Olympic Tickets/hotel??

[Guest]

Hey...

I know I'm probably late to the game, but how would I go about getting Olympic tickets and a hotel for next year? There will be 5 of us going so I will need 2 rooms. Anyone have suggestions?

[Oletimer]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

First, round up about $5,000. Then sign up for a group. We have tried for months to get a situation that we could afford. Hotels fell into two groups; the first group says,"Sorry, we don't book that far in advance.", the second group says," Sorry, we are full." There must be a magic moment when you need to catch and we couldn't catch it. We may decide to get a plasma widescreen and a dish, and watch the kid from the living room.

[gh]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

Trying to go solo at this point, as oletimer points out, is virtually impossible.

But in 30+ years of going to the Olympics, I've never seen one yet where you can't walk into town once things gear up and find a room and tickets. The people who tell you they are "full" now are hoping for a big windfall from some group. That windfall probably won't happen and they'll find themselves saddled with extra rooms when the time comes. If you're brave, you gamble this comes true and arrive without a place to stay.

Having said that,I would also note that Athens has probably the worst hotel situation of any Olympic host in recent memory. So much so that a significant portion of the Mediterranean tour feel will be anchored in the Piraeus harbor as floating hotels.

As for tickets, I doubt there's anywhere you can buy a complete set for track at this point. My GUESS is that you'll have to pay about 100 bucks a day for a decent seat. (That's just for the evening session: mornings extra.)

There's one other problem Athens has. Note I said you can "walk into town." Airspace is likely to be tight (and precious). And unlike other recent Olympic sites, it's not as if there's some other major international airport city within easy driving distance.

[Guest]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

True, it will be difficult to fly into Athens at that time, however, there are several different places where you can take ferrys from. I personally took one from Haifa, and I know for sure, you can also take them from Istanbul, Rome, and Cypruss.

[Guest]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

Another very enjoyable route is to fly somewhere in western europe (London, Paris, Brussels, Germany etc... assuming that you'll find cheep tickets), then take the train to Bari or Brintezi in Italy, then the ferry to Patras, then the train to Athens. It may sound too much but if you like traveling it's lots of fun seeing so many places and different people.

[gh]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

< then take the train to Bari or
>Brintezi in Italy, then the ferry to Patras, then
>the train to Athens. It may sound too much but
>if you like traveling it's lots of fun seeing so
>many places and different people.>>

If one has lots of vacation time to burn, the ferry route is indeed a good one, but the ferry from Bari to Patras, for example, is 16 hours. Add in the time to get from a major city to Bari and then from Patras to Athens and you lose a couple of days doing nothing but hard travel.

[Guest]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

In 1992 I came into Barcelona on the train from Genoa (a beautiful ride up the Italian and French Rivieras) the day after the opening ceremony. Although Barcelona was supposed to be an extremely tough ticket, since it was the first Olympics in W. Europe in 20 years, by the end of that day I had a very nice reasonably priced hotel room and tickets for several events, including that night's gymnastics. I was eventually able to wrangle tickets for every track meet at near face value or below.

In my experience many folks in every Olympic city hold out for an expected bonanza that never comes, and are stuck with rooms, tickets, etc. once the games begin. These are available for the picking for travellers who are unafraid of unstructured travel.

[gh]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

To clarify, when I said you could expect to pay $100 a day for a decent seat for track, that was FACE VALUE.

Evening track in Athens has three price ranges, 90, 70 and 40 Euros (c$105, c$80, c$45). The mornings are 25-15-10 (c30-20-10).

For the last day..... aiyeee!!!! 300-150-75, which is c350-175-90

[Guest]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

Sadly with the bombshell dropped today, the easiest way to get to Athens, may simply be to get in shape and pick an event.

[dl]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

Athens to Italy is not a short or easy trip. After the '97 Worlds, I left Athens on Monday at noon. I took the train to Patras. Waited 4 hours for the ferry. The ferry took about 20 hours to Brindisi (slept outside on the deck). Then waited a few hours in Brindisi for the overnight to Milan. Then took a train to Zurich, arriving noon on Wednesday before Weltklasse. Was the 48-hour journey worth it? Dang right. Three world records and one of the greatest meets ever.

[MJD]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

>Sadly with the bombshell dropped today, the
>easiest way to get to Athens, may simply be to
>get in shape and pick an event.

Maybe Jon Gill is going after all.

[Guest]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

Does anyone know when Cartan Tours will be telling you whether or not you got the tickets you ordered? I could not find it on their web-site.

Thanks.

[Guest]

Re: Olympic Tickets/hotel??

Thanks guys. Maybe I'll try and dig up some family friends in the area (my dad is from kalamata... not so close to athens). Air-fare and tickets to the events are going to be pricey though...