Our Long Journey Home to MN!

Thurs. 6/11/09

It’s our last morning at the Victory Hotel in Guangzhou, China. Woke up at 4:15 a.m. Called the front desk to cancel the 5:00 a.m. wake up call. Still got the call at 5 a.m. while I was in the shower. Luckily, Tim was up to grab the phone before it could wake up Jenna and Sarah. We pick up our boxed breakfasts from the front desk when we check out. Had time to sit down in the dining room for 15 minutes to eat a little of it. No one is very hungry. We take the rest of it with us on the bus. It’s raining on the way to the airport and starts to pour once we got inside the terminal. The rain hammers down on the glass ceiling and makes lots of noise. Tim and I remember it rained 4 years ago when we left Guangzhou, too.

Our plane leaves Guangzhou at 10:00 a.m. The flight to Beijing takes 3 hours. The Barths and Anderson's are on the same flight. We check 3 suitcases and carry on 5 backpacks (Jenna & Sarah each have one) and 3 bags! We go through a security check with our luggage. There's no temperature scanning that we're aware of at the airport. We sit and wait for our flight. All of the kids have a snack.

Jenna and I have window seats. Tim and Sarah are across the aisle. When Tim puts the seat belt on Sarah, she screams bloody murder. She’s probably never been restrained before. Two flight attendants run over to see what’s going on. They offer her a dinner roll and she willingly takes it off their hands and stuffs it in her mouth. Once done with the roll, Tim attempts to seat belt her in again. More screaming!! Sarah ends up on Tim’s lap during take off and landing. During the flight, she manages to kick a full glass of orange juice off her tray table. Luckily, the juice lands in the magazine holder and Tim ends up unscathed! Good thing, too, because he doesn’t have a change of clothes in his carry on bag.

We pick up our luggage and transfer it from the Domestic to the International terminal. We ride the tram between terminals. A couple of guys give up their seats so I can sit down with the girls. Good thing because the tram is not a smooth ride. At the check in counter, we find out that we have 3 seats together and one across the aisle and up one row. Our pleading to change it falls on deaf ears. Same thing happened on the flight over. Tim had to sit behind us. It didn’t work out very well.

They’re scanning for temperatures at the Beijing airport, but we walk by with no problems – or so we thought. As we’re heading for the end of the security check-in line, a security person motions for us to follow her. I look at Jenna and she’s hot and sweaty. My first thought is, “Oh my God, Jenna’s got a temp and we’re going to be quarantined in Beijing!” Lo and behold, it had nothing to do with our temperatures. We were shown to an empty VIP security line and were through the checkpoint in no time flat! Not sure why we got the special treatment. Maybe it was because of the kids or maybe we looked like something the cat dragged in. Whatever it was, we were grateful.

We have a long walk to get to our gate. The kids are good about carrying their backpacks. Tim checks on seat assignments again and manages to get a seat across the aisle from ours. Once on the plane, he’s able to change his seat so we can all sit together. Our seats are in the middle of the plane in the second to the last row. Not the greatest seats, but at least now we’re all sitting together. The plane is packed full and leaves Beijing around 4:00 p.m. We’re finally on our way to the U.S.A. by way of Chicago, IL. The plane is very cramped. There’s no legroom to stretch out and get comfortable. The people in the row ahead of us have their seats tilted back before we even sit down - definitely not Minnesota nice!! Jenna and Sarah have to climb over the seats to get in and out. The food they serve during the flight is definitely not worth mentioning. The longer we’re on the plane, the more we can’t stand the smell of the food. Sarah was the only one that could stomach eating the last meal that was served.

We were all sluggish and tired when we finally touch down in Chicago. Jenna and Sarah were able to sleep pretty well on the 12 hr. flight. Tim and I caught lots of short naps. The Chicago airport is very busy. People are moving quickly in every direction dragging their luggage behind them. We have to keep our eyes on the kids so nobody mows them over.

We go through Customs first and then U.S. Immigration. Tim presents Sarah’s sealed U.S. Consulate documents to the Immigration official. After a quick review of her passport and documentation, she becomes a U.S. citizen!! We catch the tram to get to our connecting flight to Minneapolis. Another Security checkpoint is ahead. They aren’t real picky about our luggage and we’re through in a flash.

We’re all tired. The gate for our flight is at end of the concourse again!! By this time, the kids need help carrying their backpacks. They can’t walk in a straight line anymore. They’re bobbing and weaving through the terminal. Tim picks up Sarah. Of course, Jenna wants to be carried, too, but that isn’t going to happen. We have our hands full with all the carry on stuff. The last security checkpoint is very thorough. One of our bags is given extra scrutiny. It’s full of things we purchased in China. They finally decide we aren’t trying to bring in anything lethal and we’re waved through. We pick up food from McDonalds on the way to the gate. Our layover in Chicago is 4 hours. We could have tried to catch an earlier flight, but we weren’t sure how long it would take us to get through Customs and Immigration. As it happens, the earlier flight was delayed 40 minutes. We could have made it, but we’re grateful to have some time to regroup and take our time eating.

The flight from Chicago to Minneapolis leaves around 8:30 p.m. and takes an hour. I happen to sit next to a young woman that was adopted in Hong Kong 22 years ago. We have fun talking about her experience and ours. We enjoy two sunsets tonight- one in Chicago and one in Minneapolis. The flight is over before we know it. The Mpls. airport is virtually deserted at 9:30 p.m. The quiet is nice after the mayhem in Chicago. We’re met at the luggage carousel by our family. It’s Uncle Bill, Aunt Tami, and “Grandma” Linda! It’s really great to see familiar faces. We’ve been traveling for over 24 hours. We’re tired, but exhilarated to be home with Sarah! We get home at 10:30 p.m. When we walk into the house, it looks different to me. I guess we’ve been living in a hotel room for too long.

Hope you enjoyed reading this long winded entry. Finally had time to sit and write while the kids are asleep. It’s 1:30 a.m., but Tim and I aren’t quite sleepy enough to go to bed yet. We’d like to thank everyone for all your good wishes and prayers on our journey to adopt Sarah.

Stay tuned for more info and photos!

Margaret