Monday,
November 8, 2010
It's day 18 and our last. It has been another extraordinary trip
and we are satisfied that we've made the most of it. We've
managed to adopt a daughter that seems like she'll fit in very
well with our family, learned much about her life before us,
been immersed in Chinese culture, seen the sights, and had a lot
of fun. We are missing our other kids something fierce though
and really want to get back home.
It is yet another beautiful day in Hong Kong and we start it by
hitting Chef Mickey's downstairs. Disney breakfasts may be fun
for the kids, but we've never been crazy about them as adults. I
think there's a secret plot to get the kids all sugared up
before sending them out into the parks. That way when the
inevitable crash happens, they'll do nothing but whine for
souvenirs and Disney rakes in profits. Their breakfasts serve
your basic western fare of waffles, eggs, and some kind of meat,
but they usually have really sweet stuff like pudding and gummy
worms to add to it. In HK, you can also add dim sum, sushi, and
Indian curry to your morning plate. The coffee is your basic
Nescafe and the tea probably Lipton. Basic blech. Price is price
though and it was included so we ate it.
We took a quick stroll around the grounds to see more of the
hotel's theming before having to finish packing and get out
early enough. After weighing all the bags and being underweight,
we were ready to go. This time it was a simple cab ride because
we wanted door to door service without thinking about it. The
driver pulled off another miracle of luggage arrangement and our
bags were all secure in the little red Toyota. The airport is
about 15-20 minutes from Disney which made the cab fare about
HK$146/USD$18.50 after the charges for the big suitcases. There
is plenty of room in the departures area at the airport to be
dropped off comfortably without being in mobs of people.
We'd left at 10:30 sharp from the hotel to make sure we were
early for our 2:05 flight to San Francisco. Being so early, we
ended up with nobody in line to check bags so it went pretty
smoothly. We noticed some of the HK port cops patrolling the
airport and they don't mess around. They're decked out in full
commando gear and carry MK5 assault rifles in addition to a side
arm. I could only imagine what a shootout would be like here but
I'm sure it was just all about deterrent. There was still a lot
of time to wait for our flight so we headed back outside to get
some final sunshine before being cooped up in a plane for a
while. It was another perfect day for weather in Hong Kong and
we found a patch of sun all the way at the end of the drop off
area.
Back inside we headed through security and then customs without
a hitch. The overpriced lunch was more noodles, some BBQ pork,
chicken, and rice. There wasn't much to do after that so we just
waited out the rest of the time at the gate.
Traveling out of Hong Kong, you cannot take liquids on the
flight even if you've just purchased a bottled water. Port
security will once again check your bags at your gate and make
you finish your drinks before getting in line to board.
Naturally we forgot about this and had to down our overpriced
water as quickly as we could. The boarding process was far less
orderly than it had been in San Francisco, with everybody just
boarding whenever they pleased despite the section they were in.
They checked our passports for the third time and we walked on
board. Going back, the flight was only 10 hours versus the 13
1/2 hours coming out. A 120 mph tail wind helps with that.
The flight was uneventful save for a barf incident with Gemma.
Her tummy got a little upset, probably just airsick.
Fortunately, we'd stashed a big plastic bag in her seat back
just for the occasion. We found ourselves once again actually
kind of disappointed when the flight was over since Cathay has
so much to do on board and takes such good care of you. Gemma
seemed to enjoy the freedom of being able to watch movies and
play games and didn't complain at all on the flight. She
actually slept for at least a third of it. Whatever apprehension
she'd had about flying was now long gone. She was also able to
keep tabs on the progress with the GPS screen in the seat back.
We were able to show her where Denver was with respect to San
Francisco. Through the translator, we let her know that this
wasn't the last flight.
We filmed Gemma walking off the jetway and putting her first
foot on U.S. "soil". She doesn't yet understand the significance
of that little event but will later in life. We then proceeded
to the immigration line, where we we first in line and processed
within minutes by the welcoming CIS officer. She signed her name
on the citizenship documents, the officer stamped everything,
and we were outta there. We had her Hague adoption certificate
in hand and in a week or two we will receive her U.S.
Citizenship certificate. The only remaining steps are a
post-placement visit a month or so from now with Lutheran Family
Services, a trip to the Social Security office for her card, and
then we'll have to legally re-adopt her in the U.S. so that she
can carry a U.S. passport. We're almost done!
It didn't take long to gather our luggage, breeze through
customs and then head to the Southwest ticket counter in the
adjacent terminal to check in for our Denver flight. It was now
about 10am and we were hoping to catch an earlier noon flight so
that we wouldn't have to wait until 4:00 with our original
flight. However, on Southwest, if you've booked an internet fare
you have to pay to fly standby. Since that would have meant
spending another $550 or so, we figured we'd just wait it out.
We couldn't check bags yet either because we were more than four
hours early for our flight. That wasn't such a big deal because
we were hauling everything on carts anyway.
We'd been up since 7am Hong Kong time and it was now 1am Hong
Kong time. Gemma slept decently on the flight. Gavin slept for
about an hour, and April and I hadn't slept at all. Our plan was
to push through until we got home and then get a full night's
sleep on a regular schedule since we'd be getting to bed about
about 10:00 or so that night. Lack of sleep equals crankiness in
our family and we weren't happy campers. We all started
falling apart a little and it was time to look for some
breakfast.. or dinner.. or lunch…not sure. The dining options
before security at SFO can be a little sparse. We actually
contemplated putting our bags in a hold and then grabbing a cab
to go somewhere offsite since we had a long layover. However,
the only hold at the airport was in the international terminal
and it was $10 a bag. We opted instead to hop over to domestic
terminal 3 via the AirTram, where I knew there was at least a
few options.
The options
consisted of a coffee shop, a Subway, and a soup place. We
managed to find something for everyone, but Gavin was now
feeling sick because he was so tired. We laid him down on a
booth seat and covered his head with his jacket, which is where
he slept for the next several hours. For Gemma, it was chicken
noodle soup and April and I had soup out of sourdough bread
bowls. Even though San Francisco is known for these, we have yet
to have one in San Francisco anywhere that's as good as the ones
they serve at Panera. We caught up on email, did some blogging,
and relaxed. Gemma was very calm the whole time and slept again
for a little bit.
The stop served to calm everyone's nerves and we finally headed
out to check our bags and board our second and last plane for
home. I had thought to check us in early for our flight. which I
had done back in Hong Kong via my cell phone exactly 24 hours
before flight time. This put us in the A group on Southwest, so
there shouldn't be any competing for four seats in a row. Sure
enough, that part went easy and we settled in for the
comparatively short flight. Gemma had one more barf incident on
the flight, but this time she had drank some soda and we think
it was the combination of a small tummy and too much
carbonation. None of us slept and the flight was just about two
hours.
We got off the plane for the usual trek through the airport and
train to the main terminal. There, at the top of the escalator,
the whole family was waiting for us with welcome home signs. Ava
and Keaton tackled us at the knees with hugs and everybody
greeted Gemma warmly. We spent a few minutes chatting, got our
bags, and set out for home.
Once at home, we spent about an hour and a half chatting more
about the trip with April's folks and the kids, distributed some
gifts we'd gotten for everybody, and then got ready to finally
hit the sack. I got the honor of taking Gemma on the grand tour
of the house. She was so excited and bouncing up and down. In
her room, she threw herself on her bed and read the names on the
wall out loud. She wanted to see everything so we checked out
all the nooks and crannies of the house. She was obviously very
comfortable in every corner of the place and that put our minds
at ease. Back in the spring, we had prepared a 40 minute video
of ordinary daily life around the house, dropping kids off at
school, getting gas, whatever. We sent the video to Gemma
through Holt and we know she's watched it a couple times. I
think it went a long way toward preparing her for what to expect
when she got home. She was clearly very comfortable in her new
home and there were no obvious signs of grief at all.
After 30+ hours of being awake, it was finally time to crash.
The bed was no longer a double-spring plywood style mattress and
we were out in minutes. |
Our view of
Disneyland from the room
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's
Pics in front of the hotel's theming
Looking across Discovery Bay from our hotel
The expanse of HKIA
Catching some final rays before the
flight to San Francisco
Gemma points out Denver on the map
Welcome to the United States of America!
Keaton and Ava welcome their big sister home.
Keaton made his own sign. That's supposed to be the big scary
horse at DIA on the right side.
First full family pic, with Papa Ofstead
(Nana was taking the picture). We're all a little tired.
Gemma's first visit to her new room |
