40 hours later...but who's counting!?!?!

Well, 40 hours later we've arrived in Beijing. We had a delightful 10 hour layover in Los Angeles. Adventures in people watching. We were just glad we made it into and out of the area because the fires were a concern.

The first photo is of a cool follow-along map where we could see where we came from and what we had left to travel.
The LONG flight to Guangzhou turned out to be about 2.5 hours longer than we expected- 14:45 hrs. We had primo seats in Premium Economy. Lots of leg room for the giant family. J and I fell asleep right away. S woke up just as they were serving a meal so he grabbed one. J and I missed out.

About 10 hours later we got breakfast. In between, we were snacking on whatever we could find. It's really hard to know when to eat when you are 13 hours off schedule. We met up with another family getting a daughter from the same orphanage and made friends with several other families traveling to adopt. It's fairly obvious what the American families are heading to China for. We stick out like sore thumbs. I can just read the Chinese folks' minds as they gawk at our family..."look at the American Giants!"

Second photo is of Jack sleeping on the 2:45 hr flight from Guangzhou to Beijing. He feel asleep within 2 minutes of takeoff and completely missed lunch. We were met by a very nice lady named Phoebe who will be our guide in Beijing. We really like her.
We're showering and heading to bed soon 5:00 p.m. local time so we will hopefully be on this time zone soon. (Thanks for that advice Charles!) We all feel wiped out from traveling. We've got a tour in the morning of Tiannamen Square, Summer Place, Temple of Heaven. Then the next day we'll go to the Great Wall in the a.m. and off to Chongqing in the p.m. where we get Sarah the next day!

Thanks for coming along with us!

Yes Virginia, there is a Starbucks...

...in China! I'm supposed to be packing right now, but I took a break to find out if there are any Starbucks in any of the cities to which we will travel: Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou. Luckily there are 41 dispersed among those three cities! Traveling just got easier.

Three days to go....

Dear Matt and all other readers,

We have three days until we fly. The big man is panicking, only to be comforted by his new Cabela's travel wardrobe. The dog is nervous about all the suitcases laid out. We have all of J's school work that he will miss.

For the two people left out there that don't know why this blog is named Journey to Clover, I will explain. Two and a half years ago, when the case worker was interviewing J during the home study she asked if he had a name for his sister. His firm answer was "Clover". We have called her Clover ever since. It's reminiscent of my friend Amy who called her daughter Flower Pot in utero. We have slipped a few times calling Sarah Clover instead. We'll keep working on it.

Looking at this photo, some have asked if there is something wrong with Sarah's legs. As far as we know there is not. I think the combination of the seat and position she is sitting in and the split pants that Chinese babies gives the appearance that something is different about her legs.

Join us on the journey

This journey started 3 years ago. Join us as we finally reach our goal of adding a beautiful little girl to our family. Except to tell you that we've named our daughter Sarah Annette Ai Ai, we will not use our first and last names for security purposes. If you leave a comment, please remember not to list our first or last names on this public site. Thanks.

We leave Oct 23 (earlier than we expected) and travel to Beijing for a few days. We then head to Chongqing and receive our daughter on October 28. Usually they bring the girls to your hotel, but we will actually travel to the orphanage to pick them up. That will be an experience.

Around November 3, we travel to Guangzhou to complete the U.S. paperwork. We'll depart November 9 and get home Nov. 10. It's a longer trip than expected. I have gotten J's school work to take with us. There's so much still to do before we go!

We'll keep you posted and try to blog and upload photos while in country.
Thanks for coming along. K

This is a test. This is only a test.

I'm writing from a hotel on a borrowed laptop, making sure I know how to post to this blog from somewhere other than home. It took a few minutes to remember my password - ha.

We found out today that we will travel to the orphanage to receive our daughter (instead of having her brought to the hotel as is the usual practice.) I believe it is a 2 hr drive one way. We're glad we booked flights getting into Chongqing the evening before "gotcha". It will be interesting to see the orphanage. More later.....K