Intra-China

Our intra-China flights and hotels have been booked and paid for. We won't receive our exact itinerary until 3 - 5 days before we travel. Just 3 more weeks to go! Lots of packing for the trip and packing up of the house as well. We will be moving somewhere shortly after we return home from China. The less I have to pack with a new toddler at home, the better! We are packing lightly for China though. Intra-China flights have a 44 pound luggage limit and the friends that we are staying with have a washer/dryer that we can use. Of course this means many of our pictures will look like they were taken on the same day because we'll be wearing the same clothes!

Consulate Appointment

We'll be in China in 4 weeks! We received our appointment with the American Consultate today for March 31. Now we have our tentative itinerary. This means we are able to book our international flights. Once those are paid for, then our agency will begin scheduling our intra-China flights & hotel. Here is what our schedule looks like:

3/13 - Depart U.S. in the afternoon

3/14 - Arrive in Beijing

3/16 – Gotcha Day! (this is the day that we meet Kaiden and get to take him with us)

3/17 – Finalize Adoption at Civil Affairs

3/18 – 3/27 – Enjoy your time in Beijing! (spending this time with our friends that currently live there)

3/27 – Receive your child’s passport

3/28 - Fly to Guangzhou on the morning

3/31 - AC appointment

4/1 - Family goes to AC to pick up passport with visa and take oath in the afternoon then fly back to Beijing

4/2 – Depart China (and arrive back home on the same day because of the the time change)

Travel Approval

Travel Approval arrived today! Now our agency has to apply for our appointment with the US Consulate in Guangdzou to finalize the adoption in China. Once we have that, then we can make travel arrangements. That should only take 2 - 3 business days to get. We could still be in China in just 4 weeks!

Tentative Timeline

Here is what our schedule while in China will tentatively look like:

Here’s a current GWCA schedule for a family adopting from Beijing (I used tentative dates, yours will be for a different week, same time frame):

3/6 – Depart for China

3/7 – Arrive in Beijing

3/9 – Meet your child

3/10 – Adoption finalized

3/11-3/19 – Sightseeing and enjoying your time in Beijing

3/20 – Receive your child’s passport

3/21 – Fly to Guangzhou

3/23 – Consulate appointment

3/24 – Receive child’s visa

3/25 – Fly back to the US

The trip for a family adopting from Beijing is longer than for families adopting from many other provinces (although not as long as some). The standard trip is not quite 3 weeks long.