Visiting Kids 2017-2019 Cancel Title is required

I could be potentially interested in India!  DR too, very much!  Let me know.  :)

If I look too closely and see too much about going to India, I might have to sneak into a seat too and join. *fights with self about shouldn't afford it but probably going to do it anyways depending on the timing*

I have never traveled anywhere; how much have you budgeted to travel to Ecuador? 
I have no clue how to even start planning a trip/estimating a trip.

My family and I traveled to Ecuador three years ago to visit my sponsored child.  It was great!  Is your child in Quito?  I have the information at home about the hotels we stayed in and so forth.  We traveled into the Amazon area, surrounding the Napo river, after our visit to Quito.  I did all planning on Trip Advisor.  If you are interested, I'll send more information tonight, from home.

How does one go about visiting a sponsored child? My child lives in the Philippines 

read your sponsorship guidebook and call CI

For more info, see also the FAQ, top right of this page, and there the About Sponsorship section, more specifically Visiting Your Child. One of you wrote they had never traveled anywhere. Am I too cautious in suggesting you first fly to a less challenging destination and not choose a CI country for your very first trip abroad? Sorry if I'm offending anyone's sense of adventure!

Hey, Brooke!

I'm headed to Ecuador at the end of August. I'll pass on any tips I come up with after my visit.

However, you​ might not be going on any child visits in 2017-2019, thanks to CI's new visit fees. If CI can't work out some sort of "deal" for sponsors with multiple kids in a country, then visit costs will be far too prohibitive for any of us who aren't massively wealthy.

Mac: hey there!   Visit Fees?!?! I didn't see anything related to that in the FAQs. Where is the info and how much are the fees?
Oh, wait, I looked around and found more info, but the way I read it since I have 4 kids in Guatemala and 3 families in 2 different locations (both rural) and the kids in the Highlands are 5 and 7; and 16 they really are not age appropriate to visit all in one day, there will be a total of $750 deposit for me to visit all my kids in that country..... If so, there go my plans to go early next year. I can't swing that in addition to getting there, taking the kids shopping and out to a meal. Debbie - please clarify! Thx !

All hope may not be lost, Betsy! It's still unclear what this upfront cost will cover visit-wise. From what I've been told, the meal is definitely included! The shopping is probably included (up to $100 per family). It's yet to be determined how much of this fee will be overhead in addition to what a sponsor would've paid anyway. It might not be as bad as we think.

I am planning to go to Honduras to visit my 4 kids in early October this year. I have gone very year since 2009 and this year won't be any different. I'll be taking my son for the second time (he'll be 3) and I am now sponsoring the little brother of one of my teenagers as his baby brother is the same age as my son.

Hi Kelli, I really haven't started budgeting for the specific trips.  I am a huge traveler (it's the largest thing I budget for period) because I fell in love after my first trip to Europe.  So, I generally just start with my priority trip, plan it out with the costs and whatever is left goes towards other places I'd like to see.

Fee?  Are you talking about the $200 per day in the FAQ?  If so, I think I spent about that anyway between activities, food, shopping, etc.  If it doesn't include shopping, that might mean I have to skip taking them shopping to cover the new administrative costs.  I've always made an extra donation at the end of the visit to the CI emergency fund to help cover the costs of gas and whatnot, so hopefully the fee is per DAY and not per CHILD because that wouldn't be doable.

There is more on this somewhere else. I know that Debbie commented at length. The fee includes $100 for shopping. It can be used to allow CI to shop separately with the family or applied against a shopping trip that the visitor takes with the family. If you're seeing multiple kids on one day, admin/meal costs can be negotiated.

Ah ok. Sounds like it won't be a big change to the amount for me, although I actually prefer the idea of paying ahead.  Once my credit card would NOT work at the activity and I was freaking out about what we'd do.  I was able to sort it out, but would rather not have anything ruin the visit like that!

I once had to actually call my bank from the mall in Honduras to assure them that, yes, it was me spending money and not some scammer. Even after I had told them I was going there! I always take some cash for this reason, though of course, one does not want to take too much of that.

My parents will be going to Manila in November to visit my dad's sponsor child

I visited 3 of my sponsored kids in Manila/Quezon City last January, and it was great.  Have your parents be prepared for 24-hour traffic jams, and it takes hours to get anywhere.  But there's none of the road rage or honking that we have here.  I took a packet of combs and tissue paper so we ​could play tissue paper kazoos in the CI van, and the kids really enjoyed it.  It took a while for them to catch on to how to make it work, but it made us all giggle.  We visited the Manila Ocean Park and the kids were fascinated.  It's a trip of a lifetime.  I hope your parents post a trip report for us.  Safe travels.

I've visited my sponsored kids in India several times since 2005. I am happy to answer questions. The only thing I don't know anything about are hotels (we stay with my in-laws). The staff in the Kolkata CI office are fabulous and will help you in any way while you are there.

^I've decided that 2017 is the year I will visit my two Indian kids in Kolkata. What sort of activities take place in terms of shopping/eating etc?

Huntingdon said: ^I've decided that 2017 is the year I will visit my two Indian kids in Kolkata. What sort of activities take place in terms of shopping/eating etc?

Neither of my girls live in Kolkata. In fact I've sponsored 6 children over the years in India and NONE have ever been in Kolkata proper. My first two were in villages near each other but well outside of Kolkata. Therefore we would go over the the CI office and be driven out to the villages with a staff member. Out in the village there's no activity available that I know of. We went to their homes, gave some gifts, chatted for a time and sometimes got a little tour of their general area. One of my girls lived so far in the interior there was no village at all. My current girls apparently live much too far from Kolkata to go to visit them. At least that is what CI in the US told me. So when we visited they actually took a very long train ride into Kolkata with their fathers and a staff member from their area. We met them at the Kolkata CI office and had lunch near the office with them. It was enjoyable but I was admittedly disappointed I could not meet their mothers and siblings and see their villages. You need to understand, if you haven't been to Kolkata before, that things move very slowly. Specifically traffic moves very slowly. It's difficult to plan activities unless your child is actually living in Kolkata. Even then it will take a very long time to get places if they are even a few miles apart. The CI office in Kolkata has the most wonderful staff. I cannot say enough about how excellent they are. From the man who drives us to the village and back to the staff members in the office and in the field, they are fantastic. Once you decide to go you'll be provided the phone number for the office there. Call them. Talk to them. They are happy to help arrange your visit with your kids. 

Thanks for the response. Clearly, I'd better check where they actually are. I'd been lead to believe it was in the city (when I enquired about home ownership), but perhaps not. I wouldn't mind visiting villages. 

Visiting the village is the best experience if you can do it.

As indicated in the updated header on the post, I've just booked my trip to the Philippines in March 2017 to see Lovely May before she graduates!  I'm spending a short time in Manila to see her, then some much needed "relaxation" time on Palawan.  My new job is pretty intense with long hours (yes, in France), so I decided to make it easy on myself by choosing a hotel with an airport shuttle to take me back and forth to Manila Airport (especially since I'm flying to Palawan as well).  And my hotel on Palawan also has an airport shuttle!  I'll be sure to share about my trip for others interested in going.

Brooke: I am headed to the Philippines in May for a visit with my sponsored youth. Which hotel did you book in Manila?

Thanks

Because I have asthma, I have to be picky about things like no smoking and air conditioning.  With those requirements, plus an airport shuttle and free WiFi, the best combination of reviews and price for me was Guijo Suites.  The site listed it as in Manila, but after I booked it, it shows a different town name in "Manila metro," so I'm still waiting for CI to confirm that this is considered Manila.  If not, I'll have to figure out transportation to meet them.

With the above selected and a requirement for a "very good" average rating or higher, three sites I checked returned no hotels for my dates that were within one mile of the Manila city center.  This hotel was listed at slightly over 3 miles.

Hi Brooke,

That is fantastic that you are visiting The Philippines. I have stayed at the Guijo Suites Hotel in Manila in 2012 prior to visiting Jessalen & Maria. The hotel is about 15 minutes walk to Makati, but the hotel itself is in a residential area. You have supermarkets, McDonald's, various fast fast food restaurants as well. Taxis are plenty and just a short hop to Makati where you can shop till you drop. The airport is not far. At the Guijo Suites hotel please make sure that you booked a room with a view. Rooms are compact, but okay for a few days. To be honest, I prefer to stay around the ortigas Area.
Can't wait to hear from your trip and about Palawan. Palawan is on my next itenary. Visited Boracay & Bohol.  And just remember it is hot in Manila.

Thanks for the info!  Yes, the area maybe isn't the best for siteseeing, but I'm only there for two days - basically, just to have a quick look around and meet Lovely May.  I was really feeling the need for a tropical relaxation trip, which is rare for me as I love trips with lots of historical sites and learning usually, so I considered doing something different entirely, but then realized I could make a quick stop to meet her AND have my tropical relaxation time!  The majority of the time that I'm there, I'm on Palawan. :-)

UPDATE: so, hotel shuttles in the Philippines are not what Americans are accustomed to.  The hotel has notified me that the shuttle will not pick me up from the airport, only drop off.  Plus, it only operates during business hours (7 AM-5 PM), so out of my four flights, it only works for one.  And none of this information was listed in the "shuttle details" - only the cost.

Brooke, it's me again. As I stayed at Guijo Suites Hotel I think I paid about 150 Peso to the airport (hailed a cab from outside the hotel). there is UBER now in the Philippines as well. Just make sure to leave plenty of time when flying out of Manila (for international flights out I was there 4 hours prior as security is tight) as traffic is horrendous. I love Manila - did all the tourist thing, e.g. visiting Intramouros, Chinatown, Rizal Park. On my 2nd visit I explore more and love just to walk and see new things. I also prefer to cultural things, but as I am working in a very busy office in the UK and visiting family in Germany I love just to relax on a beach for a couple of days.

Thanks for the info!  I certainly overpaid for my shuttle then, but when it comes to the airport, I tend to want my transportation locked down in advance.  FOUR HOURS!!!  Ok, I wasn't planning for that, so I'll be sleeping at the airport my last day - or hopefully, with such an early flight it won't be so bad?