2012 London Olympics - We're coming!

[Christian P.]

No tickets, no place to stay, no car, no idea of what we will be doing....but we have our plane tickets!

I guess French Canadians are really not that fond of British people...I just got tickets from Montreal to London on August 6th for $199 each (Air Transat).
I couldn't pass that up!



So Persephone and I will be there for the whole week until the closure ceremony. It would be nice to catch up with many of our UK members, even though all the Londoners in my office in Bracknell think we are crazy to come and they are all leaving...

Let's use that thread for advices, updates, etc.

 

[skids]

Fair play, I won't be going near the place. Might watch a bit on TV(women's beach volleyball) but that's it! Enjoy your stay


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[GREENI]

I'll be watching the track cycling and BMX, from home!

There are a lot of unhappy Londoners regarding parking, 'Olympic only' roads and complete car bans in some areas !!
Most of the British public aren't expecting London to pull this off. We will see !

Regardless, hope you have fun !

 

[grimbo]

You sound as organized as the security firm in charge of the Olympics so should be fine

 

[Viggen]

Fair play, I won't be going near the place.

Same here. I am flying back to Manchester in a couple of weeks. Going to fly Air France more than likely to avoid London altogether.

 

[AeroNautiCal]

As someone that travels from Hackney to Stratford Station several times a week, it's probably best that I remain silent on my observations regarding the Olympics, specifically the public transport system, and it's ability to cope, else I be called a naysayer!

 

[Christian P.]

It's really surprising to me to see the amount of negative comments about the Olympics coming from English people (mostly Londoners) - as you can already see on this thread.

As I said I do consulting work for a company based in Bracknell (suburb of London) so I pretty much heard over and over the whole spectrum of reasons why this event should be avoided at all cost - traffic, weather, poor neighborhood (East London)/crime, etc, etc.

I am really curious to see how it's going to be at the end....I have a feeling it won't be that bad.

I was just listening to an interview on NPR from a reporter (forgot his name unfortunately) who has covered Olympic events since the 70s. It was very interesting to hear him say that a catastrophe is always predicted before the event...remember Greece and how unprepared they were?

He said that actually the worst he has seen was Atlanta, where there was a big transportation and communication breakdown, and the best he's seen was Sydney.

Plus, if all the locals go away, then there could actually be less people in the city...

 

[HumphreyBear]

As I was reading through the previous posts what came to mind was the point you actually made re calamitous predictions of chaos and mayhem. I left Sydney to live in Europe six months before the 2000 games (not related to the games, in fact I was sorry to miss them), but everyone was talking exactly the way my London friends have been for the past weeks. The earth would open up and swallow the contestants in fire and brimstone because of poor planning and, funnily enough, the city would go broke because the Olympic-vehicle/bus only routes would cause chaos. When I came home to visit after the Olympics the same prognosticators of woe and worry were raving about how great an experience it had been, how much I'd missed and that they'd known all along it would work out in the wash.

In 2004 I went to Athens to watch the Olympics despite the same dire warnings. Apart from it being incredibly hot and there being not enough shade I had an absolute ball, as did everyone I went with. We had won tickets in the lottery, but in the end we could walk up to almost every event and buy tickets (very cheaply) because the stadiums were half full after people had blown off their airfares and tickets and stayed at home in fear or a disaster. Admittedly it was funny looking behind hastily constructed hoardings to see where they had swept up the rubbish they hadn't had time to remove, but it didn't affect us one bit. The western media sells negativity, and western societies are buying their BS - maybe there is a chicken and the egg thing there, but that's a whole different conversation. To me it is the same concept as "don't go to XXX country or you'll be robbed, raped, murdered and eaten - I saw it on the news".

Enjoy it Christian, I expect that you will have a ball.

Cheers,
Humph

 

[keezer37]

I have a feeling it won't be that bad.

The earth would open up and swallow the contestants in fire and brimstone

Isn't it always the case? Predictions of the coming apocalypse are as entertaining for some. But if catastrophe does strike and you live through it, make sure you submit a trip report.
I'm going to attempt to watch them on the tube. But living in the swing state of Ohio, the campaign commercials will probably drive me away. My suffering will be real.

 

[nwoods]

I'm going to attempt to watch them on the tube. But living in the swing state of Ohio, the campaign commercials will probably drive me away. My suffering will be real.

Lol, its called a DVR.... look it up, you'll never see another commercial. Alternatively, NBC is webcasting a huge amount of the games/sports online. Now THAT format will have a lot of inescapable ads!

Christian, I think you'll have a blast. You a far from being a naive and conceited big fat Americans!

 

[Christian P.]

Well it is now officially started! thanks for the VPN tip, watching it on BBC/Iplayer now...

 

[Wilbur]

I hope you have a blast, and lucky to get to go to them. Regardless of how "bad" it might be, it still an experience not everyone will get to do or ever have the chance to do either.

 

[Hilldweller]

Sounds like a blast; have fun.

Be sure to cheer for Rafalca in the highly competitive horse dancing event...

 

[Christian P.]

Opening ceremony is very interesting so far!

 

[Viggen]

He said that actually the worst he has seen was Atlanta, where there was a big transportation and communication breakdown

Thats not shocking at all. Atlanta on a normal day is a complete nightmare.

Have fun