Travel Itinerary

4/6/2012  Well, we're in Chicago.  We got up at 2:30am and our plane left Milwaukee at 5am.  We had a pretzel for breakfast and we're just waiting for our flight to Shanghai.  It leaves at 10:29am.  In China it is 11:29pm.  The time difference is 13 hours.  If you're in the central time zone, just look at the clock, count one hour ahead and make the am - pm or vise versa.

4/7/2012 At about 1:30pm (China time) we will arrive in Shanghai and check into our hotel.  Our hotel is right along the #2 Metro line, so we're planning to go downtown to see some of the sights. 

4/8/2012 Flight to Shijiazhuang 12:25pm-2:20pm. Billy, our facilitator, will meet us at the airport and take us to check in the Zhong Mao Hai Yue Hotel.  I'm sure we'll be ready for a rest, but we'll try to stay up until it's time for bed.  Staying awake will help acclimate us to the time change.

4/9/2012 3:30pm Shen Yao will be brought to the hotel!!!!!!!!!  Her "hometown" is a five hour train ride away, so I'm sure she'll be tired. 

4/10/2012  In the morning we will complete the paperwork at the local civil affairs office and notary office. We will take the bullet train to Beijing. Lisa, our facilitator/guide in Beijing, will meet us at the train station and take us to check in the King Wing Hot Spring Hotel.  I don't know what time we'll get there.

4/11/2012 We will have a tour of Beijing today.  Our itinerary includes a visit the Forbidden City, Hutong tour and an acrobat show.  I'm especially looking forward to the acrobat show as the last time I was in China, I didn't get to experience this!

4/12/2012 More touring of Beijing.  Today we will visit the Great Wall and the Summer Palace.

4/13/2012 Flight to Guangzhou. Helen, our facilitator, will meet us at the airport and take us to check in the China Hotel (Marriott). 

4/14/2012  Shen Yao will receive a medical check, TB test, get a visa photo and visa paperwork will be finished.

4/15/2012  Happy Birthday to my Grandma Bunny!!!  We will tour Guangzhou.  They have a zoo with Panda bears, so I hope that is included in our tour. : )

4/16/2012 We have a review of the results of Shen Yao's TB test.  Hopefully that won't take all day!  I don't know what we'll do, but I have a long list of things to buy, so maybe we can find what we are looking for, if we haven't already.

4/17/2012 8:30am is our appointment at the US Consulate in Guangzhou.

4/18/2012 At 3:30pm Shen Yao's visa will be ready for pick up.

4/19/2012 Flight from Guangzhou to Beijing, and then Beijing to Chicago.  We should arrive home in Milwaukee about 6:45pm - A family of three.

I'll post when we get to China.  : )