It's a done deal now!

I'm talking about our flights. We have an itinerary that's confirmed in writing.

Feb. 9th: Leave Raleigh at 9:00 a.m. to Detroit to Beijing, arriving the evening of the 10th
We'll visit the Great Wall and anything else along the way on the 11th. Can't imagine we'll be dealing with any crowds on this excursion!

Fly to Chengdu on the 12th. Visit the Panda reservation and anything else we hear of. Right now the city is iced-in and dealing with lots of problems as a result. The road has been badly damaged and it's unclear as to how we're pulling this one off. By rickshaw, foot or bicycle, we will do what we can (what a sight!), but I truly hope a taxi or a bus will do the trick.

We have decided not to take the train between Chengdu and Changsha due to the weather, but more due to the mountains. Well, I have decided this. I don't do small, windey roads well at all, and certainly not on the precipice of some mountain or cliffside track. All I would be able to think about is plunging down, down, down, unceremoniously wearing the contents from the 'facilities buckets' as we spiralled to the nether regions below. Too gross. I cannot do this. Travel agent strongly recommends against it as well. We'll listen to her. We'll fly.

Fly to Changsha on the 14th. Do some stuff here, spend a day in Xiangtan where Molly is from and anything else we can discover along the way. Molls, darling, we've wanted this for a while, haven't we? It'll be so special and so amazing to revisit the day we found each other and became attached through our hearts, always and forever. Weather-wise, they're having similar problems due to ravages from winter storms, but they're not as remote and jungle filled, so not as worried.

Fly to Guangzhou on the 17th
Forever Day is on the 18th - oh my stars, it's really happening - we open our arms to our new daughter - we've been waiting and waiting for just this moment. 'Scuse me - I've got a lump the size of a sock in my throat right now - can't even type it without choking up.

We leave Guangzhou on March 1st so there's lots of time for exploration and discovery. One side trip we're working on is the Li River in Guilin. Not sure if we'll fly in and out or take a train ride to show Ai Li how beautiful things are outside of the walls. She's seen some sights already, because Zhuhai is a coastal city and very beautiful I'm told. The link on this page to the sights can confirm that.

Are we crazy to be trying to stuff 6 weeks of travel experiences into this time frame? Of course we are, but we're going to have such fun doing it!!

Steve, sweetie - we get to have sunrises (Sue's joys) and sunsets (Steve's joys) on the other side of the World!!!!! I have such excited and happy jeebers again. I know you do too!