Friday, June 24, 2011

Oops

Well, at least that's the short version. Out of 42289 tickets I've asked for, I've been assigned... three. Yay. Not. I'm not sure whether it's because so many people have applied, or so many tickets have been made available through the official website, or I've been very unlucky. Anybody with similar experience out there?

Anyway, I'm going to see weight-lifting 85kg on 3.08, athletics on the 5.08 (starring Usain Bolt in the 100m final!), and one men's handball semifinal on 10.08. Now comes the tough part - somehow filling the gaps between those three - let's see how that goes. Looks like an uphill battle at the moment, considering that the official website can't offer me much more, the national Olympic Committee of the country where I reside requires local nationality (no can do), and the one where I originate from raised all prices by 30% and can't really offer anything special either... I'll keep you posted!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Almost there

I'll know it very very soon! In the meantime, kinda managed to talk a couple of people into joining me in case I succeed in renting a flat big enough for hosting visitors. Speaking of which - no progress on the apartment front so far. So if only you know a Londoner who doesn't like sports/noise/traffic, and thus plans to escape during the Olympics and rent out his/her flat for that period, let me know!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Anticipation

Post travel depression sucks. (Shocking discovery, I know.) But what can you possibly do when you have just returned from a trip around the world? Oh, I know: how about planning another big trip! And since after you-know-what I'm left with very few holidays for the rest of 2011, it has to be some long-term planning. And going to the Olympic Games actually needs some serious long-term planning anyway. Et voila, all pieces of the puzzle fall into place :-)

The Olympics and me, you must know, we have quite some history. It all started in Athens in 2004, where I (student, 22y) met that American guy (show-off, around 70y). We were standing there by the road forever with absolutely nothing to do. (Yes kids, watching a marathon is pure excitement: hours of travel and waiting, followed by 20 seconds of watching sweaty guys run, while taking some really badly moved pictures of them.) So we ended up chatting casually. One word led to another, and suddenly there he was - with pride written all over his face - bragging about how he hadn't missed any Olympic Games since Tokyo*. Myself, being an insanely competitive creature, automatically understood it as a bet, and promised myself I would beat his streak. It's on, mister!

This inner bet has had both good and bad effects on my life. The worst of all is clearly all that broccoli I have to eat now in order to live long enough to attend the Olympics for 40+ years. The best one is that I actually get to see lots of live sports! Athens was where a single trip transformed into a lifelong plan. Beijing was an absolute blast, and my only regret is a poor choice of language for the blog, a mistake I'm here to rectify!

Enough history, back to London now! Although the Olympic Games won't open until 27.07.2012, the tickets are already on sale. You need to apply on-line until April 26th, and a lottery will follow if there are not enough seats for everyone. I'll come back with my schedule once the results are out. Wish me luck!



* - Summer Olympics that is (as much as I love curling, skiing with a rifle, and freezing outside with zero visibility in general, Winter Olympics don't count)