The journey begins

While I am saying the journey begins, it really began a few years ago, but today, the physical journey begins, as I got my packing done, hopped in my car and headed south to Logan Airport. 

Unlike my Tokyo trip earlier this year, instead of hoping that the economy parking was open, I booked a spot ahead of time at the Hampton Inn just north of the airport. It seemed like the best option, as the shuttle runs directly from the hotel to the airport and I didn't need to go all the way in to Logan.

I parked my car, got the necessary tag for my dashboard, handed over my keys and hopped on the shuttle to the airport. I presented my COVID test, my vaccination card and my passport at the Air France desk, checked my baggage and got my boarding pass and headed toward security. The security process was about as easy as I've ever had, there was no line and I didn't have to do anything special, so here I sit at the tables at Terminal E waiting on my flight, which is slated to take off at approximately 5:20 p.m.

Obviously this is just the first part of the journey and there is a long way to go, but this part went smoothly. The flight will arrive in Paris tomorrow morning and then I will have more than a day before the flight from Paris to Beijing takes off. 

I am pretty sure I packed everything I need, though I almost walked out of the apartment without my cell phone and without my wallet. My phone was on the charger in my bedroom and the wallet was in my usual backpack that I use for everyday use. I had taken everything else I needed out of it, but I hadn't taken my wallet. Luckily I remembered and grabbed it before leaving.

The airport is pretty empty, which is a good thing and I am hopeful that the flight is not too full, which would limit my contact with people, which is the overall hope so I can get through the arrival testing with no problems.

We're off and running. The next update will hopefully come from Paris.

In Terminal E at Logan Airport waiting on the flight to France later this afternoon.

Something went right

So many things have gone wrong over the last few months when it comes to the planning of my trip to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.

There was the numerous attempts to send money to pay for the accommodations, which kept getting returned for minor reasons or were held up because of a wrong letter or number somewhere on the application. There was the two cancelled flights that led to a scramble to find a way out of the country. There were the worries that the COVID testing facilities that I had submitted for Chinese consulate approval would not be approved. And there was the worry that after all the work, one of the COVID tests I needed to take before I left would come back positive.

After all those things had gone wrong, it was about time that something went right. And this weekend, things went right.

First and foremost, the COVID testing provider I chose, On-Site Medical Services, proved to be incredible. They are set up in a trailer in the parking lot at the Mall of New Hampshire and despite the massive snowstorm on Saturday, they were open for business. In fact, they took me early and before I reached the Epsom Traffic Circle on my way home, the results were texted to me and they were negative.

I went back the next day and while I had a short wait in line, the experience again was quick and as painless as something can be when you have a q-tip inserted in your nose, and I was out of the parking lot pretty quickly. And this time, the results were on my phone by the time I got to the Alton traffic circle. And again, they were negative.

So, something went right.

The next process was making sure that all the information I needed was submitted properly to the people at Beijing 2022. When I got back to the office, I went on the app and downloaded photos of my Olympic ID, my COVID tests, vaccine card and the rest of the fun stuff I had to submit. This was the next big hurdle, as without this stuff being approved, I couldn't get into China.

Based on the experiences of some people I'd seen in an online chat board for members of the media regarding issues leading up to Beijing, I was not expecting the process to be terribly easy. However, less than an hour after I had submitted the information, I got an e-mail saying it had been accepted. I opened up the app and sure enough, the QR code we need for entrance to China was the needed green.

So, something else went right.

I was also able to check into my flight from Boston to Paris without any problems and I spent Sunday night getting all of my stories submitted for the week and buttoning up everything at the office. My original plan was to do all that on Monday, but with the flight moved up a day, I had to get it all done last night. And it is done.

Now, it's time to pack.

There was a short line for the COVID testing on Sunday, but On-Site Medical Services made the whole process simple and quick.

Another countdown

There have been a lot of countdowns regarding the Olympics over the course of the last two years, especially since we had a couple different ones for Tokyo with the postponement. Each one has special meaning in one way or the other. For instance, Milan-Cortina recently celebrated 1,500 days until they host the Winter Olympics, which will be coming in 2026.

Today's countdown is one week until the Opening Ceremonies for Beijing's Winter Olympics. The official ceremony takes place on Friday at the Bird's Nest, the stadium that served as the home for track and field and the ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The other day, I reached out to the great Bill Hancock, who handles all of the high demand tickets for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Team. For those that may not know, our press credentials get us into most of the events that take place at the Olympics. However, there are some events that are deemed 'high demand' by organizers and for those events, in addition to our credentials we have to have a ticket. The tickets are provided to us for free, but we have to request them through the National Organizing Committee for the country we are from, thus my reaching out to the USOPC and Bill Hancock.

I made a request for a ticket for the Opening Ceremonies. Seeing the Opening Ceremonies has been something I have always wanted to do, but I have just never had the chance in my three previous Olympics. In Sochi, I was at the Moscow airport preparing to board my final flight to Sochi when the Opening Ceremonies were happening. In PyeongChang four years later, I was checking in to my accommodations during the Opening Ceremony. I actually had a ticket for those Opening Ceremonies, but during communicating with Bill at the USOPC, he noted the timing of my arrival would likely mean I would miss out on being able to get to the venue on time. He was right. In Tokyo, I purposely planned my flight for a day ahead of the Opening Ceremonies so I was guaranteed to be in the city if a ticket was available. Of course, COVID forced the three-day quarantine in my room, so I watched them on television.

My flight into Beijing arrives on Thursday morning and the Opening Ceremonies are Friday night, so I made my request to Bill Hancock and he responded in the affirmative, meaning I have a ticket to the Opening Ceremonies, assuming I get to Beijing.

With the flight cancellation, I had to rebook and the only available flight was a day earlier, so instead of leaving on Tuesday, I am leaving on Monday, however my flight from Paris to Beijing is still on Wednesday, meaning I have a long layover in Paris. It's not the ideal situation, but it was what had to be done to make things work.

I am not holding my breath in any way, shape or form that everything goes right over the next few days, though I think with all the things that have gone wrong, it might be time for a thing or two to go right.

The Main Media Center in Beijing is where media spend a good deal of time, since it has everything we need. Photo from beijing2022.cn.

Anyone have a private jet?

Can I buy a jet?

Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch, particularly given my financial situation, but at this point, it seems like the safest option to get myself to the Winter Olympics next week.

As I noted yesterday, Air France cancelled my flight from Boston to Paris, leaving me without a way to get to the Paris to Beijing flight that was supposed to take me to the Olympics. This marks the second flight I've had cancelled during this process, after my Cathay Pacific flight from Boston to Hong Kong was cancelled a few months ago. At least in that case, I had a few months to make other arrangements. The Air France cancellation happened a week before I was supposed to fly.

I made a call to the Air France customer service line this morning, but the person I talked to was not much help. First and foremost, it was almost completely impossible to understand what they were saying, not because of an accent, but because of what seemed like a bad connection or something. However, they could not find any flights out of Boston that would get me to Paris in time for the flight to Beijing that is scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon French time. They did mention a possible New York flight, but getting there is a whole other problem and adds many more hoops to jump through. And a few people have mentioned flying from Canada, which adds the same hoops.

I have also reached out to the people who I dealt with in setting up my special flights for the Olympics. They are the ones that booked me on the flight from Boston and I am hoping they can help me out. But, still no word there.

So, the private jet doesn't seem like such a bad option at this point. If only I hadn't sold my jet last year. Darn it.

In all seriousness, it truly might be the only option that works in the time frame I have at this point. Obviously I'm not going to be renting any private jet with my budget, but that's just how ridiculous this situation is. Missing out on the Olympics because of cancelled flights seems absolutely ridiculous but also seems totally in the realm of possibility.

It should be noted, that this really has nothing to do with the Beijing 2022 organizers. Yes, many of my early problems were rooted in issues I had there, but this is an airline issue. Yes, we have to take special flights in and out of Beijing, but I have one of those. That's not the problem here. The problem is getting to Paris to catch that flight.

My flight was scheduled to fly from Boston a week from today. It remains a possibility that somehow, I still wind up in Paris next Wednesday morning, but there's also a good possibility that I'll be making donuts at the Yum Yum Shop next Wednesday morning. And while I don't mind making donuts, I'd prefer to be in the airport in Paris.

So, about that private jet... 

The only brand new facility built for the 2022 Olympics, the speed skating venue, is one place I hope to be seeing next week, but that remains to be seen. Photo from Olympics.com.

Another roadblock... Ugh

Things were looking good. I had the COVID tests scheduled for this weekend, the testing site was approved by the Chinese consulate and I had flights from Air France booked for Tuesday evening, flying through Paris and on to Beijing.

Evidently, it was all too good to be true.

This morning I received an e-mail from Air France asking me to upload some travel document information to their web site to prepare for my trip. So, I clicked on the link and it took me to my trip page and the notice at the top of the page said that the flight from Boston to Paris has been cancelled. 

Now, the flight is just more than a week away and I had received absolutely no notice from Air France that the flight had been cancelled. The e-mail that was sent was simply a request for travel documentation information. Nowhere in the e-mail did it say anything about the flight being cancelled. After paying a lot of money for the flight, I am stuck in a situation of trying to figure out just what the next step is.

I contacted the people I have been dealing with in making the reservations on special flights to and from Beijing (they are Beijing-based, so it's the middle of the night there) and I am hoping to hear from them sometime this evening when they get into work. I have no idea if a rescheduling is possible or if I am on my own to find a way to Paris now.

The problem lies in that my COVID tests have to be timed for a certain period of time before my arrival in Beijing and if I leave New Hampshire too early and am forced to change my testing times, the tests. may be too late. And if I leave New Hampshire too late, I wouldn't make it to Paris to get on the special flight to Beijing.

I am really hoping to have answers to this ridiculous situation by tomorrow. This is the second flight I've had for this trip that has been cancelled and I can't wrap my head around the fact that there wasn't a single e-mail sent saying the flight had been cancelled. Nothing. If I hadn't gone online to enter the requested information, I wouldn't have known until I went to check in.

This whole experience is starting to feel more and more like the return trip from Tokyo this summer that resulted in delays, lost luggage, multiple trips through customs and an unexpected overnight stay. And that's not a good thing.

At this rate, who knows if I'll ever get to see the inside of The Beijing 2022 Media Center. Photo from Olympics.com.

Two weeks to liftoff

Two weeks from today, Tuesday, Feb. 1, an Air France flight will depart from Boston's Logan Airport at 5:20 p.m. If all goes as planned between now and then, I will be on that plane, on my way to Beijing for my third consecutive Winter Olympics experience and my fourth Olympic experience overall.

Of course, the important words in that paragraph are "if all goes as planned between now and then." Obviously, this has been the biggest issue over the course of the last few weeks and months as things have not gone as planned at just about any stage of this journey.

As reported last week, I was able to secure flights to and from Beijing, thanks to Air France and numerous calls to my credit card company to ensure them that the 4,000-dollar charge on my card was not fraud, despite what it might look like. The flights are secure, the hotel in Beijing is secure and I have entered all the necessary data into the proper web sites so that someone will hopefully be waiting for me to transport me to the hotel when I get to the airport.

There is a little more good news to report, as the COVID testing facility that I submitted to Beijing 2022 for approval was actually approved, which means that I should be able to get my testing done in Manchester, which is a relief, since there didn't seem to be many options in the New England area. Of course, there are still plenty of things that could go wrong and the way things are going, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they did.

This whole experience has been such a handful, but if things come together, it should be a pretty interesting trip. Like in Tokyo this past summer, we are going to be pretty limited to where we can go and what we can do. Unlike Tokyo, we won't have to spend a long time at the airport waiting for test results, as we will be tested there and will then go to our hotel and await results. Also unlike Tokyo, we will not need to quarantine for three days. Also unlike Tokyo, we won't be able to move about the city without restrictions once we've spent 14 days in the loop. Once we are in the closed loop in Beijing, we will not be able to leave the loop. In fact, our closed loop actually starts on the plane on the way to Beijing, which is why we need to take the special flights in.

What I need to do now is to make sure I don't get COVID between now and then, but the only real way to do that is to stay at home and not leave, and that's probably not feasible at this point. I do have a job to do.

Beijing has announced that there will be very limited spectators at this year's Winter Olympics. Photo from Olympics.com.

An update on the process

Last week brought a number of updates as the journey toward the Beijing Olympics continued on toward next month's opening ceremonies. And this week, there's a few updates beyond those.

As noted last week, I had reached out to Air France about a possible flight that would conform with what the Beijing organizers are asking for and would still allow me to fly in and out in accordance with when I have accommodations available in Beijing. I had tried a few times to make the payment for this flight, which was not cheap, but had gotten an "unsuccessful" message each time I tried.

On Saturday morning, I tried with a different credit card and immediately I got a text from the credit card company warning of a possible fraud situation. I quickly called the number I was provided and spoke with a woman in customer service, who helped guide me through the security process and was able to turn my card back on. She told me to wait a bit before trying the purchase again. Since I had to go to a Nordic race and then a wrestling match, I wasn't able to use the link to the payment system again until later in the afternoon. I tried again and once again, I got the fraud message on my phone and once again, called to speak to someone.

The gentleman I spoke with this time again guided me through some security protocol and noted that because it was such a large amount of money, he wasn't surprised it was flagged. Additionally, it was also payment made in euros, which also could be suspicious. This time, once he got my card reset he stayed on the line and told me to try making the payment again while he was still there. I clicked on the link and went through the process again and this time, it came back as successful. And he told me once he saw that the charge had appeared that everything was good.

Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, I got an e-mail from the airline with all my flight information and confirmation that I was booked on the flights. So officially, assuming everything else goes as planned, I fly out of Boston on Tuesday, Feb. 1, in the afternoon for an overnight flight to Paris, then leave Paris the next afternoon and arrive in Beijing the following morning.

As for the other thing that has been a process so far, I was able to get the proper paperwork from the COVID testing place in Manchester thanks to a very helpful woman who answered the phone and sent it from her own personal e-mail. I submitted it to Beijing 2022 and I noticed that when they released the latest batch of approved testing centers, that it was on the list of sites being "reviewed," so hopefully it can pass all the tests and get approved. Then, it's just up to me testing negative so I can board the flights and go.

The bad news is that the more expensive flights basically drained my Olympic account, so I am guessing that Paris in two years is likely out of the question as I build up the funds to possibly go to Milan in four years for the next Winter Olympics.

One of the reasons I am pushing so hard for this trip is that this is likely the last Olympics in a decade that is being held in a country I haven't been to. I've been to France and Italy, Paris and Milan in particular, sites of the next two Olympics and then 2028 is in Los Angeles, and I've certainly been there. The front runners for the 2030 Winter Olympics are reportedly Sapporo, Japan and Salt Lake City, leaving the next country I haven't been to that is hosting an Olympics as Australia in 2032. And that's a long, long, long way away.

If all goes as planned, though that's still questionable, I will be on a flight landing in Beijing on Feb. 3. Photo from Olympics.com.

Some good news... sort of... maybe

The trip to my fourth Olympics has been a rocky road. There's communication issues regarding money transfers, confusion about what kind of flights we need to take and how to get COVID testing agencies approved by the Chinese government and just a general lack of resources to get the necessary things done.

There was a bit of good news in my e-mail inbox when I woke up this morning. As I wrote yesterday, I spent a good chunk of the day dealing with Olympic issues, including looking up the flight schedules for the different airlines that are able to provide the approved flights into Beijing for Olympic staff, volunteers and media members. I heard back from a woman at Air France, who told me that she would be in touch with her team, which would in turn be in touch with me once they figured out a possible flight situation.

And sure enough, when I woke up this morning, there was an e-mail from one of those team members, offering a couple of different flight options on the days that I need to get to Beijing. These flights will have me flying from Boston to Paris and then on to Beijing on the dedicated Olympic flights. That was the good news.

The bad news came when I looked at the cost of the flight, which was double what I had paid for my previous flight. Obviously, on shorter notice and with longer flights, I anticipated a higher price, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so high. But it is what it is.

I confirmed my information with the Air France people and they sent me a link to pay. However, I have now tried three times to make the payment and each time it has come back as "unsuccessful." It just seems like everything that could possibly go haywire for this trip, has done just that.

The nice woman I spoke to at On-Site Medical Services in Manchester yesterday gave me an e-mail address to get the proper paperwork but I have yet to hear back from them so that I can get the site approved for the COVID testing by the Chinese government. The good news is that the list of approved COVID test providers has continued to grow, so they are approving places. Hopefully I can get mine approved as well.

On a related note, the Main Media Center opened in Beijing today. It will be great if I get a chance to see it. Yesterday the chances I gave of me actually getting there and seeing an Olympic event were 15-20 percent. Today, it's closer to 30 percent. But, that may change.

Beijing is ready for the Olympics, but getting there is proving to be an issue. Photo from Olympics.com.

Time is ticking

The calendar turned to 2022 over the weekend, which means it is officially a Winter Olympic year. And if everything goes as planned, one month from now, I should be in Beijing for my fourth Olympic experience.

But, as I've documented here over the last few months, nothing is going as planned.

If you asked me today, I would say that the chances that I actually make it to China and see an Olympic event are probably about 15-20 percent. So, I am not terribly optimistic about everything working out like it should and it's so incredibly frustrating.

As I've written here in the past, I had booked a flight from Boston to Beijing through Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, set to arrive on Feb. 3, the day before the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies. However, because Beijing 2022 wants us to fly into Beijing on special "temporary" flights, I contacted Cathay Pacific about getting booked on one of those from Hong Kong. The representative told me that the Boston to Hong Kong flight was cancelled and I would have to find another way. I worked with this person to try and figure out a way to make it work, but we've hit a roadblock, enough so that I have been reaching out to other airlines that are approved for those temporary flights in hopes of getting a booking on one of the flights and then possibly book myself on flights to either Seoul or Paris or basically wherever I need to in order to get on a plane to Beijing.

The other issue that has become a problem is getting the proper COVID testing approved by the Chinese government. We have been provided a list of approved providers, but none of them are anywhere near New England, making things difficult for those of us in the area trying to get to Beijing. Because we need results processed very quickly in order to get the proper QR codes to get into China, providers like CVS or Walgreens would not be ideal, as the kind of tests we need take longer to process at those locations. 

I have reached out to On-Site Medical, which does COVID testing in Manchester and the woman I have talked to when I have gotten through has been very helpful and I reached her again today and she gave me an e-mail contact to hopefully get the proper paperwork I need in order to submit it to Beijing 2022 for approval. Here's hoping that gets things moving in the right direction.

With the holidays in the rearview mirror and holiday tournaments a thing of the past, I spent today pouring over flight schedules to hopefully find a way to get there, then spent time on the phone with On-Site hoping to get the COVID tests approved. I also spent a few hours going through other Olympic information and found some great interactive photos that were provided to the media of all the venues in Beijing. It was cool to look around some of the places I might be heading to in a month.

One day at a time is the mantra right now and I am hopeful that the 15-20 percent chance I feel now increases a little bit over the next few weeks.

This is a view of the ski jumping center outside Beijing, as seen in an interactive photo from the Beijing media site.