EP6: France (4 of 4)
All things Olympics! In this episode, we discuss the expectations and fears of a big trip like this, we offer planning strategies and share our experiences at the Vancouver 2010 Winter and the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Opening Ceremonies!
Managing Expectations and Fears: It’s rarely as bad as your mind can make it. Paris had over 40,000 hired police and security and their presence was very obvious. They were everywhere! We have never felt so safe. However, it’s never bad to have a plan on the ground, create a meet-up destination, have some information on paper like your hotel address, contact phone numbers, just in case you are separated from your party or unable to use your phone or technology.
Hotels: are the biggest expense, go outside of the city center if you want to save money and are comfortable using public transportation. You may need to build in more time for transit and crowds. We felt more secure booking hotels over airbnb’s as we felt there was less chance for cancelation, but that’s just us. Just know that you probably can’t cancel without penalty, even on Booking.com for an event period like the Olympics. We always use Google Maps to help choose our hotel location. Use satellite imagery to see the street view, (when in Google maps, on the top right, click the globe icon and then choose satellite when the quadrant of maps pops up. Feel free to familiarize yourself with the other three map options because they can be helpful too). We try to choose a hotel near a metro station that can get us to and from the airport directly and also to some of our main events.
Tickets: Tickets can range from $50 to $5000 (or more) depending on the event and the package type you choose. Maybe you’d be happy with spending the big bucks for one splashy event, or maybe you’d rather attend a half dozen less expensive events, that’s up to you. If there are events that you are determined to go to, try to get those tickets right away. Create an account on the Olympic website and sign up for emails and notifications and get on the Facebook group for the next Olympics so you can stay abreast of current announcements. There are thousands of people already on the Facebook L.A. 2028 Olympics page already asking questions about logistics, places to stay, etc. It’s an amazing resource for all your questions. If you aren’t particular about which events you go to, there are lots of non-mainstream sports that draw less people and tickets will be cheaper and you never know, you might become a fan! In addition, there are some free activities and even if you don’t go to any official events, the host city looks magical under Olympic dressing and seeing the rings and the flame and being part of an international, happy crowd, is exciting and fun. You also might be able to snag last minute tickets as people might not be able to use their tickets, but the ticket site is not that easy to navigate, and there’s a fair amount of security and registration, red tape, so it can take a bit. Just know that you are taking your chances if you wait, and for the Paris Olympics anyway, there was no scalping and all tickets needed to be purhcased and released for resale through the official Olympic ticket platform. As a side note, if you can get tickets to an event where the host country is competing, it is very exciting because the crowd is wilder.
The Olympic Flame
Hospitality Tickets: These are more expensive, but also more inclusive and can save a lot of time and hassle. It’s different for every event and venue, but in general, the hospitality tickets come with a separate entry line, unlimited food and beverage, premium seats, lounge access and much to our delight, free swag! We got backpacks at soccer, sun hats at the first session of beach volleyball and a beach towel at the second session of beach volleyball. If we were to do it again, we would do it all the same! We splurged on beach volleyball because it was an iconic venue located in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. We knew it would be a memory to last forever!
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
*******Closing Ceremonies for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will be at the Arena in Verona, Italy! We hope to see you there!********