HARRISON HOT SPRINGS

We have left the cold and snow of Ontario far behind us as we flew back to British Columbia early on Monday morning. There was a large crowd at Toronto airport and we were thankful that we had stayed at the airport the night before our flight.


My concerns about my bag being overweight were proved correct when the lady at the check in counter said that the bag was 10lbs overweight and would cost a baggage excess of $52. I knew exactly where that extra weight had come from as Tammie had loaded my bag down with four bottles of good wine.


So it was an easy decision for me to hand the bottles over to the check in lady who was happy to receive them and who then immediately declared that my bag was underweight. Funny that.


Our flight to Vancouver was packed with supporters of the Canadian Winter Olympic team. Many passengers were wearing Team Canada hockey shirts and Go Canada shirts and jackets and were off to the games.


There was a buzz around Vancouver airport and many Canadians were glued to big screen TV’s around the airport as Canadian television interviewed Canada’s first gold medal winner. As an Australian watching the Canadian Olympic broadcast the constant Go Canada and blatant parochialism is a little hard to handle. But when I think it through it is no different than the jingoistic Australian coverage.


After a two hour stopover in Vancouver we boarded a flight to Kelowna, a bare 34 minutes away. We had no sooner taken off when we landed.


We were no sooner home before we were in the car again, this time heading off through the snow and mist covered Rocky Mountains for Harrison Hot Springs our Olympic base for the next six days.


The resort has a number of thermal hot springs which look inviting and the lake where the resort is located looked beautiful even on a rainy day.


Our first Olympic event is on Thursday so Wednesday day will be a ‘chill’ day around the resort.

VANCOUVER OLYMPICS

The Vancouver Winter Olympic Games are less than 3 weeks away and you can feel a sense of excitement buildng up around British Columbia. You tend to hear more an ore people talking about the Games and whether they will attend, watch them on TV or just ignore them altogether.

The Olympic Torch relay makes its way through the Okanagan Valley on Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th of January. No doubt Highway 97 will be blocked for much of that time causing some traffic chaos. I have been invited to go along but I don't know if I will, as watching someone I don't know carry a symbolic torch doesn't really do a lot for me.

Attending Olympic events is a different story tand we have tickets for the Ladies Half-Pipe qualifications and final on the 18 February and the 2 Man Bobsled on 20 February. What makes the woman's snowboarding event even more attractive to me is that an Australian woman is the favourite.

The snowboarding event cost $150 and the Bobsled $75. I saw on a ticket sales website the other day that a single ticket to the snowboard event is being offered for $650. A bit steep.

What we weren't told when we purchased our tickets was the fact that you would also have to pay for transport to the Olympic venues as no private transport will allowed in the Games precinct. So we have to drive to and park at one of the 2-3 designated pick up points and get on a bus that will take us to the venue. You have to book a time and then pay. But as you go through the payment checkout you can only pay by Visa Card as they are an Olympic sponsor. What if you don't have a Visa Card?

The trip to the bobsled event at Whistler they state will take around 3 hours and costs $45. The trip to the snowboard event at Cypress Mountain will take approximately 45 minutes and that cost $21.50.

The booking website states that at the snowboard event you have to be prepared to walk 1600 metres to the event including stairs. It isn't as long a walk at Whistler but you have to catch shuttles and do some walking.

All up four tickets and transportation cost us $1200. An expensive couple of days.

But that's not all, you also have to have somewhere to stay. Hotels that usually charge say $100 or so are charging $300 - $600 or more. Upper echelon hotels are charging in excess of $800 a night. A couple of cruise ships will be berthed in Vancouver for the duration of the Games and they to are charging ridiculous prices for cabins. 

We booked prior to Christmas but still too late to get a decent price. We will be staying at a spa hotel at Harrison Springs which is aroud 140 odd kilometres from the bus we need to catch to the games. Who knows what the traffic will be like getting to the bus pick up point as I have been told there are already traffic restrictions in place for the Olympics. 

So the costs coupled with the travelling MAY make attending the Winter Olympics more of a chore than a joy.

Watch this space.