Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 2

We were out of IBESR April 18th, 2012. The next step was for us to travel to Haiti to file our I-600, and attend two court appearances. We were asked to provide weeks that would work for us to travel, and they would get back to us, knowing that we'd likely have to arrive in Port-au-Prince on a Monday, and depart on a Thursday. We told them that our first preference would be to travel the week of May 7th, but that we could also travel the weeks of May 21st or May 28th.

The grandparents were on stand-by to come stay with Kaylen, Elijah, & Josephine. Work was notified of possible travel dates. And then we waited. We were asked if we'd be willing to share a room with another adoptive family if that would help getting our preferred dates, and we immediately responded that would be fine. We finally heard on April 29th, that we could travel the week of May 7th. Then it took us another day to coordinate flights so we would arrive in and depart from Port-au-Prince on the same flights as another adoptive family that traveled at the same time - yes, we booked our travel 10 days out!!! Then had 10 days to finish travel preparations.

Most of our travel plans went off without a hitch. We flew from Des Moines to Miami on Sunday, May 6th. Luckily our flights were routed through Dallas-Ft. Worth, as many flights through O'Hare were cancelled that day due to storms. We hadn't booked a room at the airport hotel, because we weren't sure if it'd be worth it upon arrival to Miami at 12:20 am, especially if we were delayed. Well, we were on time, and the airport hotel was full, so we found another nearby hotel that had rooms available and their last shuttle of the night was arriving to the airport right then. We ran outside and hitched a ride to the Hampton Inn. We were able to get about 5 hours of sleep, before hitting their included and very nice breakfast buffet, and then heading back to the airport.

Our flight to Port-au-Prince was on time. We met the other adoptive family we were traveling with as we passed their seats on the plane, then met up with them to get through immigration and customs, and find our driver on the way to GLA. Our trip to GLA was ridden in the back of a pick-up truck - there were wooden benches to sit on, and cages to hold us and our luggage in and to hold on tight when we went over bumpy roads and potholes. A very interesting first experience for us in Haiti. Hello sunscreen and dust/exhaust allergens, but it was nice to see the scenery and get to know the other family along the way. They were a fun couple to travel with, and very handy also, as she understands and speaks Creole very well, having grown up in Haiti with missionary parents. She did say her skills were a little rusty because she'd been back in the states for 20 years, but very helpful none-the-less.

More on our schedule of appointments while we were there over the next few days...