While some adoptive parents are only offered one option in their adoption city, many are given the opportunity to stay in an apartment or hotel during their journey. Adoptive parents post questions to the various groups to determine what type of stay is better. My advice – neither is right or wrong – you just need to decide what is right for you.

During our Semey adoption, we stayed in a hotel while we were in Semey and an apartment during our Almaty portion. During our Taraz adoption, we also stayed in a hotel during our stay – while I spent a few days in an apartment in Almaty. Because of the length of the Taraz adoption –we wish we would have had the choice of an apartment to save on cost.

Here are the pluses and minuses as I see them:

A hotel cost is typically more costly – apartments can be rented by the week at a much lower cost – plus you have the advantage to cook and possibly even do your laundry during your stay.

A hotel has staffing – if you are there alone – it is added piece of mind to know someone is there who eventually gets to know you and “watches” over you a bit. I found the staff comforting when Larry traveled back to the USA and I stayed on in Taraz.

I found myself going out of my mind in a hotel and ventured out frequently – especially when Logan joined me and he found the electrical outlets. On the plus side – I lost 10 pounds from walking. We also had a cell phone – so that allowed me the piece of mind to know if I became lost – I could call our coordinator.

We were able to pay our hotel with a charge card – versus paying cash for our apartment. We found that a plus – it helped us feel a little cushioned with the money we hand carried over.

Once being in a hotel for weeks – it was actually nice to have the apartment and return to what we think we would never truly miss – cooking and cleaning.

HOT water is turned off during certain parts of the year in apartments – you can ask my husband how I became the “scary” wife after a week of boiling hot water to bathe in – only for it to come back on and my shower was ice cold. Yes – I was busy cleaning and let him go first – he was only trying to comfortable me when the screams started. And let me tell you – I’ve camped a lot in my life – it just wasn’t cold – it is ICE BERG cold!

With Max’s adoption we were a little nervous in an apartment – but with Logan’s adoption – knowing more about the Kazakh people – we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves a little more.

For a list of hotels in Kazakhstan and ratings from adoptive families, please visit Susan’s site at:

http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/cities.html - go to the bottom and click on the city you are adopting from.

Links to information on various hotels in Kazakhstan:

http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/travel.html#hotel

http://www.kazakhstan.orexca.com/hotels_kazakhstan.shtml

A lot of hotels include breakfast in their price – but just keep in mind the extra juice ordered may not be included. I still remember one adoptive parent receiving a rather large juice charge after her long stay in Taraz.