Two trips at once

I have to admit, I was caught off guard a bit when I got an e-mail from the Beijing Olympics accommodation system telling me that they would be letting us know about our accommodations for the 2022 Winter Olympics this week. I guess I was too busy thinking about the Tokyo Games this summer and what I have to do to prepare for them, that Beijing wasn't on my mind.

However, I checked the accommodation management system today and sure enough, they had given me accommodations for February and once I finished filling out the paperwork, they were going to send me an invoice and the first payment for the Winter Games accommodations is due by the end of this week. So, I guess I will be making a trip to the bank as soon as the invoice comes in.

Like in Tokyo this summer, the Beijing Winter Games are using existing hotels to house the media next winter and I was given the Beijing Changbaishan International Hotel in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. It is about four kilometers from the main media center. As has been the case in previous Olympics, my main criteria for choosing a hotel is the price and this was one of the cheaper options available to us.

I considered booking hotels in the mountain zones in Beijing, but those were significantly more expensive and since our media transportation is free, it made sense to just take the high speed rail from Beijing to the mountain zones for the competitions. 

Tokyo is going to be my first Olympics in a massive city. Sochi and PyeongChang were both large cities, but Tokyo and Beijing are on another scale and this certainly makes things a bit more interesting. I anticipated a much different experience in Tokyo, even before all the pandemic stuff was factored in to the mix. And, I think Beijing may be somewhat similar. However, there will also be similarities to the previous two Olympics, since they also had indoor venues in the city and outdoor venues in the mountains outside the city.

So, I guess this week will be spent dealing with Beijing stuff, but I imagine it won't be long before there's more Tokyo stuff to deal with. Our second payment for accommodations will be coming in a few weeks and that payment is due by early June. 

It's getting a little confusing dealing with the two different Olympics at once. I know that up until 1992, there were always two Olympics in the same year every four years. I can see how that would become a bit of a nightmare for those having to deal with both. 

However, I guess it's not a bad problem to have. Going to the Olympics is a great experience and worth the small inconveniences that come with having them back to back.