Where We Will Be

It's been a long time since geography class, so we thought we'd share a map of China and where we'll be on the map.

Our travel group will meet in Beijing, where we'll sightsee for 2-3 days while working through our jetlag. Groups typically travel to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and Tiananmen Square. Groups have also taken a rickshaw ride through hutongs (traditional neighborhoods with winding alleys). We've already met some of the other families online, which is wonderful. So far, we've "met" 12 other families that will be traveling with us - all except one are adopting for the first time. Besides us, only two other families don't have children.

Actually, Beijing may not be our first stop. If we receive enough notice on when we have to arrive in Beijing, we may travel to Hong Kong on our own before meeting with our group. Of course, if we only hear of our travel date a week or so before we have to leave, this might not be possible!

After Beijing, our group will fly to our daughters' province. We won't know which province this is until we receive our referrals, but the United States typically receives referrals from the southeastern part of China. We'll receive our daughter the first day we're in the province, where we'll complete paperwork for China. Families are typically in their daughters' province for a week.

We'll then fly to Guangzhou, where the American Consulate is located. In Guangzhou, we'll complete paperwork for the US. We'll probably be in Guangzhou for a week as well. The amount of time will depend on when our appointments are scheduled, but there will be time in between appointments for sightseeing!