The road to Vancouver

The process of getting to Vancouver has been two years in the making. I knew I wanted to go, I just didn't know who would be going with me this time. Then my friend Jen went back to school to become a Vet Tech (I hope I have that right) and as a present to herself for graduation she decided to join me at the Olympics. As the schedule continued changing and growing I added my friend Angela for the first two days. She had been in Torino with me and we had a blast. Then for the last three days of events I told my mom I wanted to take her for an early birthday present.



I started working on our tickets in July of 2008. This was when I was planning what we wanted to see each day. The request period began in October/November of 2008. It wasn't until January 2009 that I learned that I had received 7 of the 12 events I had requested. Throughout that spring I was able to add curling and then Women's Super G, Men's Aerials and both Snowboardcross (SBX) as different sales opened up. I had finally put together what I hoped would be the perfect schedule of events.



Next it was time to work on lodging. This is always an issue for me. In 2002 we ended up staying in Evanston, WY. It actually wasn't too bad, although a bit far away. Then in 2006 my friend Joe worked out the lodging. We ended up in a small town in the mountains between Torino and Sestriere. This time I was pretty sure I could not afford Whistler so I started searching Vancouver and the surrounding areas. It took a lot of emails before I got lucky. One of the B&B's that I had emailed passed my request on to a friend of theirs who was interested in renting out her condo. It worked out that since there would never be more than 2 of us at a time we were perfect for the condo. We are near downtown which will be great for hockey, curling and our days off. And since we will have a kitchen hopefully we can make ourselves some regular meals. The woman renting the condo to us has been a huge help too. Anytime I have a question she is always ready to assist and send me in the right direction.



Transportation ended up being the hardest area to figure out. VANOC created the Olympic Bus Network. Right before I left the country in December I received an email letting me know we would have to pay for transportation to the Cypress and Whistler events. This is not my first trip to the Olympics, but it is the first time I have had to pay for the mandatory shuttle to an event. To make matters worse there is no shuttle or any kind of transportation available between Whistler and Cypress. You have to go back down to Vancouver. So that put an end to my plans to attend ski events in Whistler in the morning and Cypress in the evening. We are now down to 10 events but the transportation is sorted. Now the big question is how long will I spend sitting at the border going back and forth to Seattle making airport runs?



But no complaints, I have tickets, lodging and a way to Vancouver!