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I am starting to look at what travel arrangements are going to need to be made for our trips to Poland. Our home study is almost complete:clap: and I thought it might be a good time to see what other parents did. Did your agency help you make travel plans(like hotel/apartment rentals) or did you do this yourselves. If you did do this yourself what would you recommend as far as using a travel agency or what did you do for finding an apartment for the longer second trip. Also I know some airlines give "adoption rates" are they worth doing or is it better to just go with regular rates. Also can you recommend some things to do while we are in Poland or places to eat. I want these trips to go as smoothly as possible and cutting down on just some general travel stress I am sure will be a big help. Any advice on your travel to Poland would be wonderful or any experiences that you think would be helpful are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!
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We made our first trip to see our baby girl about 4 wks ago and stayed in a reasonably priced hotel near the orphanage. For the second trip, our facilitator is helping us find an apartment which will be close to lots of shopping, parks, etc.I don't know which agency you are using, but our agency has been very helpful with the planning of our trips. Your agency should be able to provide you with information about airfare, hotels, etc. IF you'd like more info, feel free to PM me.
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Poodle - we're still working on our dossier, but the advice I'd give you regarding your stay is to try to find a "bar mleczny" instead of restaurants. My relatives who live there say you can get a full meal for the equivalent of about $5.
And as momto2gals (congrats! btw) said, your agency should be able to at least offer some suggestions. Ours told us they'd hold a travel conference call prior to our first trip, and that while we'd be given the option of booking the suggestions of our facilitator, we'd generally have the option of finding our own accomodations. You should be able to find and book accomodations ahead of time online.
Travel plans are so exciting. Our agency was fantastic about assisting us with planning.
Depending on where the child(ren) are living really guides what to do. Because you don't know where they are, there are a lot of unknowns. This is where the trust your agency part really comes into play.
Our son was in an orphanage in Warsaw. We stayed in a hotel for the first trip. We used LOT airlines and there is no "adoption fare" with them. Because we wanted the direct flight from New York, we used them anyway.
For the second trip we were required to stay in the orphanage until we went to court. We paid the orphanage and cooked our own meals mostly. It is absolutley worth it to shop in a major store, like CarreFour. The local skleps are very pricey. We took a cab and shopped rather than walk to the sklep and pay 2-3 times the price of things.
After we finalized things in court, we moved into an apartment that someone from this forum suggested. It was fantastic and we got a great rate since the renters totally supported adoption.
To break things up (we stayed in Warsaw for everything) we did travel to Krakow for a week which I highly suggest. Great zoo in Warsaw and lots of Sunday brunches which we loved.
PM me with any questions. Best of luck!