China Trip Day #23 - Headed Home

The flights were long.  There’s no way else to put it.  But we’re home and I’m grateful.  And tired.

Our stay at our hotel in Hong Kong lasted not much more than 12 hours.  We woke up at a reasonable hour, packed, Skyped with the kids and headed down to breakfast with what I thought was plenty of time.  We ran into the family we had ridden the train with and they had already checked out and were waiting for the shuttle, yet their flight left an hour and a half later than ours.  They chose to leave super early and eat at the airport for “peace of mind.”  That left me with no peace of mind for catching our own flight and I practically inhaled my breakfast and then dashed back to the room to pack the remainder of our things while Chris cajoled the kids into finishing their breakfast a little quicker. We caught a 9:30 a.m. shuttle bus for the two-minute ride to the airport, and the good news is that we arrived with plenty of time.  Whew!   

When we got to the ticket counter, we presented the ticket agent our two American passports and two Chinese passports.  I explained Matteo and Kiera are our two adopted children and before I could ask if he needed any other documentation, he asked for the “envelope you’re not allowed to open.”  I definitely knew what he was talking about.  He looked at the cover sheet on the envelopes and said he should have asked for the immigration documents, or whatever those documents are officially called.  I suggested he stick with the “envelope you’re not allowed to open” because every adoptive parent is going to know exactly what he’s talking about!

We headed to the security checkpoint and were happy to see the Hong Kong airport has a family line and they don’t require you to take your shoes off.  We were through security and at our gate by five past ten. 

I used the remainder of our Hong Kong dollars to load up on water only to discover that they don’t let you bring any liquids on board.  It doesn’t make sense to me since they wouldn’t let liquids over 100 ml through security, so our water was purchased inside the secure zone.  In anticipation of this, though, the flight attendants handed out bottles of water to everyone shortly after take-off. 

Kiera’s first flight in her life was going to be a long one, scheduled at 12.5 hours.  The four of us didn’t end up sitting together because when two bulkhead seats in Economy Comfort opened up a week prior, Chris grabbed them.  It was worth being split up if it meant we could seat out active Matteo where he couldn’t push the seat in front of him or repeatedly open and close the tray table. 

The downside of a flight leaving at noon and landing at the time our body thinks it’s midnight is that we were not tired enough to sleep, (but still tired!) which neither Chris or I did the whole flight.  We had hoped the kids would go to sleep early in the flight since it was naptime, but for a variety of reasons, they couldn’t sleep.  Hours later, Matteo finally crashed on the floor of the bulkhead row, and I thought Kiera was going to doze off when she started crying.  The only thing that consoled her was when I suggested we go find Daddy, and she ended up sitting on Chris’s lap for awhile.  When Matteo woke up, Chris and I switched seats and I sat in bulkhead with Kiera, who finally did sleep for about three hours. 

We landed in Seattle about 45 minutes early due to a favorable tailwind, but given that we already had a four-and-a-half-hour layover, landing early did nothing more than release us from the confines of the airplane a little earlier than expected.  But that meant we had even more time in Seattle to kill.

We had chosen a long layover because for adoption trips, extra time is needed to get through immigration.  Therefore, any layover under three hours is considered tight.  It took us about an hour and a half to go through immigration, collect our bags, have them inspected by immigration, recheck them and then go through security again.  Immigration was the shortest and least aggravating step of the whole process.

We stood for a few minutes in the line for foreign nationals when a border agent directed our family and the two other adoptive families on our flight to a separate waiting area.  One by one, we presented our passports and brown envelopes to the agents who quickly reviewed the contents.  Everyone was very pleasant and completely unlike the horror stories I’ve heard from other adoptive parents about their experiences. 

I was surprised to learn that the kids’ passports weren’t automatically invalidated.  I was told they’d punch a hole through it.  The customs agent explained that they can travel on their Chinese passports for another year, or until they apply for an American passport.  And with that we were finished.  No oath of citizenship, no ceremony, just a simple congratulations from the customs agents and we were on our way with our country's two newest American citizens. 

The long layover ended up passing reasonably quickly thanks to one of the other adoptive families.  They had brought their seven-, nine- and 11-year-old daughters along on the their trip to adopt a fourth daughter, a 12-month-old.  The older girls adored Kiera and Matteo and they happily entertained our kids until it was time for us to board our flight to Minnesota.

By the time we got on the final plane home, I could hardly keep my eyes open.  I went in and out of sleep and each time I woke up, I was convinced hardly any time had passed, so I couldn't believe it when I heard the pilot announced we’d be on the ground in 20 or 25 minutes.  I was so excited to finally be home that I got teary-eyed. 

I was so excited to see everyone as soon as we got off the plane, but we desperately needed to change the kids.  They were filthy!  Their clothes were stained all over with the meals and snacks from the past 24 hours of traveling.  I was thankful I had packed an extra set of clothes for them in my carry-on.

When I imagined our homecoming while we were in China, I imagined I’d be bawling, but when we descended the escalator into baggage claim and saw our family and friends for the first time, I was simply filled with joy.  I was so excited to see everyone! 

Oliver and Soren ran towards us and Oliver launched himself into my arms with such force that he almost knocked me over.  As much as he missed us, he picked up right where he had left off and filled us in on the latest happenings in the life of a five-year-old.  For me, it was surreal to see Oliver and Soren again.  Chris thinks Soren grew while we were gone and he kept commenting on how big Oliver looked, perhaps because we've gotten used to the sizes of Kiera and Matteo.  For me, it was funny to have kids who could talk and speak English.  We've spent the past two-plus weeks talking to kids who look back us blankly and silently and barely ever say anything even in Chinese. 

It was fun to watch everyone else meet Kiera and Matteo for the first time.  Since we've been with them 24/7 the past two weeks, we feel like we know them very well, even in this short amount of time, and I had to remind myself that until that moment, everyone else only knew our kids through pictures.  Although I didn't cry, Nan made sure someone expressed her joy with tears. 

Thanks to another local adoptive mom who's a photographer,(and it turns out, a talented videographer as well) I'm able to share our homecoming with you.  (The hearts on the kids' cheeks weren't to express their love for their parents upon their return, but rather the result of face painting at their preschool Valentines' Day party.)