Just 18 short hours and we will be on-board a van traveling to Hong Kong to catch a flight HOME! You never truly understand the impact of the word HOME until you are on an extended trip that you simply cannot wait to end. We are ALL more than ready to return...China is a nice place to visit, but like Vegas, 16 days is WAY TOO MANY!!
We went to the US Consulate yesterday. All of our paperwork was approved and Bill is heading back there today to pick up Anyssa's visa. After that, we're done. Well, done until we have to make the border crossing into Hong Kong and then again when we hit our point of entry at O'Hare. Apparently there are 2 checkpoints at the Hong Kong border...one to leave mainland China and another to enter HK. It's a 3 hour bus ride at 6:30 AM with a cranky 5 year old. Go ahead and say it..."welcome to parenthood."
We have a 14 hour plane ride ahead of us. We hope that we all can get a little rest because even though we land at around 11:30 AM Chicago time, it will be about 1:30 AM body clock time. That will probably hit Anyssa the hardest. Not sure what she's gonna be like then but I imagine she'll be pretty overwhelmed.
We went to the US Consulate yesterday. All of our paperwork was approved and Bill is heading back there today to pick up Anyssa's visa. After that, we're done. Well, done until we have to make the border crossing into Hong Kong and then again when we hit our point of entry at O'Hare. Apparently there are 2 checkpoints at the Hong Kong border...one to leave mainland China and another to enter HK. It's a 3 hour bus ride at 6:30 AM with a cranky 5 year old. Go ahead and say it..."welcome to parenthood."
We have a 14 hour plane ride ahead of us. We hope that we all can get a little rest because even though we land at around 11:30 AM Chicago time, it will be about 1:30 AM body clock time. That will probably hit Anyssa the hardest. Not sure what she's gonna be like then but I imagine she'll be pretty overwhelmed.
We have a couple of people left to shop for. We are heading out in a few minutes to wipe that out, then back to pack. We are on a tiny island that is very pretty. The are lots of trees and beautiful walkway down the center of the island. We will have to post some pictures later. There are a lot of little souvenir shops named after the proprietors (Susan's Shop, Jordan's Shop. etc..) that sell all kinds of kitsch. We went to Susan's shop to look around and got into a conversation about her cat. Anyssa gother first experience with a cat and did not show any signs of allergies, so we are optimistic that she'll be OK at home. We met her husband Dong (no jokes) and the next thing you know we were sitting around their tea table sipping tea for an hour or so and talking about life and politics. It is inevitable because when you mention Chicago, they think of Obama. We mentioned the recent elections and he knew that "Nancy out" so we figured that he as pretty interested in that kind of stuff. We will be heading back there later to say goodbye. Very fun experience!
OK folks...to the stores!
I can't imagine how good it will feel to finally have your little girl HOME. I can't WAIT to see all you pictures and postings now that you will have a computer! I cant WAIT to hear Anyssas reaction to her room and yard and posessions. I wonder if the kitties will sleep with her!
ReplyDeleteIt's 8:30pm here Wed night, so I'm guessing you are on the bus getting to Hong Kong, ready to go thru 2 sets of customs. Hope all goes well and you get home safely and very soon! We all missed you!!
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