Preparing for our trip...

We are in the final few days before we head to China and I can hardly believe it! We have been planning this for such a long time that it is hard to believe that it has finally arrived. 

There has been so much planning that has gone into this trip - from the very detailed itinerary to the seemingly endless paperwork, visas, vaccines, packing, etc. It will all be worthwhile in the end!

When we started planning our trip we opened it up to any other families or friends who wanted to join us on our adventures. Luckily, a few families were brave enough to sign up! 😆 We will be traveling with our good friends Dave, Lori and their daughter, Ella. We have traveled together before and are so happy that they could join us. Ella is almost a year younger than Maelyn and they are both from the same orphanage. Mark, Doug and Audrey's son, is also from Maelyn's orphanage and they, along with their daughter Marissa, will be joining us as well. Tyler, Doug's oldest son is coming along, as well as our good friend, Nancy. In total, we will be a group of 13!

Below is an outline of our itinerary:

	Activity
Day 1	·      Fly from Toronto to Vancouver, then Hong Kong
Day 2	·      Take morning train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou ·      Meet The guide at the Guangzhou train station and take van to the Garden Hotel ·      Settle into hotel
Day 3	All families participate in the following activities: ·      Buddhist temple blessing ·      Guangzhou Zoo ·      Lunch at PanXi JiuJia （GuangDong DimSam） ·      Visit the Lizhiwanyong (next to the LiZhiWan park) to explore the old part Guangzhou ( Green/Gravelle family joins if there is time) ·      One guide goes with Gravelle/Green family（2.2人) to Zhangmutou and stay overnight ·      Send other families back to hotel
Day 4	·      Gravelle/Green family and guide will be in Zhangmutou and finding spot (as well as police station to meet the officer who found Ailee) ·      Dongguan for orphanage visit. Have lunch in Dongguan then take van back Guangzhou ·      Visit Civil Affairs office where they met Ailee ·      One guide with Lawrence/Shell Family, Tyler, and Nancy visit the Chen family temple, Five Ram (symbol of Guangzhou) park and ShaMian Island
Day 5	·      Take morning train from Guangzhou to Guilin ·      Meet the guide at the train station, have lunch and take van to the hotel ·      Visit Reed Flute Caves in the afternoon
Day 6	·      River cruise along the Li River, simple lunch on board. Leave hotel at 8:00am ·      Shopping on famous Yangshuo West St ·      Drive back to Guilin
Day 7	·      Take train from Guilin to Shangrao ·      Settle into hotel ·      All stay overnight in ShangRao tonight
Day 8	·      Orphanage Visit -all families ·      One guide with Gravelle/Green Family - Foster Family Visit after the orphanage visit ·      Other guide with the Schell & Lawrence families to go to finding spots
Day 9	·      If there is something left to do in ShangRao, we have time in the early morning ·      All families then drive to Wannian County with both guides just before lunch time, Lunch in WanNian ·      Gravelle/Green’s and Nancy meet with birth family (both guides go with for this visit) ·      Other families rest at the hotel ·      All meet back at the hotel for the night ·      Stay overnight in Wannian County
Day 10	·      Go to the hospital to briefly meet and thank the Dr. ·      Go to the police station to briefly thank the police officer that helped us ·      Gravelle/Green’s and Nancy visit with birth family with one guide ·      Other guide takes the Schells, Lawrences, and Tyler to Xianren caves
Day 11	·      Drive from Wannian County to Nanchang ·      Visit the Teng Wang Pavillion ·      Take a picture of the Gloria hotel where we met the kids ·      Fly from Nanchang to Beijing ·      Settle into hotel in Beijing
Day 12	·      Visit Tiannamen Square & Forbidden City ·      Temple of Heaven ·      Shopping at the Pearl Market o   watch a pearl demonstration o   go to a silk demonstration ·      Acrobat Show
Day 13	·      Drive( 1.5-2 hours) to MuTianYu section of the Great Wall ·      Shopping at the Silk Market ·      Drive by the bird nest for picture taken
Day 14	·      Hutong tour-visit an older home in Hutong ·      Tea room in Bell Tower ·      Visit the Summer Palace  ·      Peking duck dinner
Day 15	·      Leave hotel and transfer to the airport morning flight from Beijing to Hong Kong ·      Settle into Disney hotel
Day 16	·      Disneyland Hong Kong ·      Flight back to Canada

The weather we will encounter will be quite different in each province that we are visiting. We will be in warm, summer weather while in Hong Kong, with an average of about 25 degrees. In Guangdong, Guilin, and Jiangxi, the temperature will be around 14 degrees. Then, in Beijing, the temperature will be very similar to the climate in Canada. Packing for such varied temperatures can be interesting!