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!