Making Progress

Things are really moving along. I'm in the process of securing our condo rental for the duration of our stay in Vancouver and our flights were booked this week.
Once I gave up on trying to find a hotel room to book and moved onto condo rentals things began to take shape. I feel relieved that all of the major things are booked. Now I have to work on paying this all off, getting a computer so I can blog from the Olympics and looking for some Canada paraphernalia to take with me to show the athletes that I support them.
I'm surprised that all these things didn't take longer to tell you the truth. Everything seems to be working out after much research, discussion and budgeting.
We're on our way!!!!
My mom is already praying for decent weather for the day we leave. The last thing I need is to get stranded because of a snow storm!

Mode Suites to the Rescue

It looks like I'm going forward with booking a unit from Mode Rental Suites. They are a company that does long term rentals in the Vancouver area. They are making some of their units available to people like me who need a place to stay during the Olympics. We'll be in a very cool part of Downtown Vancouver and walking distance to some of our events! What could be better?
Flight will be booked soon. Looks like everything is a wrap. Just need to start paying for it all!
Now that is all done, I'm on the lookout for Canadian Olympic gear. Stay tuned. That post coming up shortly.

My First Post

Just finished writing and submitting my first post for Insider Vancouver. I'll let everyone know when its up on the site and post the link!
Have a great weekend.

Blogging for Tourism Vancouver

I guess someone does actually read these blogs! I have yet to get Google Analytics working for this blog so I have no idea what kind of visitors I'm getting or where they are coming from. Why are tracking codes so hard to figure out?
Anyway, someone somewhere is reading my blog(s) because I received an email earlier in the week from the Manager of Digital Marketing at Tourism Vancouver. Turns out they are looking for people like me to contribute to their blog about our experience and preparations leading up to the Vancouver Olympics. I have committed to post at least once a month on Inside Vancouver and once it gets closer to the Games, much more often, and daily when I get to Vancouver. This is kind of the schedule I had planned for myself for this blog. I wanted to do daily posts so the people back home get the daily birds eye view of what is happening in Vancouver.
I am so excited to get started for Inside Vancouver! I'm in the process of getting my profile set up and then I'll be free to write whatever I want, well, within reason of course.
It feels great to be an official blogger for such a great organization like Tourism Vancouver. I am certainly making use of their site now and I'm sure I will much more as it gets closer to the Olympics. I hope you will follow me on both blogs and I continue to document this amazing experience. Somehow it all still seems so surreal!
Note to self: Must buy laptop, SOON!

Vancouver Links

I found a link on the Tourism Vancouver site for information on accommodation in BC for the Olympics. Here you go. Hope you find these helpful:

Tourism Vancouver
2010 Destination Planner
Access Vacation Group
Breakaway Vacations

I have been in contact with Paula from Mode Suites. Mode is a company that provides long term accommodation to business travellers in the Vancouver area. They are opening up their inventory to people needing places to stay during the Olympics. There are a variety of units available at a variety of costs. Paula managed to find me a great unit located close to downtown that is actually within my budget! You can contact her through a general email address located on their website. Good luck all!

And so it continues

The great hunt for a hotel room is continuing. I found out recently that the Olympic committee has all/most of the rooms on hold. I don't know why. If you have any insight to this great mystery please enlighten me. I am a little perplexed. How do you offer to host the Olympics, to which hundreds of thousands will probably travel, and then tie up all of the accommodations within any reasonable distance? Is this a normal thing when it comes to the Olympics?
I have started looking into renting private residences since that seems to be the only option. However, I do not have $10 thousand dollars to spend on a room for one week. I expected rates to be ridiculous but that is a little too much. As I fight to stay within my budget and not be two hours outside of Vancouver, I will continue the search. One way or another, I will have a roof over my head and my travelling companions heads, when we reach Vancouver in February 2010.

The Race for a Hotel Room

And so the hunt begins. I never thought I would actually end up with tickets to the Olympics and have to go through the horror of finding a place to stay. Our first attempt has confirmed what we already know: its going to be very difficult. Several downtown hotels appear to be full, another is not taking reservations until the Fall. Hopefully there will be others like that. Right now, they seem to be my only chance.
I've moved the search away from downtown, out by the airport and am even considering Burnaby or Richmond. But how far are these places from where I need to go? I don't want to be on a bus for 5 hours to get to one event. I'm calling on friends in BC to help me figure out a good location. Maybe they will even have the inside scoop on some places to stay?
If you know a good travel agent please give me their name!
I feel like planning to go the the Olympics should be its own sport. May the best, most determined man/woman/family win. Good luck all.