Frequent Flyer Miles

It is possible to use frequent flyer miles if you have a lot of them and you're willing to make a lot of calls. It took John about five calls over a period of five days to get what we wanted which was first class tickets both to and from China. He had to call day after day until things opened up, but it was worth it.

On the way to China we have a seven hour layover in Detroit. I'm not sure if the layover is because we are using frequent flyer miles or if those are the only tickets available even if you pay full fare. Either way, it doesn't matter because we are finally going to China.

Final Travel Itinerary

Sept 10 Leave US
Sept 11 Arrive in Guangzhou late
Sept 13 Gotcha Day - We meet Junie
Sept 14 Adoption Paperwork
Sept 21 Babies' Medical Exams
Sept 25 Consulate Appointment
Sept 27 Return Home

Because of the short notice for travel, we decided to skip the sightseeing in Beijing.

Our TAs are here!

Our travel approvals arrived today!!!! This mean that our agency can make our consulate appointment and our final travel dates. Because we cannot get June on the original scheduled date, our tentative dates have changed. We leave Monday, September 10 and return Wednesday, September 26...tentatively. That only gives us a little over two weeks to get ready. Yikes!

Our TAs are on the way!

Our agency just sent us a message that our travel approvals have been mailed from China. That means that we will probably travel in September instead of waiting until November. Woohoo! Our tentative travel dates are leaving September 13 and returning September 29.

We've already booked our tickets with frequent flyer milage. We had to book them early or we wouldn't be able to use them. If we have to change them, no biggie. The penalty will be small compared to paying for the tickets.

Open Arms

I just found out wonderful news. Junie is part of the Open Arms program at the Zhanjiang CWI. This program raises money to hire extra nannies to provide one on one attention to the children in the orphanage. I do not know if other orphanages have access to this type of program, but we are lucky that Junie's does.

Travel???

Our agency is hoping for us to travel around September 13. I am hoping to travel that early, but there are many factors beyond our control, so nobody really knows yet.

UPS

The UPS man came!!! Take a look at our referral page for more information.

Our Referral Is Here

Our referral came! We're currently waiting for the UPS man to deliver Junie's picture and all her information. What we do know is that she is 13 months old, 18 pounds, has lots of hair and no teeth...yet. She is from the Guangdong province. I'll post more when we know more.