time to make our way home....

                                                               We miss you Brady!                                                              

When we arrived, we didn't know what to expect.  Would we even make it all the way to Vietnam before the borders closed? would the adoption move forward?  We make quick arrangements and jumped on a plane, open to what ever the future would hold for us.  If we made it, we didn't know how long we would stay.  

We prepared to be away for up to 1 year.  We were ready to home school Natalie if needed.  Steve is still struggling with his concussion and will be off work for a number of months more.  I am on parental leave for a year.  We have a number of people that would take good care of Brady.  What we were not prepared for, was to return home without Piper.  I was ready to do what it took to bring her home once and for all.

Are are over the moon with joy with the way everything has worked out.  The time has come to make our way home.

When we came over, we needed to book return flights to be eligible to get our travel visa's.  Not know when to book our flights home, we picked 6 weeks from the date we arrived (May 5th).  It was not too long after we arrived, that the flight home was cancelled due to COVID-19.  After the adoption, in order to complete the immigration paperwork, we need to book flights home to satisfy the requirement of prooving "imminent travel".  Once the immigration process is complete, we will be issued a temporary Canadian passport.  This is what we will use for Piper to enter the country.

We worked with the travel agent at flight center to book new flights home.  We thought the tickets were almost booked, but then our travel agent went radio silent for 5 days. With the time ticking, and so much uncertainty we booked new flights through Flight Hub (Hanoi- Vancouver- Victoria).  We got extra cancellation insurance.  Within about a week, 2 of the 3 flights had been cancelled.  Flight hub has emailed us and offered to find alternative flights- we have taken them up on this offer.

So what now?

The immigration paperwork is being processed (funny how the "imminent travel" requirement is satisfied despite the flights being cancelled).  Once we have her temporary passport (by June 4th, I expect) we will confirm flights home ASAP.  Flight Hub won't work on our re-booking until 3 days prior to our travel date.

There are flights available through Japan and South Korea.  

I expect that as we raced out of Canada as they were "turning the lights off"....it will also be a quick race home.

I can't wait to have my whole family, including our beloved dog Brady, under one roof.....