What is the Holt Family Tour to China?
A trip to revisit China especially tailored for families with children who were adopted from China, escorted by experienced Holt staff and professional tourist guides.

How long is the tour, where will we go, and when will it be?
A standard tour will last about two weeks and you’ll visit places of educational and cultural interest including well-known and beautiful tourist sites like the Great Wall and the Li River, private homes, and public places like schools. And you will also participate in activities and visits significant to the story of your child’s adoption from China. We try to arrange itineraries to give participants an overview of the variety of urban and rural life around China. Depending on preliminary applications received, we expect to form two to three tour groups for 2010; one in the spring (late March through early April) and one or two in the early to mid-summer. At least one tour will be open to families with children from any province; families will separate mid-tour to visit home provinces and orphanages and then rejoin the main tour group. Because of increasing interest in Holt’s tours we may need to choose participants by lottery or on a first-come-first-served basis. We expect to announce exact tour dates in the fall of 2009. Contact Holt for the most up-to-date information.

A sample tour itinerary for a typical tour

• Day one: Board your international flight to China from your US gateway city.
• Day two: BEIJING – After crossing the international dateline, arrive in Beijing. Your English-speaking guide and driver will meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel where you’ll be met by Holt staff. Your children will be measured for a traditional Chinese outfit, compliments of Holt.
• Day three: BEIJING – Attend your tour group’s orientation meeting, then tour the beautiful Forbidden City complex, and visit Tiananmen Square. Stop by the 2008 Olympic Venues. Enjoy an optional martial arts or acrobatic show.
• Day four: BEIJING – Visit the offices of Holt and the China Center of Adoption Affairs in Beijing, where adopted children are referred to adoptive parents. See the world famous Great Wall of China. Enjoy an optional Beijing Opera performance or explore a bustling evening food market.
• Day five: BEIJING – Take a pedicab tour of Beijing’s old hutong neighborhoods, a glimpse of the history, culture and lifestyle of old Beijing, and have lunch in a local family residence. Your children learn to make a Chinese kite and then fly it at the Temple of Heaven. Take an overnight train to Xi’an.
• Day six: XI’AN – Tour the Terracotta Warriors & Horses Museum, a UNESCO world heritage site. Visit a traditional Chinese medicine clinic or pharmacy.
• Day seven: XI’AN – Visit Xi’an’s historic old city wall and, if you feel up to it, ride a bicycle around the top of the wall. See a traditional local puppet show. Visit a peasant artist display.
• Day eight: XI’AN – See how peasant farmers live and work. Stay overnight in a typical farmer’s village home. Learn to make Chinese dumplings. Join local villagers for evening dancing in the park.
• Day nine: GUILIN – Visit a pearl museum where your child can make a pearl necklace. See a children’s traditional painting art class.  Enjoy an optional traditional foot massage.
• Day ten: YANGSHUO – Take a boat cruise down the beautiful Li River and see cormorant fishermen and water buffalo along the way. Shop in the lovely town of Yangshuo. Enjoy an evening traditional folk performance.
• Day eleven: YANGSHUO – Visit a traditional cooking school and learn to cook a Chinese dish. Free time to explore on your own. Attend a special discussion meeting about adoption and orphanages in China, hosted by experienced Holt staff.
• Day twelve: YOUR CHILD’S HOME PROVINCE – Separate from the main group and travel to your child’s home province. Tour the city where your child’s orphanage is located.
• Day thirteen: YOUR CHILD’S HOME PROVINCE – Visit your child’s orphanage, finding site and foster family (where applicable and possible).
• Day fourteen: GUANGZHOU – Visit a local place of interest in your child’s home province, then fly to Guangzhou to rejoin the tour group. Check in at the White Swan Hotel where most adoptive families stayed during their original adoption trip.
• Day fifteen: GUANGZHOU – Participate in an optional special meeting, facilitated by experienced Holt staff, to share your orphanage visit experience. Tour Shamian Island. See the medical clinic where adoption medical exams are conducted and visit the photo shop where your child’s visa photo was taken. See the location of the American Consulate where orphan adoption visas are issued. Hear traditional stories in a local park. Join Holt and tour staff for a Farewell banquet tonight, where children traditionally are invited to wear their complimentary Chinese outfits. 
  
• Day sixteen: GUANGZHOU – Your return flight to the US.

How likely is it we will be able to visit our child’s orphanage and foster family?
These visits are absolutely central to Holt’s heritage tour philosophy and we work very hard to arrange them; however, it’s important to know that orphanages in China are not public places, and permission from the government is required to properly arrange them. It is also common for foster families to no longer be fostering and to have moved away in the years since a child’s adoption, requiring substantial “detective” work to try to find them again. Please also note that due to concerns about the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, it’s possible that some orphanages will be restrictive about direct contact by outside visitors with the children in their care. Nevertheless, Holt has excellent relationships with appropriate officials and our partners in China; we have successfully arranged these special visits and located most foster families in the past, and we anticipate being able to do so in 2010, as well.

How much will it cost?
Your exact tour cost will vary, depending upon your child’s home province and other personal choices. However, as an example, in 2009 the average fee for a two-week tour was about $3300 per adult or child aged twelve and older, and about $2900 per child under twelve. This cost did not include international airfare to and from China. 

This year, personal tour arrangements and fees will be handled through a partner travel agency. The fee for Holt’s tours will include your stay in international-level hotels, tour guides and site fees, all arrangements for visits and activities in the primary schedule, most meals, most tips to commercial guides and drivers, and all your basic air and ground transportation throughout your trip in China.

Who may participate?
Everyone in your party must be at least eight years old and have a significant relationship with the adoptee (e.g. not just a friend interested only in tourism). We do hope that everyone will return home with something of significance from any discussion about the story of adoption and visits to orphanages, so please consider the maturity of your child and the expectations of others in your party when applying.

How does the location of my child’s orphanage affect the tour itinerary?
While the overall itinerary will take you to locations all around China, normally everyone will also spend at least two or three days of the tour in the child’s adoption province and will visit orphanages within that province on a specific day. It’s possible that some participants will have to separate from the main tour group for a couple days for individually escorted visits.

Must my child have been adopted through Holt to participate?
No. All are welcome.

How will the group get to China?
You are responsible for arranging your flights to and from China. We will arrange your airport pickup and transfer to the group’s hotel upon your arrival in China, and all your group travel in-country thereafter.

May I travel elsewhere in China besides Holt’s regular tour itinerary?
Yes, but only as a personal trip before the Holt tour begins or after it ends. Holt staff time is limited and they cannot assist you in arranging such elective travel or during any additional time in China; however, if you wish, we can suggest professional tour services or packages that can provide all the arrangements and support you request.


What if we have adopted children from two or more different provinces
Since there is only enough time within the regular Family Tour itinerary to schedule orphanage visits in one province per family, most families in this situation choose which adoptee’s orphanage visit they want to experience during the standard Holt Family Tour. Holt and our travel agency partner can then assist you in scheduling add-on travel to make a visit to the other adoptee’s province after the regular Family Tour has ended. Although it may not always be possible for Holt staff to be available to accompany you on such additional orphanage visits outside the regular tour schedule, Holt will confirm that your orphanage visit appointments have been made and make sure you are provided with an experienced tour escort / translator as needed.

What is the application deadline and when will you have more information?
Preliminary applications for tours will be accepted through January, 2010, or until spaces are all filled; after which applications may be considered for stand-by for available spots. Following submission of your preliminary application, you will be asked to submit an application request and will be connected with our partnering tourist agency to receive more detailed information about the cost and tour itinerary, including the visit to your child's province, according to your specific requests. Spots for your family members on a tour group can then be reserved with a down payment. Regular communications from Holt by e-mail will keep you updated on the progress of tour plans, answer questions and help you prepare. You may submit a Family Tour preliminary application online, or contact Holt to request that one be sent to you.

For more information contact the China Program at lislev@holtinternational.org or at telephone extension 118.