Saturday, January 27, 2007 - Meet & Greet for 114, 119P, 120P

We finally all got to meet the other members of the travel group at the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae over dim sum. From Group 114 were Marianne and Andrew Rice from Napa (who coordinated the Meet & Greet--thanks for taking the initiative to get us altogether!), Michelle and Jim Fortik from Sacramento, Linda Griffis from L.A. (her husband who has a super cool job working in the TV industry wasn't able to make it due to work), Karen Wride from Mountain View. From Group 119P was myself and my husband Stephen from Walnut Creek, and Gigi Liu and her 3 year old daughter Avery from Menlo Park (her husband John was in China on a business trip). From Group 120P were Cindy Chen and Jason Fan from Mountain View, and Laurie Pang from Menlo Park (her husband John Lamb was in Ireland on a business trip).

We ooh'ed and aah'ed over each others' baby photos and talked excitedly about the upcoming trip. The big question was when we were going to get 3rd call! Three couples had been going thru incredible stress trying to get their I-171H renewals turned in to USAA by the Feb 9th deadline. They were told if they didn't get their fingerprints and I-171H renewed by that date, they wouldn't be able to travel with our group! Yikes!!!!! Thank goodness all three couples have gotten their paperwork done and the best news was that everyone will be able to go! (The last couple to find out was Linda Griffis and her husband but the good news came after the Meet & Greet and she informed us all that the I-171H had arrived!)

It's amazing that so many strangers can come together and can be thrown together by fate and suddenly have the one thing in common that will bond us for the rest of our lives. This is an incredible group of people and we are so looking forward to sharing the most incredible experience of our lives with them.