Passports - Passports are required to travel outside of the United States. Please make sure your passport has at least 6 months beyond your intended stay before its expiration date. If not you will need to have it renewed. Also please make sure it is signed, I usually suggest using a blue pen and sign it as your legal name appears on the passport.

Travel Visa - An Ethiopian Visa is required. There are two ways to do this. Your Visa can be obtained at the airport on arrival in Addis Ababa. Depending upon how many other passengers on the plane do not have their Visa, will depend on the time it will take to have yours issued. However most families are tired after a long flight and just want to get to the guest house or to their hotel. In that case you can get your Visa ahead of time either through a reputable Visa Service or through the Ethiopian Embassy.

The Embassy is cheaper. However, we have had instances where the Visa was mailed back to the client Via regular mail and not received in time, causing expensive delays. If you do use the Embassy offer to send them a prepaid Fed Ex Envelope to send your passports back to you. The Visa service that I recommend, if you want to go that route, is Travel Document Systems. They have offices in San Francisco and Washington DC and have done a wonderful job for me in the past.

Airline Tickets - Please, carefully check the itinerary that I have sent to you. Make sure your name is as it appears on your passport and it's spelled correctly.

Accommodations - If you are in need of help with accommodations at the GuestHouse, those are handled through your adoption agency. I am currently working on getting contracted rates at the Sheraton, Hilton and Ghion Hotel. If you want hotel accommodations please let me know and I will advise you of the current rates for each of these hotels.

Frequent Flyer Miles - Lufthansa Airlines works with United's Mileage Plus program. If you have a United number please get that to me. If you don't, please let me know and I will sign you up. It is a free program and I hate to see anyone lose mileage on such a long trip. To sign you up I need your full name, mailing address where you want the statement to be sent, and a home phone number.

Seat Assignments - Once tickets are issued we can request Seat Assignments. We will make sure your child is sitting next to you on your return flight. Sometimes if you are a United Premier Member we can get better seats - so please advise me if you are. It's very rare that the seat map is under airport control and we cannot pre-assign seats. However, if this does happen I will be sure to let you know so that you can get to the airport early to request your preferred seats. If you are traveling with an infant we will pre-assign your seats and request the bulkhead row with a bassinet. It is not always available but we always request it when possible.

Luggage Restrictions - This is probably the most popular question. Lufthansa allows 2 suitcases and a carry on plus a purse, laptop or camera case. Your bags may not weigh more than 70 pounds each. The 1st bag cannot exceed 62" and the second not to exceed 45" (height x width x length). Ethiopian air allows 2 bags weighing 32 Kilos each and one carry on weighing 5 Kilos. The airlines are cracking down on luggage restrictions and will charge you for excess baggage.

Vaccinations - Many Times I am asked what vaccinations are required to travel to Ethiopia. At this time there are no mandatory vaccinations. I recommend you have your tetanus shot up to date. Another recommendation when traveling to third world countries is Hepatitis. This is a series of 3 shots taken over a 6-month period. You are not arriving from an infected area of Malaria or Yellow Fever so these shots are not required. If you have further questions about vaccinations please check with your local health department or physician.

Health/Travel Insurance - I recommend you take out travel insurance before you depart. It is fairly inexpensive and will cover any medical or travel related issues that occur while overseas. Most US health insurance companies do not cover you overseas. Travel Insurance however will not cover your Adopted child, since travel must originate out of the US to be covered.