Gift ideas for Samara Russia - first trip or second

October 13, 2003

Hi there,

It's been a while since I've posted. Hope everyone is hanging in there.....I know this process can ache at times.

My husband and I finally received our travel date for trip #1 to Samara, Russia to FINALLY meet our baby boy referral (10 months, 8 days) . We leave LAX on October 20th. We are sooooo excited. FINALLY!!

QUESTION:

What gifts should we bring for our first trip? Second Trip? Has anyone adopted a baby from the Samara region of Russia? If so, I would LOVE to hear how things went. We're traveling on LUfthansa Airlines....we hear this is a nice airline.

Also, how long does one adopting from Russia have to wait between TRIP ONE and TRIP TWO? I hope we will be able to go back within 2 weeks. Is this possible? It's getting cold there and I've heard one needs to pack lightly. Any comments or suggested are very much appreciated!!!!!

Thank you! :)

cherylanderson3

October 14, 2003

HI Christina,

We too are leaving on 10/20 for our first trip to Samara, Russia. Where are you staying ? Email me at cheryl.anderson@mmmr.org. We are flying from Chicago to London and London to Moscow via AA and British Airways. What day do you come home ? Maybe we may hook up....our baby boy will be 8 mos at the end of this month !!!Isnt'

this awesome. I have connected with some others who have adopted from Samara and they say anywhere between 2-6 weeks for your second trip. Supposedly you may get your court dates while you are there. In Samara we are staying in the Renaissance Samara (brand new hotel, $125/night adoption rate). Anyway, email me at cheryl.anderson@mmmr.org, I would love to talk to you and see if we can hook up.

Cheryl

PS....as far as gifts our agency said to bring instant coffee, I guess it is very expensive there and they love coffee, so that is what we are doing. I also bought some picture books on Chicago since I heard they like these types of things.