Vancouver 2010 Where Will You Be?
byAs Vancouver prepares to host nations, athletes, media and visitors for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games I’m wondering what everyone will be doing. For the last seven years we’ve been anticipating this event and for at least the last six months I’ve had someone ask me daily, “What will you be doing for the Games?”
When Vancouver welcomed the world for Expo 86 my family would drive in every weekend to check out different elements of the fair; from the monorail to the pavilions each with their unique transportation vehicles fitting the exposition’s theme. As a six year old it was fun for me, I remember rides, mascots, and showing out of town friends and family around — it was always a great time. At that age it was nothing more than a weekly trip into the city with my family to go play around with some of the coolest exhibits I’ve ever seen.
This time around, I’m right in the middle of the action. We live downtown, sandwiched between pedestrian lanes and red zones, and unlike some others, we’ll be staying in town throughout the Games. John’s day job in radio dictates that he’ll be mighty busy and I have been accredited for the BC International Media Centre at Robson Square. The benefit of being at the BCMC for me will be to get news, post updates, and profile athletes, whose talents are the true reason everyone’s converging on Vancouver this year.
It was a post yesterday by John Biehler that made me realize I haven’t even share or outlined my own plans publicly yet. During the Games we’ll get a few Tweetups, meetups and photowalks going through True North Media House (as mentioned in Biehler’s post) and try our best to enjoy the festival-like atmosphere as best we can with friends from around the globe.
My coverage of the Olympics will include much of what I’ve touched on already; public events for all (downtown or in Richmond, Surrey, etc.), hospitality houses, and catching the sporting action among visitors and locals alike in a sports bar or in public viewing areas. Let’s not forget the massive Cultural Olympiad that will also be taking place across the Lower Mainland with entertainment, shows, and performances.
With our calendars being switched around and pieced together on a daily basis I thought I would take a quick poll…
[poll id=”42″]
The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games are but 31 days away at this point so it’s time to start making those plans (for commuting, vacation, viewing etc.) if you haven’t already.
If your nation, company, or venue is hosting an event and you’d like to have some independent coverage, the True North Media House and folks like John Biehler are the ones to get you covered so feel free to contact us if you’d like to get some locals out to your events.
13 Comments — Comments Are Closed
As someone from Toronto who is coming to Vancouver for the Olympics, I realize all the activities may be a pain for the locals. I for one am really looking forward to experiencing the Olympics in my home country and realize there will be some things I have to put up with, like huge crowds of people. But I don’t care because I get to see the Olympics!
I can’t wait to meet fellow Canadians and other people from around the world.
I will be depending on people like you and blogs like yours to find out about the best places to hang out all over Vancouver. I’ll be checking in often! Thanks for all the info.
Oh, and I will be staying in the Yaletown area which I hear is pretty nice!
I will be closing my Feldenkrais studio and heading to Whistler Creekside to volunteer in Events Services as a team leader. I am so excited to be part of the action at Whistler. I grew up in Montreal and remember watching Nancy Green win in the 1968 Olympics. Since then I have been fascinated with skiing events. While I have been skiing all my life racing is not in the cards for me so I am thrilled to be part of the action, even peripherally. I was in Montreal for the 1976 Olympics and the excitement in the city is great and those that got into the spirit had a great time.
I am glad you will be at the Media Centre. I look forward to reading what will be happening in Vancouver.
Enjoy everyone.
I’ll be enjoying the atmosphere with friends and family. There are many free events around town and it should be great!
We have friends flying in from Saskatchewan and Texas. Also looking forward to night skiing at Grouse.
It’s going to be an interesting social experiment for those of us who live here. I am looking forward to seeing how our everyday lives are affected. If we keep the right attitude about the crowds and how lucky we are to be so situated that we can freely participate.
I’ll be downtown on every day off from work, either on the Medical Team at the Main Media Centre, or the Medical Team for one of the LiveCity events. I’m excited about it, but am dreading the commute!
fyi – and I live in Mount Pleasant, but even that small commute is going to turn into a long event!
I’m wondering whether or not I should embrace the mobile office model for those two weeks, since I commute from New West into downtown Vancouver. Word on the street is that trains into the city are going to be chocka block, although I suppose it’s hard to say this early whether or not that’s going to be true. All of this reminds me to do some more research on what TransLink is planning.
But I like the idea of taking advantage of a festival-like atmosphere, rather than my choosing to focus on the possible inconveniences to my routine. Our little socmed community is bound to make something fun out of it, which is one of many reasons to be glad to be in Vancouver in general. 🙂
I am so excited for the Games! Living DT, I don’t have to worry about transit and I’m looking forward to showing visitors what a great city I live in. I love that I’ll be able to take in free concerts and walk around Yaletown without worrying about traffic. We have friends from the Prairies staying with us – so we’re definitely stocking up on beer – and we all got our hockey helmet toques for Christmas. I’ll be painting the town Red!
I’m fortunate my office is wherever I am with my computer and phone. And I’m looking forward to following the action, both in Vancouver and in Whistler. Although I’m not a sports reporter, there is so much going on and technology is changing the media landscape so much in terms of how people will share in the Olympic experience that there is no shortage of stories. Hope to see you Rebecca at the BC International Media Centre and look forward to following your Olympics stories.
I’ll be picking up homeless people and driving them to shelters so no one can see them. Vancouver is apparantly following the Tiger Woods PR method. Show the world one thing when you’re actually something totally different. Don’t worry however, the press always picks up on the dirty little tricks that every Olympic city when trying to sweep the ‘dirty laundry’ under the carpet. The greatest legacy Vancouver could have left would have been to buck the trend and not sacrifice ‘disposables’ along the way. However, this would have taken courage of conviction, vision and compassion which this governemtn is totally incapable of. So its the same old – same old. Whoop-de-do. I live in Victoria and the vast majority are ill to the gills about this event. Count down has begun till the Olympics end. Can’t bloody wait.
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I for one am dreading the games. I don’t know what it will be like going from downtown to my home. It’s usually a 20 minute transit, but I heard that it might take roughly 2 hours. Then getting back home is going to be a bother as it might take even longer with the crowds of tourists. I hope we make some money out of all this. Showing people around might be great for a month, but these events generally don’t generate wealth in the long-run.