safety. We're eating in tonight (and cheap) with packaged noodles from today's run to Wal Mart. You have to add boiling water for them to cook. The room has a hot pot.

So. The debate. J. is (understandably) nervous about this process

(approximate dialogue:)

J: "Don't you have to boil it for ten minutes or something like that?"
R: "Nope. As soon as it's boiled, it's safe."
J: "How do you know that? Are you SURE?"
R: "Yup. Just get it to a boil."
J: "I don't want to get sick."
R: "just bring it to a boil."

If you want to find out who was right and who was wrong :-), you can see this article, here.

--R

Haze

Here's the view out of our (30th floor) hotel room this morning. It's supposedly a "sunny" day. (Please pardon my reflection)

A Few Random Pics

Here are a few random images from our trip before we post the really important ones later today. :-)









On top of a turret on the Great Wall with a man from Russia and two men from Le Sotho. (no, I'd never heard of it either.)

Holy cloisonne bat-man!



















Bikes in Beijing.














Fun in the park outside the Temple of Heaven.

Surreal

Surreal is the only word that fits. From all the technology stuff that allows us to keep connected with family and friends (and even the news!), to weird travel across multiple time-zones to new cultures--this whole experience is just wild.

I think the technology thing is part of what's blowing my mind more than anything. Over the past five months we've received several pictures via e-mail of this little girl we are told is waiting for us in a city in China half way around the world. During that same time period, we've established completely "virtual" relationships with people in the adoption journey. Some of those have adopted from our daughter's orphanage and actually knew of, prayed for and supported our daughter financially. Others were at the same point in their journey and were slotted to travel at the same time. Something in you asks: "Are these people real?" "Is this little girl really going to be there if we show up?"

And then I look up and say "Alexa?" to a woman in the airport in Minneapolis and she nods "yes." And I hear another woman say, "Randall?" in an airport in Tokyo. And then we have our picture taken at the Great Wall in China with five families we "met" in cyberspace. These families are all real. That little girl must be too.

--R

Crib

So we walk into the room and (after we stumble back in the dark to put the key-card in its holder to turn the lights back on) we see it: a crib!

Now, we are as of yet undecided as to whether or not we'll use the crib or have her sleep with one of us to promote bonding, (yeah. one of us. Joelle's right--these beds are a hair bigger than a twin. Just a hair. It's like Lucy and Ricky, but we're too tired to push the beds together.) but it was a jolt to see the crib, to realize we'll be here with HER!

--R

Sleep Notes (cont)

Well, J got over six last night, but not solid. I got a reasonably solid five.
I feel pretty good; J. not so great. She's not looking forward to another plane ride late this afternoon.

Energy Saver

You have to put your room key-card in a little slot to be able to run the lights. So. When you leave (and take your key card with you) the lights will shut off and you won't waster electricity. That's kind of cool.

--R

For G.

1
Hey, look who we saw in Minneapolis!

Here We Go ( a little out of order)

Here's a picture of us JUST before we walked out the door. We actually left with LESS than the maximum allotment for luggage.

Tokyo

Random thought while J dries her hair. [:-)]

We had clear skies flying into Japan. I was surprised by what we saw: Lots of farm fields with long metal buildings, (were they granaries or chicken sheds?) beautiful golf courses (with really wild looking sand traps), a large amount of trees, and some suburbs. I saw none of the massive city that I anticipated. I'm sure it's there--probably west of the airport--but we didn't see it.

The airports in both Tokyo and Beijing were VERY clean. The lines through security (Tokyo) and customs (Beijing) were very smooth.

Getting Up Early

The airline wants us there three hours early. (three hours?). Well. Ok. We'll drive over to friends from church who will kindly drive us to the airport. I imagine we'll spend most of that time waiting. We fly to Minneapolis for another long wait--five hours, before we get off the ground for Asia.

--R

Fun With Time Zones

Twelve hours ago it was now in China. (EST)

--R