So close

This whole time we've been waiting to travel, we've looked at flights. How long it takes from Nashville to New Delhi. How much it costs. Where the flights stop.

A few months back, we realized that a number of flights changed planes at Heathrow. And that is where our dream began. We talked about how nice it would be to stop there for a few days in London to see my family instead of just changing planes and heading to Nashville. "Wouldn't it be incredible to have Grandma see Dorothy?", I'd say. "And my aunts". "And to have a good long break between flights". Ahhhhhh.

Stopping for a few days complicates things, though. Turning it from a "direct flight" into a "multi-destination flight" (even though locations aren't changing AT ALL) adds about $500-$600 to each fare. That adds up.

Apart from cost, we had to weigh how badly we'd want to be home, to see the kids, to get into a routine. And who knows what kind of difficult adjustment Dorothy will be going through- it could be really rough!

Thinking all that through, we hadn't come to a complete decision about what we'd do. However, I called my Grandma to tell her about our guardianship ruling and she was so thrilled! At that moment, I felt like I'd pay any amount of money to get our newest daughter to her great grandma!

After hanging up with her, I started to come back to the informative e-mails from our agency about packing, travel documents, and visas. And then my dream began to unwind.

Indian citizens need a visa to enter the U.K.

Ugh.

So, while Eric and I just need a passport, Dorothy would need a visa to leave the airport. Applying for a visa is essentially applying for permission to enter the country. And you fill out forms, and submit your passport to acquire this.

We won't have Dorothy's Indian passport until we are in-country with her.

And the UK Border Agency that handles visas informed me today that processing takes at least 15 days. 15 days that we won't be able to stay in India for.

A dream unravels.