Travel Days: August 28-30, 2019

Trent’s parents took us to the airport the evening of Thursday, August 28. We flew out of Newark, NJ a straight 15 hours to Hong Kong. With the recent protests in Hong Kong there had initially been some concern that we would need to change our flight plans. We did not need to do that after all for which we were very thankful.

This was our last photo of our family of 7. 

The flight to Hong Kong was blessedly uneventful. The plane wasn’t full so we had a row of three seats for the two of us so we could take turns lying down. I had a brilliant plan of staying awake until 9 am our time (our flight left at 1:55 am) to try to immediately get ourselves adjusted to China time (12 hours ahead). I didn’t last near that long. I think I dozed immediately for 30 minutes then dinner was brought around 2:30 am. It’s strange to eat beef and rice in the middle of the night but we know if we don’t eat now it will be a long time until food is offered again. 

I made sure Trent didn’t get the cup noodles mid-flight as that smell was what did my stomach in last time. 

I was able to watch a movie then lie down and sleep for 5 hours straight. I watched a couple more movies and rested more. I was so grateful to have had a healthy flight! Trent was only able to sleep for small stretches of an hour to 90 minutes. 

We had a short layover in Hong Kong that was also very smooth. 

This is me in the same spot where, on our last adoption, I was vomiting on the floor. What a relief to give that thumbs up!

We arrived in Hong Kong around 4:30 am China time and were able to FaceTime with the girls and Zoey. We were thankful to hear everything was going well.

We enjoyed a nice cold coffee which was just what we needed to perk us up for the 7:30 am flight to Beijing. 

The flight to Beijing was just 3 hours which felt like nothing after a 15 hour flight. I wanted to stay awake during this time to help my body acclimate to the new time zone. Watching “Up” was helpful. We made it through immigration with no difficulty, though there was a new procedure in place which requires fingerprinting which we were unprepared for but was quite simple to do. 

Callum met us outside of baggage claim and it was such a joy to see a familiar face!

He travels a lot and anticipated our thirst; I was happy for the water he immediately offered!

We went back to Hannah and Callum’s apartment in Beijing and were able to start to catch up, shower, and then rest for two hours in the afternoon. 

This is the view from their apartment. We woke up from our naps when their girls got home from school. The full-on catching up started once Hannah got home from work and we could all four share together. 

Our families ate dinner at the Swan and Duck which is where they took us when we adopted Ruthie. 

It was just as delicious as we remembered. Initially it seemed like too much food but by the end it was all practically demolished. 

I’m not very good at describing food so I’ll just share some photos. This is a white fish that has been turned inside out and fried. Kind of like Outback’s bloomin onion... but fish. 

After dinner we loaded up in a van and drove to their country house at the Great Wall. This reminds me very much of how Lancaster families keep a cabin in the mountains; much the same idea but these mountains happen to have the Great Wall of China in them. 

We understand the incredible opportunity we had to stay here with our dear friends who are like family. Hannah has a special word for this, “framily”, and I love it. 

Two of their children had fallen asleep on the drive so they were carried in and put to bed. After their older daughter went to sleep we had a fantastic evening catching up on what’s been going on in each other’s lives since we saw each other last summer. We were ready for bedtime when it came around. Both Trent and I slept well!