January 10, 2007

When we hurried back to the hotel after the pearl and jade market, we finished packing up our suitcases and headed downstairs to wait for our ride to the U.S. consulate to obtain Caleb's United States visa. Even though his adoption was finalized in China, without a visa he couldn't enter the U.S.

We were greeted at the hotel by Helen, the first guide we had when we arrived in China. Perhaps it was because we had already gifted her and tipped her, or perhaps it was because she did not want to have to take us to our embassy appointment on the way to the airport...I'll never know, but she was not very friendly today. Before she was a fount of knowledge and information about the sights, but today she chose to chat with the driver the whole time and totally ignored us unless we asked her a question. We had paid 50.00 U.S. dollars just for the hotel to airport transfer which wasn't all that bad considering the airport is a good 45 minutes away and we would have needed about 4 taxis just to haul us and all of our luggage. The guide also helps you check in at the airport, which is very helpful since very few of the airline agents speak any English.

For the $50.00 price, the travel agency would not add on the trip to the embassy, but there was no way we had time to get to the embassy for our appointment to get Caleb's visa and back to the hotel and then to the airport. So, we had to cough up extra money for the driver and guide and they said they would add a trip to the embassy to our itinerary. They met us 90 minutes earlier than originally planned so we could
make it to the US consulate.

continued...