Drumroll Please...

And we have an itinerary!!!

TIANJIN

Our hotel in Tianjin is the Junyue Hotel. I saw one mention of it by another adopting family who stayed there before, but definitely not enough info to form an opinion on. I haven't been able to find much out there on it - not in English, anyway. I am just going to wear my roll-with-it shoes ... at this point I'd say we could stay anywhere for 6 days as long as my kiddo's in that room with me! It is classified as a 4 star hotel, it's near downtown, it mostly caters to business travelers and that's about all I know for sure. I am trying to map the location relative to the orphanage but haven't had much luck with that yet. No fancy Google Maps street-level view yet...but I'm sure I'll know more by this weekend.

The best part of the whole itinerary: 9am on September 1st says "go to Tianjin CWI to pick up child." :) Woohoo!

The next couple of days have some paperwork and official appointments, then we have a couple of sightseeing tours to Wanghailou and Renmin Park. We pick up Baby J's passport on Friday and then fly down to Guangzhou on Saturday. It looks like we have quite a bit of free time to either wander out on our own or hang around the hotel. We'll just take it easy and see how he's adjusting and try not to overwhelm him. I say that now, but watch me not be able to keep up with him once he gets a taste for being out and about! :)

GUANGZHOU

We arrive on Saturday morning and apparently after checking into the White Swan Hotel we'll have the rest of the day free. Sunday is a tour of the Chen family temple, and Monday is more paperwork and Baby J's medical exam. Tuesday looks like another free day, and Wednesday is the Consulate appointment. We get his visa on Thursday, and Friday we head back home. It seems like there is a lot of free time in the itinerary but I suspect it will FLY by.

Are we there yet?

We Have Tickets!

Preliminary itinerary:
Leave the US on the morning of 8/28
Arrive in Beijing mid-afternoon 8/29
After breakfast on 8/30, tour Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace
After breakfast on 8/31, the Great Wall!
Mid-afternoon on 8/31, we'll be taking the new inter-city express train to Tianjin
Some time on 9/1, *THE* moment of *THE* day. :)
Details of 9/1-9/6 are still TBD.
On 9/6, we'll fly south to Guangzhou to complete the US portion of the process
On 9/10, Baby J's Consulate Appointment
On 9/11, pick up Baby J's new passport
On 9/12, head home via Shanghai.

Consulate Appointment Confirmed!

Woohoo! I have a Consulate Appointment set for September 10th. I have updated the travel timeline on the right sidebar...and boy did that feel good to finally be able to plug in those dates! Three weeks from tomorrow?!?!

Travel Approval!

One step closer to Baby J....

Hopefully by the end of the week I will know when our Consulate Appointment is - that will give me a better idea of when our travel dates should be. Right now it looks like travel will fall somewhere in the August 29-end of September timeframe.

Inching forward, day by day!