If you need to apply for a new passport or even apply for a renewal on an expired passport, please be sure to do so as far in advance of your anticipated travel date as possible. The United States is still facing a backlog of passport applications that has caused serious delays that are affecting many would be travelers.

New rules were implemented in January that required passports from travelers coming into the US from countries that did not require passports before the new rules. This caused a large scramble for passports, thus causing... more

A few weeks ago (July 8, 2007,) Reuters reported that the rising number of incidents of Dengue Fever in Viet Nam were causing concern. As of July 8th the disease had taken the lives of 27 Vietnamese people. It had also infected over 20,000 people in the first half of 2007, which is 23% more cases than last year. A warden message was issued by the United States Embassy in Hanoi... more

I would highly recommend getting out of your hotel and exploring Viet Nam during your adoption trip. There is much to learn about your child’s birth country and you will be rewarded with stories to tell them as they grow up. Experiencing new restaurants, shops, museums and just walking around town will give you a much richer in country experience. With that being said, there are a few different ways to travel (and I loved them all!)

Taxis are plentiful, quick, easy and relatively inexpensive. In most areas of the cities... more

Your trip to adopt your child will be an enormously emotional time that you will remember forever. Here are some ideas to help you remember your entire adventure. Not only do these ideas make for great scrapbooking, but they will help to teach your child about their country and their adoption:

Bring a camcorder! We bought one off of ebay specifically for our trip and I am so glad that we did. We were able to record the entire trip to Ella’s baby center, them opening the gates for us and us meeting her! We also have pictures of that... more

I mentioned in yesterday's post that learning about your child’s province is a great way to pass the time while waiting to travel. Another activity that I would recommend would be choosing a travel guide book and learning all you can about Viet Nam and the city or cities in which you will be staying while you are there to adopt your child. The more you know beforehand, the more relaxed your visit... more

I was scanning through websites looking for photographs of Viet Nam that would take me back to my time there, and this picture fit the bill perfectly. Here we see a roadside bicycle repair shop, which are extremely common along city streets in Viet Nam. I was amazed when we saw our first motorbike repair “shop”. I noticed a jack and an air hose that led to a compressor type machine and wondered why these things were sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. It was after seeing a few of these set ups... more

After only having our daughter for a short time, one of the other moms in our group came back from shopping with a little doll for Ella. Her first doll! She was a handmade Vietnamese doll from Craft Link. She came with a little non la, but we weren’t sure about the safety of the lacquer on it going in the baby’s mouth, so it came off. Ella’s first dolly now sits on her dresser at home.

We had heard about Craft Link and wanted to shop there,... more

I strongly suggest researching your communication options in Viet Nam before you travel. If you have a few ideas and resources planned out before you leave, you will thank yourself when you’re in country and your mind is wrapped up in your new child. My husband and I called home from the hotel phone a few times and our parents called us, but that was ridiculously expensive. My main outlet and means for communication was my blog. We brought our laptop, so I was able to upload pictures in our... more

Here is a picture of Miss Ella pointing to where she was born in Bac Giang, Viet Nam. We found this map in the Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi. One of the kids in our group is from an ethnic minority so his parents wanted to visit the museum to learn more about his background, and we wanted to check it out too. It was a wonderful museum; very quiet and well planned out. There were English translations on all of the displays so we really did learn quite a bit. One of the most interesting parts... more

Traveling to adopt your child can be an extremely emotional and stressful experience. I found that the preparations for travel were actually more stressful than the travel itself. The lists and planning and packing and repacking can become overwhelming. Here are some packing tips that I would recommend when traveling to Viet Nam:

Carry your prescriptions, money and documents on you at all times. It sounds like common sense, but the advice bears repeating. Be sure to carry these important and irreplaceable items with... more