Season's Greetings!
Lotus Travel: Uniting Families and Connecting Cultures
December 2007
In This Issue
Homeland Heritage Tour Workshop
Upcoming Events
Featured Article: Living Between the Cultures
Enter to Win Tickets to China
New! Book Club
Chinese New Year Giveaways

Preparation for a Homeland Heritage Tour Workshop:

Workshop 

We now offer workshops that specialize in Homeland Heritage Tour preparation. Our coordinator and adoptive mother of two, Iris Culp, discusses emotional preparations, cultural differences, timing, budget, planning and other obstacles that you face when your child returns to their birth country. For more information please visit our webpage or contact Iris directly at [email protected].
Where You can Find Lotus: Upcoming Events
 
January 5th - FCC-NY Returning to China: Travel Forum & Fair II. If you will be in the area, Lotus invites you to come to a reception after the event. Please email Iris Culp at [email protected] for more information.
 
January 26th/27th - Seattle Travel Show. Set up a time or drop by our booth to discuss tour options or questions you may have regarding your potential trip! Email Theresa at [email protected] for more information.
 
January 26th - FCC-Atlanta's 2008 Lunar New Year Celebration. If you will be attending, be sure to visit our Homeland Heritage Tour Coordinator, Marie Gonda. Email Marie at [email protected].
 
January 27th - FCC-North California's "Between Two New Years Party". Our Coordinator Iris Culp will be in attendance to answer your questions or help with tour planning.
 
February 10th - FCC-Seattle's "Chinese New Year 2008" Event.
 
February 10th - FCC-Oregon's "2008 Chinese New Years Festival"
 
Lotus is interested in participating in your upcoming Chinese New Year or other large events; please contact Theresa at [email protected] or by phone at 1-866-524-0089. We look forward to hearing from you! 
 
Visa Applications 
 
LogoWe provide daily courier service to the Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian consulates in the U.S. With over twelve years of experience, you can trust Lotus when it comes to applying for your visa. For more information visit our website or contact our specialist Linh directly by phone at 1-866-524-0089 or via email [email protected].

Travel Insurance


Travelex
 
These days, travel insurance is much more than just protecting your savings against travel complications; it goes further to protect your family and travel companions against identity theft, medical emergencies and even unfortunate terrorist events. To learn more about the coverage we reccommend, please visit our
webpage or contact us directly at 1-866-524-0089. We look forward to discussing how an inexpensive coverage plan can save your family money and a piece of mind.
Donate for the Holidays

LWB 

"Love Without Boundaries is a worldwide group of volunteers who have realized that people with a pure love for helping children can truly make a difference. We all donate our time and resources in an attempt to brighten the lives of orphaned children in China. Give the "gift of a family" this holiday season by sponsoring a child into foster care.  We have so many beautiful children in need of sponsors, and we have seen firsthand the miraculous transformations that occur when a child is given their own mama and baba to love them.   Visit the sponsorship page. We also have many critical children in need of surgery this holiday season.   No amount is ever too small as every dollar brings a child closer to healing.  Visit the medical page. For both programs, sponsors will receive photos and updates on their child regularly." Amy Eldridge, Love Without Boundaries.

POH 
 

"Packages of Hope, Inc. provides needed supplies, such as clothes, over the counter medicines, shoes, bedding, school supplies, playgrounds and toys, to children living in orphanages in desperate conditions." - Packages of Hope.

Thank You!
 
We would like to extend our appreciation to Continental Airlines for their generous donation of two international airline tickets. This drawing is eligible for anyone who makes a deposit for a Homeland Heritage Tour on or before February 29th, 2008. For more information please contact Louie at 1-800-956-8873 or via email at [email protected].
Join Our Mailing List
Greetings!
 
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones!
 
This is our first bi-monthly newsletter and we are excited to share new articles, travel trips and fun facts with you. As an interactive newsletter, we welcome your input. Please send comments, suggestions or article ideas to [email protected]. We strive to make our newsletter a helpful tool for present, future and past Lotus travelers.
$50
Off

Does the phrase "A Penny for Your Thoughts" have a familiar ring to it? The Lotus Travel family wants to do more than that; we will give you $50 towards any transportation or tour services through Lotus Travel.

 

With this December issue being our inaugural newsletter, we want to utilize this bi-monthly interactive tool as a way to communicate with our wonderful clients, families, agencies and FCC chapters. Our newsletter will benefit from your input, so we want to give you credit for offering suggestions, tips or article ideas!  We want to make this newsletter useful and practical for our supportive readers. Receive $50 off your upcoming travel purchase when you give Lotus Travel feedback regarding this month's newsletter.

 

This coupon is valid for all transportation and tour services provided by Lotus Travel. Coupon is only valid for invoice amounts over $250. Other promotional services in association with Lotus Travel are excluded from this offer. This coupon must be presented to agent prior to any discounted services. This coupon may not be combined with any other travel discounts.

 
For more information, please contact our office at 1-866-524-0089 or [email protected].
Offer Expires: June 1st 2008, a deposit must be made for a tour on or prior to the expiration date.
 
Coupon Code:______________________ (given upon receipt of tip, suggestion or article idea)
Introducing: Lotus Connections
Lea
Featured Article: Living Between the Cultures by Lea Xu

As the Vice President of Lotus Travel, Lea describes her personal experience and observations while living as a Chinese woman in America.

"Being born and raised in Guilin, my family was mostly traditional in respect to Chinese culture; however, our family experienced Western influences as well..." to continue reading her article; please visit Lotus Connection's webpage.
 Homeland
If you are planning to take a homeland heritage tour in the near future, this is a great opportunity to start making your travel preparations! Lotus Travel will automatically enter you to win two complementary tickets from Newark to Beijing or Hong Kong via Continental Airlines. All entries must have deposit in by February 29th, 2008 in order to be eligible for the drawing. Winners will be announced by the following Friday. For more information please visit our website or contact Louie by email at [email protected]. We wish the best of luck to everyone who applies.
 
This promotion is for newly established tours only; travel arrangements that have already begun their travel preparations with Lotus Travel are ineligible for the drawing.

Sign up for our Book Club book

Lotus Travel presents it's new book club forum that is exclusive to book club members. We invite you to join our beta discussion group by January 4th, 2008. We will be discussing "China Ghosts: My Daughter's Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood" by Jeff Gammage.

Review from Publishers Weekly

"As more Americans adopt Chinese children, the bookshelves fill with firsthand accounts of their experiences. Perhaps because many adoptions are preceded by infertility issues, most of these memoirs are written by women. So this, a father's account of going to China with his wife to adopt their first and second daughters, is particularly useful. Gammage, a staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, had been happily married without children for many years, although he knew his wife really wanted children. By the time they discovered they couldn't have biological children, the best option was adopting from China. While there were tensions over their first daughter's medical problems (an infected scalp injury), both adoptions went reasonably smoothly. Back home, Gammage wrestled with his mixed feelings about the birth parents and his burden of good fortune, that guilty knowledge that his own happiness came from someone else's misfortune. Realizing that his own relationship to China was being shaped by the process of raising two Chinese girls, he ends this upbeat memoir by wondering about the impact of this new wave of immigrants on the future of Sino-American relations." Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For more details regarding the book or joining the club, please visit our book club's webpage.

Attention All Upcoming Chinese New Year Events: CNY

By popular demand, we have ordered additional stock of "Lucky Money" for all upcoming FCC new year celebrations. These complementary red envelopes are our contribution to the community as we welcome the Year of the Rat together. Be sure to request these envelopes in time for your upcoming event; contact us today at 1-866-524-0089 or via email at [email protected].
 
In addition, Lotus Travel welcomes all events to apply to our grant program. We are dedicated to helping FCC chapters, adoption agencies and similar organizations that have limited funding. This special program supports people and organizations that work to provide an authentic and inspiring look into Chinese culture. Visit our webpage; fill out our application or contact us directly at 1-866-524-0089 or via email at [email protected].  

Especially For You

 
We are continuing to accept map, DVD and brochure requests while our limited supplies last. Remaining maps include Yunnan, Guilin, Shenzhen, Guangxi, Shanghai, Hubei, Sichuan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Xian and Korea. Our debut DVD "Cherished Escapades" is an exciting sample of one group's Homeland Heritage Tour as their children return to their birth country for the first time. While following their adventure you will be able to recapture your first trip to their homeland. These complementary items are our gifts to you and your family for your continued support of Lotus Travel. Offer is valid while supplies last. Contact us today to reserve your map, DVD or new colorful brochure. Requests are accepted by email at [email protected] or 1-866-524-0089.
Warm wishes to you and your family however you celebrate the winter season.
 
Best regards,
Lea Xu
Vice President
Lotus Travel: Uniting Families and Connecting Cultures