Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Uggghhhh!!!

So, the news is not getting any better. The embassy is closed on Friday which means that we definitely won't be able to get the boys' visas until next week (Hector thought we might be able to plead our case if we got in front of the embassy today). Delta cannot issue us new return tickets until next Thursday because of our "special adoption fare". And we aren't sure what we are going to do about keeping the boys entertained in Bogotá for a week because our driver there is ridiculously expensive and at this point we are needing to conserve money. Ahhh, the joys of international adoption.

Thank you to everyone who has posted/emailed with ideas on places to stay in Bogotá. Troy will be looking into those later today! Oh and as a side note, when Troy and Mauricio contacted our Bogotá rep last night her solution was that we could just drive around to the different lodging options until we found one that we like. With three boys in tow? I don't think so...

We are still headed to Bogotá tomorrow so we can make our doctor's appointment, provided we can purchase tickets. Avianca's website is having some issues and when Troy called they wanted $350/ticket over the phone. Yeah right! It is a half an hour flight!
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3 comments:

Nicole said...

If Avianca is too much. Look into AeroRepublica. We flew both airlines when we traveled in Colombia. I totally know what you mean about trying to save $$$. We went way over budget there...

I knew the embassy was closed on Thursday. Really, you wouldn't be able to leave until Wednesday anyways. Since you would apply for your visa Monday and pick it up Tuesday. There was a family from Spain at Hotel Halifax with us. They were finished two weeks early and they went to the airport everyday to see if they could get on the flight. They ended up leaving the same day we did. You might want to try that. I know it is a lot of work but you never know.

Hotel Halifax called someone to take us to the airport for us because our agency's person was short staffed. She took us to there and helped us with everything! She got us to the front of that long line and had our paperwork done. I think it was 50,000 pesos for the ride.

11:02 AM
Genece said...

Hopefully you've gotten your arrangements worked out but just in case I'll offer up my thoughts. We flew both airlines, Avianca and AeroRepublica, and by far the best was AeroRepublica. We had fits with Avianca the 2 times we flew with them -- just problem after problem... lost reservations, double charging for a ticket, luggage overweight charges (which I'm still not certain was the case), and rude flight attendants. (FYI: On Avianca, you'll want to eat your in-flight meal in 5 minutes or less because if you don't finish when they come by to pick your tray up 5 minutes later, they're rude and insist upon taking it one minute later. Had this been the return flight with the kids, I'm certain I'd have starved! It takes that long to set up the kiddos.)

I hope you're able to find some place suitable to stay in Bogota. We stayed at Betty's Place and were so happy we did. You'll find that the doctor there in Bogota is very easy-going and flexible. We used CAII also and found out later the doctor would have fit us in super early that morning instead of late afternoon so we could've made it to the embassy the same day, ensuring we would get out of there before Christmas break.

Best of luck to you. Hang in there... you're on the home stretch now!

3:49 PM
sharihe said...

Hello Andrea and Troy, Congrads on becoming mommy and daddy. So sorry to hear about your Columbia experence. Look at the bright side you made it. Try to enojoy the rest of your stay.

8:22 AM

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