It turns out that our adoption specialist and the other adoptive mother were on the phone at the same time I was, and both of them were being told to hold as well. So we managed the telephone conference by cell phone. It was great to hear my travel mate's voice. She lives only about 30 miles from me and we are both teachers, but our attempt to get together and meet before travel was canceled when she had a family tragedy. So I emailed my photo to her so that she will recognize me at the airport.
This is so exciting! Our specialist warned us not to be surprised by the lack of "personal space" awareness by the Chinese-I think that is true in most non-English countries, though. She said that the people and especially the children would probably be very fascinated by LB. I expect they will love her 3-1/2 feet of hair.
I also put in a request to go to Chimelong water park before leaving Guagnzhou. What four year old boy wouldn't' love a trip to that place? It is sort of like a Chinese style Disney World.
I'm one of those people that is late if I'm only five minutes early. But I waited to call in for our "travel meeting" which was to be by telephone conference call tonight at 7:00. The host had not yet arrived, so every 20-30 seconds the service said, "Please continue to hold". I held. After 25 minutes of holding I hung up.
So I sent an email to our contact and she called to say she was on the phone getting the same message at the same time that I was. She's now on her cell phone with the other lady traveling to adopt while I'm on hold-let's see if we can get a three way conversation going after all.
In the meantime, here is what I do know:
I do know what hotels we are staying in and how much $ I have to send to the China coordinator for in-country lodging, travel, and tourism. I also know how much the orphanage donation is going to be and approximately how much our son's expenses are going to be for his medical exam, visa, passport, etc. What I don't know is the logistics of some of these arrangements.
I get headaches when I travel-literally. I get migraines, I vomit, I sleep, and then I recover from traveling. (This poor kid will be meeting me on my recovery day.)
What I don't need is headaches just trying to get the tickets bought, but I have one of those now. Yesterday I got the amount for the fare, made a transfer from my checking account to my credit card so I'd have enough available, and in the evening faxed my credit authorization to the travel agency. Done, right?
No. First the fax didn't go through. Resent it.
Next I double checked that my transfer had gone through. It hadn't. So I called the credit card company and they said it would post at the end of the day today and that they would put an override on my account so there would be no problem when the charge came in.
There was a problem. The travel agency called to tell me that the ticket charges were declined. So I called the credit card company again. They said no charge attempt had been made and for the company to double check the number and try again.
They had my number and expiration date correct. They tried again. Then they called me to say that they were able to buy tickets for myself and Yan Aidan, but not for LB.
So I called the credit card company again, while I had my account information open on my laptop and, since my portable phone had died from long wait times, I had my other phone and laptop stretched toward one another from opposite sides of the room so that I could look and talk at the same time. (No, it didn't occur to me to unplug the laptop-too easy)
The credit card company showed only one charged ticket. The guy told me that he showed no payment pending (it was on my screen) but that he could authorize a one-time charge for one of the tickets but not both. I told him that I couldn't travel without one of my kids being on the same flight and that I would have to cancel the whole transaction and try again. He told me to hurry and do that transaction right away if I planned to. (Jerk)
I called the travel agency back. They said they definitely had two tickets authorized and would ask the airlines to hold one and try charging it again tomorrow. They called a few minutes later to tell me that the third ticket went through. And all the while, my credit card history on-line showed only one ticket being purchased.
This is just the beginning!
We have travel dates at last:
October 10-Leave the US via Detroit & Tokyo stops
October 11-Arrive Beijing (same day as we left, but timeline difference)
October 12-Yan will join us
October 22-Appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou
October 23-Fly home via Toykyo & Detroit stops
October 24-Arrive home on G's 50th birthday-what a gift!
I was really surprised earlier this month when we were told that travel would happen in early September. So it is no surprise that it won't be then. Beijing Civil Affairs is not making any appointments until September 20 and the earliest appointment would be September 22. Since everything closes for the national holiday from September 29 through October 5, we won't be traveling until at least October 6. That is better in many ways for LB and I but it means that our son will be living in an orphanage that much longer.
Our agency received our travel approval today. They are waiting for dates-these are uncertain due to the Olympic games-and as soon as they have them, LB and I can get our visas, etc.
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