Men's Super Giant Slalom!

On Friday, February 19th, I'll be attending the Men's Super-Giant Slalom! This event is held at Whistler, which is approximately 3 hours north of Vancouver in the mountains. Olympic organizers have set something up called the Olympic Bus Network and this is how they will be transporting all spectatators to the even. It's an 11:30 am start for the Super G and my bus (whci I got the ticket for today) is scheduled to leave at 8:15 am. So I guess I won't have a lot of time to get settled into my seat before they start flying down the mountain! I'm glad I got the ticket now because in January the prices of the bus tickets double from $25 to $50!

Have you ever wondered what Winter Olympic Tickets look like?

Well, so did I and after UPS stopped by, I now know the answer. I received my first set of tickets today and this is what they look like:

Travel Plans In Place!!

Well, the Passport arrived last Friday, which allowed me to finalize travel plans. So I can report that today I acquired my roundtrip airfare and roundtrip Amtrak tickets. I'll be flying into Seattle late night on February 10th and then hop on the Amtrak early in the morning and get into Vancouver late moring of the 11th! I'll reverse the path for the return journey on the 21st! It's all coming together!!

Where's my passport?

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my passport! I am unable to make my travel plans without it! It has given me time to make a few decisions based on homework however, which is a good thing. I've decided that's it's going to be more economical to get a direct flight from Minneapolis to Seattle on Wednesday, February 10th. They have a 9:55 pm flight that would arrive in Seattle about 12:30 a.m. Why take such a late flight you ask? Well, that leads me into the second part of the excursion. A direct flight from Minneapolis to Vancouver would run me about $750 roundtrip. However, a rountrip ticket from Minneapolis to Seattle is roughly $375. So now you ask, "But Rick, how are you going to get from Seattle to Vancouver?" The answer? The Amtrak Cascade route. A 4 hour ride up the scenic Pacific coastline. That leaves Seattle at 7:40 a.m. and gets into Vancouver at 11:40 a.m. on Thursday February 11th. Opening Ceremonies are February 12th, so basically I'll have a full day to get settled in and explore a little bit. I've never ridden on a train before so that'll be an added bonus of a new experience. I think I can find a few ways to occupy my time at the Seattle airport overnight before the train leaves the station. The extra hidden bonus? The money I save on airfare can potentially go towards obtaining event tickets!! So as soon as the passport comes through, I'll be making travel reservations. In the meantime.....the excitement builds....Thanks for reading!

Tickets

Over a year ago, (November 7,2008) I went through the list of all the events that would occur during my stay and filled out requests. Tickets were grouped in different price levels (A,B,C), with group A being the most expensive. This is what I put in for in the ticket lottery:

Friday Feb. 12
Opening Ceremonies (C)

Saturday Feb. 13
Speed Skating Men's 5,000 meter Individual Final (B)
Short Track Speed Skating Ladies' 500 m Qualification / Ladies' 3,000 m Relay Qualification / Men's 1,500 m Qualification and Final (C)

Sunday Feb. 14
Ice Hockey Women's Preliminary - USA vs. China (B)
Ice Hockey Women's Preliminary - Finland vs. Russia (B)

Monday Feb. 15
Figure Skating Pairs Free Program (B)

Tuesday Feb. 16
Curling Men's Qualification - Great Britain vs. Sweden / Norway vs. Canada / USA vs. Germany / Switzerland vs. Denmark (A)
Ice Hockey Men's Preliminary - Canada vs. Norway (B)

Wednesday Feb. 17
Snowboard Men's Halfpipe Qualification/Semifinals/Final (Qual-13:05-15:45 ;
Semis-17:15-18:15 ; Final-19:15-20:15) (B)

Thursday Feb. 18
Ice Hockey Men's Preliminary - USA vs. Norway (B)
Ice Hockey Men's Preliminary - Slovakia vs. Russia (B)

Friday Feb. 19
Alpine Skiing Men's Super-G (A)
Skeleton Women's/Men's Runs 3 and 4 (Final) (A)

Saturday Feb. 20
Ski Jumping Men's Large Hill Individual Final (A)
Bobsleigh Two-Man Runs 1 and 2 (Qualification)(A)

On January 6, 2009 I received word on what tickets I had been picked for. Now, when I filled out my request, the only ticket I REALLY wanted to get was Opening Ceremonies. Unfortunately, I didn't get picked for that. But I did get the following:

Women's Ice Hockey on the 14th
Pairs Figure Skating on the 15th
Mens Curling on the 16th
Mens Hockey on the 18th
Alpine Skiing on the 19th.

Only about 25% of what I put in for. A bit disappointing. HOWEVER, ticket sales went in 3 phases, and in following phases I was able to pick up an Opening Ceremonies ticket for February 12th (YES!), and a couple of men's hockey games on the 17th. Those are Sweden vs Germany and also Czech Republic vs Slovakia. I didn't get any USA or Canada Men's Hockey, but I will get a chance to see the USA Women's team take on China at noon on February 14th. I will also watch Finland against Russia in Women's hockey later that day. The other Men's Hockey game I got is on the 18th when Russia plays Slovakia. The Men's Curling on the 16th will feature the USA against Germany, also Great Britain vs Sweden, Norway vs Canada and Switzerland vs Denmark. That should be very interesting and fun! On February 19th, I will head the 75 miles north of Vancouver into the mountains and see the Men's Super Giant Slalom. All mountain events are held at Whistler, BC.

In looking at my calendar, right now I have Saturday February 13th and Saturday the 20th totally open. I might just take one of those days and explore the city for the sights. I WILL go to the aquarium there. Those are the only days I don't have something scheduled. My big hope is that I will be able to obtain (scalp) tickets there on the day of the event. Some of the events that take place on the 13th are:

Mens Downhill Skiing
Womens Biathalon 7.5k Sprint
Freestyle Skiing Womens Moguls
Mens Luge Qualifying
Ladies and Mens Short Track Speed Skating
Ski Jumping Mens Normal Hill Individual Final
Speed Skating Mens 5,000 meter Individual Final

I'd really like to see Ski Jumping and Speed Skating. I'll keep my fingers crossed that tickets will be available from scalpers.

On the 20th, there's:
Ladies Super Giant Slalom
Mens 2-man bobsled
Cross-Country Skiing Men's 15 + 15 km Pursuit
Mens and Womens curling
Freestyle Skiing Ladies' Aerials Qualification
Mens and Womens Hockey
Short Track Speed Skating Ladies' 1,500 m Qualification and Final / Men's 1,000 m Final
Ski Jumping Men's Large Hill Individual Final
Speed Skating Men's 1,500 m Individual Final

This is the debut of my blog!

Hi everyone,
I'm glad you found my blog! My intentions are to let you follow along as I make a trip to the 2010 Winter Olympics, being held in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. For those of you unfamiliar with geography, Vancouver is located just north of Seattle, Washington on the Western edge of Canada. This trip has been almost 2 years in the planning stages and literally almost a lifetime in the dreaming stages.

This will be a continual work in progress. Things might be a little slow at first, as I learn the ins and outs of putting this blog together and simply because there isn't much to report on right at the moment.

The journey thus far.....

Almost four years ago, when I was watching the Winter Games of 2006 in Turin, Italy, I made up my mind that I wanted to attend the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. I figured it was close enough that world wide travel wouldn't be required. Plus I've always heard that Vancouver is a GORGEOUS city! So I began mentally making lists of things that I wanted to do and how I would go aobut accomplishing them.

The first thing to do once things began to get serious over year ago, was to begin acquiring tickets to events! I found out that the Olympic organizers would be holding a ticket lottery through a private company. So I had to create an account with that company (http://www.cosport.com/) and take a look at the schedule of events.

At this point, I better back up and tell you that I had to figure out how long I wanted my trip to be. Opening Ceremonies are slated for February 12th and closing Ceremonies are February 28th of 2010. I am able to be in Vancouver from February 11th to the 21st, so I should be able to see a LOT of things.

In my next post, I'll let you know the event tickets that I appiled for and also which events I actually was awarded tickets too! Of course, there was some good news and bad news.. I didn't get everything I wanted..but who ever does?!