Our flight arrived around 7:00 pm. I was worried about how Elyana would do on the flight - but she slept almost the whole time. There were 6 other families on our flight bringing home their babies, but they all did pretty well.

Some of you reading this will be traveling soon for pick up trips, so I will give you a few tips we learned:

• When you go into the Guatemala City airport, go directly to your airline counter to check in and drop off your luggage. You do have to pay a $3.00 exit fee to the airport, but you have to have your boarding pass first. They stamp your pass to show that you have paid. When you walk in the airport the line for the exit fee is the first line you will see - but keep on going and check in first.
• They hand you a bunch of Immigration papers to fill out while you are in the check in line. They want them filled out before you get to the check in counter so make sure you have a pen available.
• They make you security check your carry-on items several times. Just know that you will have to remove items several times (belts, shoes, watches) so wear something that is simple to do this with. As you go to your specific gate they will check your bags again. They will also go through each bag by hand.
• The bathrooms are in each gate. There are none out in the terminal. The seating at each gate is LIMITED! More people are in the room than there are seats for. Be early if you don't want to stand for an hour.
• We flew into Houston with Marissa for immigration and we thought it was much easier and faster there. In Atlanta they did not process the adoptive families separate from the others coming through immigration. They processed in the order of arrival. Of the six babies on our flight, four of the families missed their connecting flight. Make sure you have two hours to get through immigration.
• We finally got to our hotel at 10:00 pm and it was right next to the airport. We had food delivered to our hotel on our way to Guatemala City and on the way home. We used different restaurants but both times our food came an hour later than they told us it would. We ended up eating about midnight both times. We wish we would have just grabbed something at the airport.
• Several people have asked about our hotel. We were not wanting to stay there. We had hoped to stay at the Marriott or the Westin. I have to say that we LOVED the Grand Tikal Futura and would definitely choose to stay there again.
  Lobby of Grand Tikal Futura
  

  We stayed at the Marriott the last time - but really liked it at the Grand Tikal better. Our room was huge - think it was considered a suite.

  Bedroom at hotel
  
  Tim and Elyana watching TV in hotel room
  

  We were on the 6th floor. The service was out of this world. It did come with the breakfast, drinks and Internet lounge on the 9th floor. The hotel is on top of a mall. You take a specific elevator down and you are right at the mall. There are lots of American restaurants there and a place you can buy formula and other baby items. Right next door there is a second mall that has all the exclusive stores. It also has a Chili's and McDonald's. The hotel has a beautiful pool with four hot tubs. They each have a different temperature so you can choose the one right for you. They have a large wading pool for toddlers. The pool is enclosed with glass so you can still enjoy the sun. There are steps from the pool area up to the roof for those serious sun worshippers! (you can guess where Caitlan and I headed!) We had a great experience at the Grand Tikal and highly recommend it!