Reflecting on Beijing, a week later

It's been a week since my third Winter Olympic experience came to a close and I began the trip home from Beijing. 

Since I've been back, I've had a lot of people asking what the experience was like and I think the word I've used to describe it has been 'different.' For the most part, while this was my third Winter Olympics, it's more comparable to my first Summer Olympics, which took place last summer in Tokyo. The main reason is obviously the COVID precautions that enveloped both of these Olympic experiences. 

Like in Tokyo, Beijing was restricted on where we could go as media. We were allowed to go to our hotels, the media centers in both Beijing and Zhangjiakou and the numerous venues where the events took place. This means that we were unable to venture out into the city that we were visiting and see the many sights that are to be seen. I saw a lot of the city and the outlying area through the windows of the many buses I traveled on and the high speed train that traveled between the Olympic zones, but the incredibly beauty that lies throughout the city of Beijing and around was not really available to us, which was disappointed. 

However, the biggest difference between the two different experiences in regards to the COVID restrictions was that we did not need to have the three-day quarantine in Beijing as we did in Tokyo upon arrival. As soon as my airport COVID test came back negative, I was free to move about the closed loop system and leave the hotel.

This time around, there was also a lot more security involved. Just to leave the hotel, we passed through a security gate inside the hotel and the bus had to go through two different gates just to get into the hotel parking lot and out again. The bus took us directly to the Main Media Center, where the bus passed through another security screening. This process took place every time we left the Media Center area to go to venues, we'd pass through security and then pass through again at the venue.

When it comes to comparing Beijing to the other Winter Olympics I've experienced, there was one definite obvious comparison and that was the lack of snow. For the most part, the events that took place on snow were surrounded by areas not covered in snow. We did get a nice snowstorm in the first week that helped to coat the area in white, from Beijing all the way up to the mountains, giving the area the feel of the Winter Olympics. But, for the most part, there were plenty of places where there was no snow.

All being told, I am most certainly glad I went and had this experience. It's a bummer that the flight to Beijing was so expensive, making this the most expensive Olympic experience I've had, but overall, I can't complain. I got the chance to see a country that I likely never will get to see again. I got to see some athletes with local connections compete on the largest stage in the world. And I got to experience my first opening ceremonies after three Olympics where I missed my chance to do that.

This past summer I ranked my Olympic experiences in a number of different areas and now that I've wrapped up Beijing and am back to the real world, I'll probably take some time and add Beijing to those rankings.

Beijing was different. It was an unusual Olympic experience in many ways. But, overall, it was an experience I am glad I got the chance to have. Two COVID Olympics in the course of eight months is nothing to shake a head at.

The Beijing Winter Olympics officially wrapped up for me a week ago. Without a doubt it was a different experience, but one I am glad I had.

Just another fun airport experience

I really thought the hardest part about the trip home from China would be the airport in Beijing. I had no problems coming through Paris on the way over, but I guess they were waiting for me to be on the way home to throw all the roadblocks up.

Before I left China, I booked an appointment for a COVID test at the testing facility in the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. I made the appointment for 7 a.m. figuring I had plenty of time to make everything work before my 1 p.m. flight, even if things went wrong. I was concerned about finding the testing facility, but a quick look at the map pointed me in the right direction and I got there before 6 a.m. That was the good part.

Once the doors opened, they were looking for a QR code that I didn't seem to have. Thanks to a lot of help from Tamara Lovelace (fluent in French) before I left China, I had been able to input all of my information into the system and figured that was all I needed to do. However, the guy at the security line to get into the testing facility wanted the QR code and no matter how hard I tried to register for it on my phone, it kept rejecting it. And the guy was no help at all. He kept telling me everyone else was here first and they were allowed to go (they weren't there first) and he wouldn't tell me what I was doing wrong. 

Finally I must have complained enough that he let me in and told me to wait at a desk. Thankfully, the guy inside was much more friendly and helpful. Once I explained my situation, he looked me up on the computer and found that I did indeed have an appointment and helped me get the information I needed to move forward. I was able to pay and wait in line to get the test and within 15 minutes, the results were done and that part of the journey was over.

From there, I went to go through security only to have the guy in the line tell me that my carry-on, which had gone from China to France with me the previous day, was all of a sudden too heavy. I understand there's weight limits, but how could the bag be fine one day and not the next when there was nothing new in it at all. So, after that wonderful discussion that nobody could provide me an answer to, I had to go check my carry-on. That line was a nightmare, with only one person available to help a very long line of customers. I let a family of four and another woman go in front of me because they had flights in an hour and I had a few hours to wait. Finally, I was able to check my carry-on, which is not ideal, but I didn't really have a choice. Apparently the suitcase gained weight overnight.

Then, just to make matters fun, when I got through security, my backpack was sent to the screener for some reason and with my luck, I got stuck behind somebody who had apparently bought out the entire duty-free store somewhere and had to have every single item checked. 

What is it about return trips from the Olympics that makes everything go haywire? I really thought that China would be the problem, but instead, it's Paris causing all the trouble, just as it was Canada last summer. Now it's just a few more hours until my flight. We'll see how that goes.

The Paris airport experience has been a joyful one this time around... Really, it has.

The long way home

It sure felt like more than eight hours. Probably because it was. But on the clock, it was a mere eight hours since I left Beijing.

However, in reality, I had spent more than 15 hours on a plane. 

My Air France flight took off from Beijing at 10 a.m. and for some strange reason, had to go to Seoul, South Korea first. So we flew more than an hour in the wrong direction, stopped at the Incheon Airport for more than an hour where we couldn't get off the plane. Then took off again and flew back over Beijing and then all the way to France. We arrived in Paris just before 6 p.m.

The airport process in Beijing was quite simple, which was a surprise. We were greeted at the airport by volunteers/staff, once again all dressed in the hazmat suits. They directed us to the proper lines we needed to be in to check our baggage and then we passed through security. Because these areas were reserved for just Olympic traffic, the process was pretty quick, then it was just sitting around waiting for a few hours for the plane.

The flight was uneventful, just really long. On the plus side, I got a lot of podcasts listened to and slept a little, but by the time I got to Paris, I was ready to crash again. Sleeping on an airplane with a mask on is not exactly the most comfortable sleep you can get.

While my flight doesn't take off until 1 p.m. tomorrow, I have a 7 a.m. COVID test scheduled at the airport. I am hopeful I can find the testing facility, since the US requires a test 24 hours before your flight and all the tests I took in Beijing will not be valid by tomorrow afternoon.

Until then, I think it's time for a little food and then some sleep... in a bed.

The sun was setting when we landed in Paris after the long flight from Beijing (through Seoul).

Picked up pieces

Some picked up pieces as I sit in the media center the day after the Olympics ended, finishing up sending all the stuff for this week's papers before flying out early tomorrow morning.

The closing ceremonies were great. The good news was it wasn't as cold as it was during the opening ceremonies, or at least it felt that way. Things were wrapped up in a couple of hours, it was great to see the video preview of Milan-Cortina for the 2026 Winter Olympics and there was plenty of pomp and circumstance as the Olympic flame was extinguished and the Olympic flag was passed along from Beijing to Milan-Cortina. Those Italian Olympics are something I am really looking forward to in four years.

Without a doubt, the people that make the Olympics go are the volunteers and/or workers. They are everywhere, from running the bus depot in front of the Main Media Center to staffing the help desks inside, from cleaning seemingly everywhere, all the time to moving foot traffic in the right direction at all of the venues. They were all incredibly friendly and seemed to always be smiling (at least it seemed so, under their masks) and did their best to understand and work with the foreigners who have invaded their country. 

I noticed the other day that there were small pieces of tape of some kind on all of the fixtures in the bathroom in the Main Media Center. I noticed it again in the Olympic Stadium bathrooms as well and thought it was kind of weird. Then it hit me. The tape was placed over the logo for the company that built the fixtures since they weren't a sponsor of the Olympics. I learned that the same thing applied to the KFC in the Mountain Media Center. Evidently, there are KFC restaurants in the Olympic Villages that serve the athletes and officials, but the one in the media center was closed. That had to do with the sponsors, since KFC pours Pepsi products and Coke is a major Olympic sponsor. The restaurants in the villages sell Coke in bottles instead of the Pepsi products that normal KFCs sell.

It was weird to pull into the Main Media Center on the bus this morning and see the bus depot mostly empty. The place is usually packed with buses and people on a normal morning. With no contests going on, the buses to the venues aren't running and it's just the hotel buses. And with fewer people left working, even those buses are not running as frequently. In the same vein, the media center and the dining room are operating on limited hours. It's a sign that it's time to leave.

The hotel where I am staying definitely has some positives and negatives. First and foremost, the room is bigger than my room in the hotel in Tokyo and is quite comfortable. There is plenty of room to do work if needed. The hotel restaurant where we have our breakfast in the morning seems to have plenty of choices, both for sit-down and for room service. And as mentioned earlier, there are plenty of options for breakfast. The laundry service has also been good, with clothes returned pretty quickly. However, it seems that nobody at the desk speaks English, which makes things difficult when trying to communicate about anything. However, there are more positives than negatives in regards to the hotel.

The time is coming to an end here in Beijing. It has been an adventure, but the time is right to head home. Look for a little more analysis coming soon.

The KFC in the mountain media center has been closed the entire Olympics.

And now, the end is near

I am sitting in the press tribute of the Bird's Nest Stadium, site of the Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics. It's about four hours before they start and there is rehearsals and general milling around on the stadium floor in front of me.

It's been an interesting, intriguing and incredible two-plus weeks on the other side of the world, but that time is slowly drawing to a close. 

Like for the Opening Ceremonies back on Feb. 3, I took an early bus to the stadium and arrived well ahead of when I needed to, partly to avoid the crowds and partly because I just wanted to get out of the media center. Unlike with the opening ceremonies, I didn't even bother sitting down in the venue media center, instead opting to head down and find a seat in the press tribune to watch the proceedings going on in the lead-up to the ceremonies.

It is decidedly warmer than it was the night of the opening ceremonies when I stayed inside to keep from freezing. So far, I haven't dug out the winter hat or mittens from my bag, but they are there when the time comes. Again, Beijing 2022 provided us with cushions for the seats, which have been a nice addition as they were in the opening ceremonies.

This past summer, I sat in a very similar place as the Tokyo Olympics drew to a close and was at the same time preparing for these Beijing Games, as the paperwork and the processing had already begun at that point. As I sit here ready to close out the Beijing experience, the process for the next Olympics has not started yet. However, they are showing clips of Milan-Cortina's promo video that will be shown to close out the ceremonies and I have to admit, I am already seriously excited about that possibility.

Now, those who know me know that I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer Olympics, if only because of the sports offered. While baseball is my favorite sport, I love watching alpine and freestyle skiing and snowboarding and ice hockey, so those sports really draw me into the Winter Olympics. And, we tend to have more local connections in the Winter Games. I have been to Italy before, but I have never been up into the Alps, where the snow sports will take place in 2026 and the possibility of covering an Olympics in a traditional winter setting is intriguing. Sochi, PyeongChang and Beijing have not been your traditional winter destinations, so if the opportunity is there in four years to make that trek, you can bet I will be there.

As for the next Olympics, that's still a question mark in my mind. Heading into Tokyo's final days, I was convinced that Paris 2024 was not going to be high on my list of things to do. The closing ceremony presentation that Paris presented really piqued my interest and as of right now, I still haven't made that decision. I will have to start thinking about it soon, however, as the process for credentialing will be starting sooner rather than later.

But for now, time to enjoy the closing ceremonies. And almost time to put on the winter hat.

National Stadium is quiet as preparations are under way for the closing ceremonies.

Good things happening back home

It's the final day of the Beijing Winter Olympics and I am sitting in the Main Media Center getting a bunch of writing done and preparing to go to the Closing Ceremonies in a few hours. I still have one more story to get done before then.

While it's been a busy week here in China, it has also been a busy week at home and there are a lot of things to celebrate for the teams I cover.

The alpine skiing championship week is one of my favorite weeks of the year since I usually just spend the week out covering meets here and there. While that has gotten tougher over the last few years with the addition of so many schools to my plate and the meets mostly being held on the same day, it's still a lot of fun and unfortunately, when I go to the Olympics, it always falls during the time I'm away.

This year, I missed plenty of success, as the Plymouth girls won the Division III alpine championship and the Bobcat boys came in second place. The Kennett girls won the Division II championship and the Kennett ski jumpers finished as the state (and national) runners-up. The Profile boys and girls both won the Division IV championships. To close out the week, the Plymouth wrestling team won the Division III title and the Winnisquam wrestlers came in second, their first team trophy for the wrestling program ever. There were also plenty of individual championships won at those meets as well.

Thankfully, I have a lot of great coaches and parents who have provided me with the necessary information along with photos to help cover the events in our local newspapers. North Conway photographer Joe Viger shared some photos of the Division II championships at Cranmore, Plymouth coach Dan Leblanc shared some photos of his team's success, both his own and some from his parents, Belmont coach Kevin Charleston shared a photo of his top racer in action, Profile athletic director Jack Bartlett shared photos of his alpine teams celebrating their championships and Winnisquam AD John Larsen and coach Tom Osmer shared photos of the wrestling team's exciting performance. 

And so many coaches shared their results as the weeks went along while I was away, helping me to stay up to date and also keep readers up to date.

Covering the Olympics is great, but I also miss a lot of good stuff back home. Soon enough it will be back to the regular grind. But for now, I'll enjoy my time here while it lasts.

Beijing's Olympic Tower will be the background for another day or so, then it's time to head home.

Getting past the frustration

Today was one of those frustrating days at the Olympics. It wasn't a bad day, just things didn't go the way I had planned or was hoping for them to go and that's always frustrating.

I caught the 7 a.m. bus from the Main Media Center toward Yanqing with hopes of catching the alpine team event, as Mikaela Shiffrin would be skiing one more time and I thought it would be nice to see her race again and also see a bunch of the other skiers I hadn't had the chance to ski.

Last night the announcement had gone out on the myInfo web site that journalists have access to for results and announcements, that the start of the race, originally slated for 11 a.m., was going to be moved up an hour to 10 a.m. Leaving at 7 a.m. left me plenty of time to take the two buses needed plus the three tram rides to the technical finish area.

The buses were on time and I hopped on the first tram that brings us from the base area to the speed finish area. However, once we got there, we couldn't get on the second tram, as it was not running. So, I had to cram onto a bus and make the trek up the mountain further. The driver didn't seem to have a great idea where he was supposed to go, but eventually, after lots of yelling from a passenger who spoke Chinese, we got to the technical finish area. By that time, the race had already been postponed by an hour back to the original start time.

I set up in the press workroom and listened as the wind howled around us outside. I got some stories written on the Division IV girls' alpine championships back in New Hampshire while the announcement came over the speaker that the race would be delayed again, until at least noon. Before noon there was another announcement, telling everyone that the event was postponed, with a makeup to be determined. 

By this time, the middle tram of the three we needed to get up and down, was running, so I took the three trams down to the base area and had a nice talk with a couple of people who work on the technology side of the Olympics, including setting up the myInfo site that we use. From the base, I took another bus down to the parking lot where I waited for yet another bus to get me back to the media center. A total of more than four hours on buses and nothing to show for it.

By the time I got back to the media center, it was announced that the team alpine race was rescheduled until Sunday morning at 9 a.m. My immediate thought was I was going to head up. However, after looking at the bus schedule, it became apparent that it was not happening.

So, I am sitting at the bronze medal women's curling match, a match I have no real interest in, but I wanted to do something, so here I am. It looks like tomorrow will be a trip to the men's hockey gold medal game and the closing ceremonies. Monday is looking like a lot of finishing writing and preparing for the trip home, which comes early on Tuesday.

Frustrating days happen sometimes. You just have to move on.

The best part of the day was getting to ride the tram again at the alpine venue.

A local hero?

A lot has been made of Eileen Gu and her decisions leading up to the Olympics here in Beijing. Nobody can question the young woman's abilities and talent, as she is one of the best freestyle skiers out there and proved it by winning two gold medals and one silver medal, the first freestyle skier to ever win three medals in one Olympics.

And wherever she competes here in Beijing, she draws a crowd. As I boarded the bus this morning at the Main Media Center bound for the train station, there wasn't room for one more person. I was confused as the mass exodus to the train station until I heard a couple of British guys next to me mention that Eileen Gu was skiing. Many of the people on the bus were workers who likely had the day off and were going to the event to see her ski.

Like the bus, the train also had the most people I've ever seen on it and when I got to the venue, in addition to the many people inside the closed loop with us, there were a large number of fans in the stands. 

This marks the second time I have seen Eileen compete, the first being in the Big Air at Shougang last week and there was a hearty crowd there too. Her face is all over the promotional billboards and other signage promoting the Olympics and she is obviously the face of these Games. And it's easy to understand why. 

What has garnered a lot of attention, at least to a few people who I talk with back in the United States, is her decision to compete for China instead of the United States. Eileen's mother is Chinese, but her father is American, she was born in America, grew up there and learned to ski there. She is enrolled to go to Stanford in the fall. Everything about her is American, except for her mother's nationality.

Now, I understand that the rules allow you to compete for a different country and I respect her right to make the choice of which country to represent. She has Chinese heritage, she's proud of it and that's just fine.

But I must admit, it surprises me just how much traction she gets here in Beijing, especially given that she is not technically from China. But the people here seem to love her and give her huge ovations when she competes (and medals).

She has said on many occasions that she looked at these Olympics as a chance to showcase winter sports to the Chinese people, opening up a lane to snow sports that she said might not have already been there. Her goal was to inspire young Chinese girls to follow in her footsteps and choose skis and snowboards. That is an admirable goal.

And it's understandable, that in the United States there are already plenty of role models in the winter sports to look up to. People like Jamie Anderson, Brita Sigourney and the like have made a name for women in the winter freestyle sports and maybe Eileen's choice was to try to be like them, but for the Chinese people.

Obviously, only she knows what she is thinking and why she made the decisions she did, but there's one thing that is undeniable. She is talented. The skiing I witnessed was incredible and no matter who she is representing, she is going to represent well.

There were tons of people at the halfpipe this morning to see Eileen Gu (and others) compete.

An emotional afternoon

For the second day in a row, a stinging defeat. 

The gold medal for women's hockey was awarded today in Beijing and as has been the case each time said medal has been distributed but once (Torino), the gold medal game featured the United States against Canada. The United States won the original gold medal in Nagano in 1998 and won the most recent in 2018 in PyeongChang, but in between, Canada had taken every one of the gold medals.

When the puck dropped on today's game at Wukesong Sports Center, I was sitting above the US goalie in the press tribune hoping for an upset. The Canadians had beaten the Americans in the only previous matchup between the two teams in these Beijing Olympics and I was hoping for a repeat of PyeongChang, with New Hampton School graduate Cayla Barnes and her teammates coming out with the win.

As most everyone knows by now, that did not happen. The Canadians got out to a 3-0 lead and then withstood an American rally that saw them score two goals in the final period but they couldn't get the tying goal and Canada took the 3-2 win to reclaim the gold medal.

When the Americans won the gold medal in PyeongChang, I was standing in the mixed zone at the alpine venue waiting for an interview (with either Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn I am sure). I was following the game on my phone with just about everyone else in that US media corral when the US won in a shootout to clinch the gold. It was an exciting moment, even for us miles away in a remote alpine ski area.

So this time, being much closer to it, it was also set to be an exciting moment. But, it wasn't quite the excitement that we as Americans were looking for. Instead of the tears of happiness as gold medals were draped around their necks, it was tears of wondering what could've been had one bounce gone the other way. 

You had to feel for them as the cameras focused on the Canadians celebrating at the other end of the ice. The processes that all the athletes have had to go through just to get to these Olympics, be it due to COVID or any other factor, is immense and when it all comes to a sudden end like it did today for the Americans, there's just a release of pressure, a release of emotions and it results in emotions coming to the surface.

To their credit, the women came out to the mixed zone after the game and spoke to the press, most of them still fighting back emotions. They didn't make excuses and didn't back down from the questions. 

The team was full of women who are class acts. It was a great run and while they didn't win the gold, they are still winners in a lot of books. And here's betting these women, like the team has done many times through the years, have inspired more and more young women to get out on the ice and play hockey.

The victory ceremony for women's hockey featured Canada taking the gold, US taking the silver and Finland winning the bronze.

The sting

After watching the American men's hockey team play in their first two games in person and then the third on the television in the media center, I had a pretty good feeling about the team's chances in the tournament when it began today.

I should know better than to trust my feelings. They are rarely right.

I had an interview this afternoon and then had to catch a bus to the train station to make it up to the mountain zone, so I wasn't at the game, but I was in the Main Media Center watching from the second period on. It really looked like the Americans were going to pull out a close win over Slovakia and move on to the semifinals.

But, as we all know by now, that didn't happen. A bad bounce that was tipped past the US goaltender in the final minute of the game sent the two teams to overtime and then to penalty shots before the Slovakian team was able to get one by in the fifth round of the shootout, ending the American team's Olympics a bit too early.

This is a similar result to what the team had in 2018 in PyeongChang, but this one seemed to hurt a little more because it seems, after going undefeated in pool play including an impressive win over Canada, the US team was on a roll, playing well and ready to take the tournament by storm. The win over Canada was particularly impressive, given that it had been so long since a US team had done that.

But, like with the alpine skiing that I wrote about earlier in these Olympics, all it takes is one bad bounce and things can go the wrong way. No goalie is perfect, just as no skier is perfect. No matter how good a goalie is playing, the puck can find its way by at any time and if you don't have enough offense to put a few more on the board than the other team, you could find yourself on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

So, the Americans go home without a medal. Again. I really felt like this team had that "Miracle on Ice" feel to it, a group of young underdogs (for the most part anyway) going into a tournament with nothing to lose. The difference might be that those underdogs back in Lake Placid in 1980 had been playing together for a while. They had scrimmaged, they had practiced and they were a cohesive unit by the time the Olympics rolled around. This year's group only had a short period of time to get together and figure each other out once the NHL decided it wasn't letting its players compete in the Olympics.

Nonetheless, the sting is real. It's disappointing. But that's life and that's sports. Anything can happen on any given day.

And I should remember to not trust my feelings.

The US-Canada men's hockey game was a big win for the Americans, but they stumbled in the quarterfinals.

Getting around

Before I left for Beijing, I put together a schedule that I hoped I would be able to follow while I was here. I knew that things would probably have to change here and there, but the schedule I put together had me seeing a lot of different sports and different venues.

Today, the plan was to head up to the alpine venue in Yanqing to see the women's downhill, but I was planning on leaving before the race ended so I could make my way back down the mountain and catch the long bus to Zhangjiakou to see Sean Doherty race in his final biathlon of these Olympics. And, the plan was to possibly get to aerials to see Eric Loughran compete in qualifying.

After catching a 7 a.m. bus, I eventually made it up the mountain to the alpine speed finish area and was checking the daily schedule and noticed that the biathlon had been changed to a 2:30 p.m. start. By the time I saw the change from the scheduled 5 p.m. start, it was too late to make the trip out of the mountains and back to the other mountain venue before the biathlon started.

So, I stayed at the alpine venue until the end of the race and had the chance to get in on an interview with Mikaela Shiffrin and then made my way down the mountain to the service area that serves as a transportation hub. From there, my plan was to take the cross-zone bus to the Genting Snow Park to see the aerials competition.

The bus arrived on time as planned at 3:30 p.m., only for us to discover that the back window had blown out of the bus, so they had to get a different bus, which put us more than 10 minutes behind the original schedule. And then we got the slowest driver in the world. We were on the highway the entire time and I find it hard to believe that we topped more than 45 miles an hour. At one point, I think an 89-year-old lady on her Jazzy scooter passed us on the right. It was the longest bus ride I have taken in my four Olympic experiences and not only was it long and slow, it was cold too, as there didn't seem to be any heat. 

We finally arrived at Genting Snow Park and got another slow driver that drove us up into the venue and I did get the chance to see Eric Loughran compete. The Loon Mountain skier then did me a huge favor and qualified for the finals on his first attempt, meaning I didn't have to stay for the second round of qualifying in the freezing cold and was able to get on the train at 8:50 p.m. instead of after 10 p.m.

When the transportation plans were first revealed for Beijing, we were told that transportation between zones was going to be pretty easy. I will say, from Beijing to Zhangjiakou is pretty easy, Beijing to Yanqing is a bit more difficult, but there are a couple of options. However, getting from Yanqing to Zhangjiakou is not easy and not fun. Thankfully, I don't think I have to do it again.

It was a chilly night at Genting Snow Park for aerials on Tuesday night.

Technology fun

In my two previous Winter Olympic experiences, I have spent a lot of time writing on buses. The buses between the ice venues and the mountain venues was somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour so I was able to get a little work done.

That didn't really apply to Tokyo, since most of the buses we were on were not the normal coach buses, but rather they are city buses, so it was a bit tougher to get work done on them. That is the same here in Beijing, as we move around the city on the buses like you would find on city streets. The exception is in the Yanqing district, where there are coach buses that bring us from the train station out to the service area and then up to the mountains are coach buses.

Today, in my quest to get to the mountains a bit earlier than the earlier train would allow, I got on the 7 a.m. cross zone bus, which leaves the media center and makes stops at the aforementioned service area and then goes on to Zhangjiakou further along. Since it was a longer bus ride than I have had this winter, I broke out the computer and worked on formatting some stories submitted for this week's papers. When I finished that I clicked on my web browser to check my personal e-mail and the like and I got no response. 

It appeared that Safari just kept quitting on me and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I still had access to my work e-mail, which was the most important thing, since I had deadlines to meet, but it was incredibly frustrating trying to figure out the problem.

Our company tech guy had sent me a link to download Chrome as an updated browser, but without web access I couldn't do the download. I made an attempt to update my operating system and let it download while I was at the monobob competition. Once it all downloaded, it wouldn't allow me to open it on the hard drive because there wasn't enough room.

After another bus ride back to the media center and more frustration, including a talk with the tech people in the media center who were so baffled that they said I should contact Apple, I was able to delete a few things off the hard drive, enough that I was able to finally get the new operating system to upload. It was pushing it for time, however, as the update kept going and going and it was almost time to leave for the women's hockey game, which was taking place at Wukesong Sports Center, about half an hour from the media center.

I was able to get the 8:40 p.m. bus and got to the arena about five minutes after the game had already started. However, the good news was, that since you are reading this blog, the operating system update allowed me to once again use my web browser and get access to the blog and more. I am pretty sure it would've been a long week-plus without web access on my computer.

Computer problems made me a little late for the US-Finland women's hockey semifinal game.

The local ties

The first time I applied for Olympic credentials was for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I did so under the impression that I probably wouldn't get them, but I thought it was be good to at least try. The whole idea, in my mind anyway, was to be able to cover local athletes that made it to the top of their sport and were competing in the Olympics.

Much to my surprise I was granted the credentials for what I thought was a once in a lifetime experience. The first athlete to be named to an Olympic team that I had covered was Kennett graduate Leanne Smith, who was on the Olympic alpine team in 2010 for Vancouver and again in 2014 for Sochi. I covered Leanne when she raced for Kennett as well as on the softball diamond and the soccer field, where she was a dominant athlete in addition to her skills on a ski slope.

The other local athlete that I ended up covering in Sochi was also a Kennett graduate. In fact, at the time, he had only been a graduate for less than a year. Sean Doherty made his Olympic debut on the US biathlon team at just 18, the youngest US Olympic biathlete to this point, competing on the relay teams in the mountains outside Sochi. Sean was a dominant Nordic skier for the Kennett program, which was a force to be reckoned with in those days.

Four years later, the chance to cover the Olympics came up again and I was in South Korea. This time, Leanne had retired from her ski racing career, but Sean was still there, competing in his second Olympics in the mountains outside of PyeongChang. I distinctly remember my first night in PyeongChang and the biting cold whipping through that biathlon stadium. I had forgotten my hat and had to go to the souvenir store at the venue and buy some earmuffs.

Now, four years later, here I am in Beijing, China, and Sean is back at it for his third Winter Olympics as well. Now he is one of the veteran members of the US biathlon squad, which features a couple of younger athletes making their Olympic debuts. I have now seen Sean race on four different occasions the last week-plus, starting with the relay, then in the individual and most recently on back-to-back days in the sprint and the pursuit. And through it all he has stopped and answered questions with thoughtful and insightful points, despite the blowing wind, cold and in the case of tonight, snow.

It has been a lot of fun getting to follow Sean's career from his days racing for Kennett to his Olympic races and getting to see local athletes make good on their athletic careers is always a real treat. 

Sean Doherty answers questions in the mixed zone following his first race of the Beijing Olympics.

Let's talk about food

After a couple days of the more serious side of the Olympics, today's post is going to look at something a little less serious... food.

I am a notoriously picky eater, so I like the fact that when I come to the Olympics, there is almost always an attempt at making foods that people from the western part of the world will be familiar with. It may not taste the same as it does at home, but usually it's something I can handle.

In my first two Olympic experiences, McDonald's was still an Olympic sponsor. There was a McDonald's in the Media Center in Sochi and one in the Olympic square in PyeongChang. That wasn't an option in Tokyo until after I had been there 14 days and was able to leave the bubble and explore Tokyo a little bit.

Now, there are plenty of McDonald's here in Beijing, I see them all the time from my bus window, but they are not available to us, since we are inside the closed loop and none of them are.

However, I have not struggled to find things to eat, which I have to admit, is a bit of a surprise.

As part of our accommodation package, our hotel provides breakfast for us and the choices are pretty impressive, as I stated in one of my earlier blogs. If I don't have to leave the hotel before 6 a.m., I always make sure to grab a large breakfast to help get me through the first part of the day.

The Main Media Center in Beijing features a media dining hall that has a lot of different choices. The first few days I didn't stray much from the French fries, chicken nuggets and clay pot rice that were cooked by robots. However, over the last few days, I've gone to a different station to try some fried rice and vegetables that lower from the ceiling. The whole thing is impressive, as the food comes from the kitchen on small robots running on tracks above the dining room. Your food is programmed to go to your table and then it puts the plate on a disc that lowers down to you so you can take your food. They also offer some other options there, but each time I've gone, they've been sold out of those options. There is also an area to get more traditional Chinese cuisine and an area to get what they call western cuisine, which is usually potatoes, vegetables and spaghetti of some sort.

The Zhangjiakou Press Center, located in the mountains near the Genting Snow Park, has a few different restaurants, including a Pizza Hut and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. The KFC has been closed but I have partaken in the pizza a couple of times. The menu is limited to just pepperoni and supreme pizzas, so I had to order my "pepperoni pizza without pepperoni" to get a cheese pizza. It was serviceable pizza, far from perfect, but not bad considering I was in a remote resort in China.

I hadn't gotten much food at the venue media centers in the first week, but tonight at the biathlon media center I tried some fried rice and it was pretty good. I was a bit shocked, since it's cooked in a temporary kitchen in a temporary building. 

And it should be mentioned that each media center, be it the main center or the venue ones, have a media lounge where there is usually some sort of free snacks, be it fruit, cookies or crackers and water.

So, there's no need to worry, I am not starving to death. Though I could afford to lose a few pounds.

This was my pepperoni pizza without pepperoni at the Pizza Hut in the Zhangjiakou Press Center.

A legend walks away

One of the great things about covering the Olympics is getting the chance to see some of the best athletes in the world compete on the biggest stage.

I was honored to be able to see Lindsey Vonn ski her final Olympic race in PyeongChang in 2018 and watch Allyson Felix run her final Olympic race in Tokyo this summer. Additionally, I got to see Katie Ledecky swim this summer in Tokyo and I've now had the honor of seeing Chloe Kim hit the halfpipe in two different Olympics.

Today I got to watch another icon of his sport say his goodbye with one final competition and it was truly special.

Shaun White has been to five Olympics, won three halfpipe gold medals and countless competitions over the years but as had been speculated coming in to the Beijing Games, he announced that these Olympics would be his final competition. He fought hard to earn a spot on the Olympic team and then put down a heck of a final run in qualifying to earn a spot in the finals, which took place this morning in the mountains outside Beijing.

After a solid but not spectacular first run, White put up a strong score of 85 in his second run, which at the time propelled him into second place. By the time his turn came around again, he was sitting in fourth place and needed a big finish to get into the medals.

It didn't happen, he fell about halfway down the pipe and had to settle for his 85, which left him in fourth place overall. He made his way down the halfpipe to a huge ovation from the crowd gathered in the finish area. Overcome with emotion, he awaited his final score and when it was announced, he got another ovation.

Shaun White has done everything he can in his sport, it has been his life for so long now and he is probably the most famous snowboarder in the world. He has nothing left to accomplish in the world of snowboarding and choosing to step away at this time was surely the best decision for him.

Shaun White is a legend. Shaun White will forever by synonymous with snowboarding. And Shaun White can walk away with his head held high as one of the best to ever strap on a board.

It was an honor getting to see his final competition.

Some moron standing in front of the halfpipe where Chloe Kim and Shaun White stole the show the last few days.

Rock star

In this job you run into all kinds of people.

Occasionally, you run into one of the best people. Something tells me, I just did that.

As I sat in the Genting Snow Park media center awaiting two-time gold medal winner Chloe Kim's press conference, I was curious as to what I was about to hear. Obviously, most people have heard her before, after all she's the best women's halfpipe snowboarder out there and she won a gold medal in South Korea four years ago. 

But at heart, she's also just a 21-year-old young woman and I was curious as to how she would come across facing a room full of media members.

I learned pretty quickly that Chloe Kim is a rock star.

Yeah, she's talented, but she's also well-spoken, open and honest about all that she's been through and what she feels, no matter whether it's bad or good. She talked a lot about mental health and figuring out who you are and being happy with that person. Her struggles have been documented, as after the massive onslaught of media attention following her dominant performance in Pyeongchang in 2018, she struggled to find her way through things. At one point, she revealed, she even through her gold medal in the trash.

But as she sat on the stage earlier today, she was well-spoken and honest, talking about how she had a rough practice before her gold medal run and wasn't sure just what was going to happen. She acknowledged that mental health, taking care of yourself, is important. She spoke about just how hard it is to do what she and her fellow snowboarders do. And she also asked if anyone had any food.

She'd been competing since 9:30 a.m. and after the competition had made her way through the different television and print interviews and it was after noon and she was ready for lunch. Luckily for her, there was food to be had, from volunteers who quickly went to the media lounge at the back of the room to a reporter who handed her a piece of candy out of her pocket. And as the food kept coming, Chloe Kim just kept laughing.

And that is a good sign. The stress and the pressure leading up to the event was gone. She had the gold medal secured (if not in her hands, physically). She had done her job. 

Now it was time to eat.

Chloe Kim is a rock star. Don't fight me on it, it's true. 

Chloe Kim talked about competing, mental health, taking care of yourself and more in her victory press conference. She also asked for some food.

The agony of defeat

On Monday, when Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of the giant slalom course, I was sitting in the Main Media Center in Beijing watching on television. And it was a shock.

When Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of the slalom on Wednesday morning, I was in the stands in the Yanqing Alpine Center. And it was a shock. The large group of people sitting behind me, who I gathered were not Americans, audibly gasped when she missed the mark.

And that should have been it. That should have been the end of it. She missed a gate, she's out of the race, on to the next skier. Instead, from accounts I've heard from home, NBC basically stayed on her while she sat off to the side of the course, collecting herself, obviously distraught after things just didn't go right. Now, I know that Mikaela is one of the "faces" of the Olympics for NBC, but I really have to wonder if that was necessary. Did they need to focus on her for that long? Other racers were moving through the course, they surely could've moved on.

Before the race, there was a tweet (that magically, I can't find anymore) quoting the greatest female alpine skier of all time (and arguably the greatest of all time, period) on the NBC coverage before Mikaela's run, saying this was a "must-medal" event for the American skier. 

And that is where the problems start. 

Nothing is a "must-medal" event, no matter who you are. Mikaela Shiffrin is one of the best skiers in the world, but ski racing is incredibly fickle, in that all it takes is a ski getting caught the wrong way and you're done. It happens to the best skiers in the world just as it happens to me, one of the worst skiers in the world, when I'm trying to make my way down any of the slopes of New Hampshire. 

To put that much pressure on someone is completely unnecessary. NBC has the people that they want to highlight and when those people go out early, they worry about their ratings. Think Simone Biles this summer in Tokyo. Everyone said Simone Biles did the right thing, stepping back from the competition when she wasn't feeling right. The pressure on her to be the face of the Olympics wasn't at all necessary and the same is true for Mikaela.

I don't blame Mikaela at all for sitting on the side of the course for a few minutes. She knew what was waiting for her at the bottom of the hill. The press with the questions, the television cameras rolling looking to figure out what went wrong. Truth be told, it happens and we should let it happen and not harp on it. What good does it do anyone to keep the camera on her for 20 minutes while she collects herself? Good for her for taking the time to pull herself together after what was surely a heartbreaking moment.

And, I'm willing to bet, she spent a little of that time talking with her father. The story of her and her late father is well-known, so there's no need to get into it here, but sometimes, when things aren't going right, you turn to those who you love the most, those who you respect the most and those who you care about the most, even if they aren't there with you. 

In fact, in her post-race comments, one of the things she said was "... right now, I would really like to call him." 

Maybe, just maybe, that's what Mikaela was doing on that cold and windy hillside, half a world away from the place she calls home. She was reaching out to someone who she loved. And that's OK.

Mikaela Shiffrin is not like any of us in that she is one of the best alpine skiers in the world. But Mikaela Shiffrin is just like all of us in that when things go wrong, you reach out for those you care about. 

I for one, am with you Mikaela. 

The slalom course at Yanqing Alpine Center claimed more than just one victim on Wednesday.

Thoughts from a train station

 Some random observations as I sit in the Taizicheng train station in the mountain cluster of Zhangjiakou waiting on the train back to the Beijing cluster.

The buses here all have signs, but I am amazed by how many people have to ask seven different times before they get on the bus if this is the bus they want. The signs at the bus stop list all the different stops the bus might make, yet still, you always get that one man or woman who has to check with the workers multiple times before getting on the bus. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had to ask a few times myself, but doing it over and over is a bit much.

The one thing I would kill for right now is one of those mask extenders that allows you to put the mask strings behind the head instead of behind the ears. My ears are getting pretty sore from the pull of the masks. Sure, there are bigger issues out there, but right now, that’s one of mine.

It was nice to check in with Dr. Tamara Lovelace of Alton and Seacoast Spine and Sports Injury Clinic at the US vs. Canada women’s hockey game today. She’s here as part of the Team USA medical team and was at the game. I was there briefly between events, so she stopped in to the press tribune to say hello and then kept me up to date on the progress of the game after I had to leave to get to another event.

Speaking of other events, today I was able to see parts of three different events, which was nice. My original plan was to get to Big Air freestyle skiing at 10 a.m., but I had to pick up something at a desk in the media center that didn’t open until 10. So, I got there just as Eileen Gu was bringing the crowd to life with her final send. The Chinese-American is a big hit here in China and the crowd loved her. Her gold medal performance was definitely a highlight for the Chinese. After that, I hopped a bus to the Wukesong Arena to see part of the US-Canada women’s hockey game and then hopped two buses to get to the train station so I could take the train to Zhangjiakou and then take two more buses to go see Sean Doherty compete. So, three events in one day, not too bad, considering it took me nine bus rides so far (two more to come) and a pair of train rides (one still to come).

It was a bummer to see Michaela Shiffrin and Nina O’Brien both crash in the giant slalom. Obviously as the reigning Olympic champion, Michaela was a favorite coming in and Nina had a great first run, putting her in sixth place heading to the second run. Nina will miss the rest of the Olympics with fractured tibia and fibula in her leg (been there), but is recovering, while Michaela will be in action on Wednesday in the slalom.

The waiting is the hardest part is not only a Tom Petty lyric, but also my motto for these Olympics. I am spending a lot of time waiting for buses. While the buses are all on time, the system isn’t designed well for someone who wants to be at multiple events in one day. In fairness, many of the bus rides are shorter than the Tokyo bus rides, though the frequency is what the problem is here.

There you have it, random thoughts from a train station. 

The Qinghe high-speed rail terminal is where we start journeys to the mountains from downtown Beijing.

A ride into a Bond villain's lair?

Sometimes, things just don't fall into place. And that's OK.

Sunday I had plans to make my way up to the Yanquing district to see the men's downhill competition. This may seem like a simple task, but here in Beijing, it certainly wasn't that simple.

I booked a train ticket from Beijing to the Yanquing station and took two buses (one from my hotel to the media center, the other from the media center to the train station) in order to catch the 8 a.m. train, which arrived in Yanquing in less than a half-hour. The next step was a bus to a parking lot in the middle of nowhere, which is actually the Banquan Service Area, a rest stop along the highway. There, we got off the bus and awaited another bus, which took us to something called "Core Area 2." I guess they ran out of clever names for things when it got to naming this area.

Whatever the case may be, Core Area 2 is at the base of the Yanquing Alpine Resort, just below the Yanquing Olympic Village. We were expecting to take another bus from there to the finish of the speed races, but the volunteers at the bus stop told us to make our way up a few sets of stairs to the tram and take the tram.

So, on the tram we went. And truth be told, that was kind of cool. I recall taking a similar tram in Sochi from the mountains down into the valley. This one took us up to a midpoint station and then up further to the speed finish area. One of the guys I was riding with looked at the finish area as we came up from behind it over the hill and said it looked a lot like a Bond villain's lair. He wasn't wrong.

However, shortly after we got on the tram, the other guy we were riding with got a notification that the downhill had been delayed an hour. That hour turned into a couple of hours while I was working in the venue media center. With a train to catch, I headed out shortly before the race was postponed until the next day, but I arrived back at the Banquan Service Area and had to wait an hour for a bus to take me back to the train station and then the train ride and another bus ride back to the media center.

We calculated that the time from leaving the hotel to getting to the alpine media center was four hours. I didn't calculate on the way back, but it was probably similar. All of that for a race that didn't happen. Of course, that happens. I've driven to high school games that were cancelled and I've run into this issue at other Olympics. You can't control the weather and sometimes it just doesn't work out.

I did get a couple of stories written, which was good. I also got back in time to see a little curling action at the Ice Cube. So the day was not a complete loss.

But there was a lot of traveling. And I'm going to have to do it again soon.

This is what the alpine speed finish area looks like on approach from the tram. As my traveling partner said, kind of like a Bond villain's lair.

The opening ceremonies revisited

 It's been a few days now, so there's been plenty of time to reflect on the Opening Ceremonies.

As I've written here numerous times over the past few months, I had missed out on all the previous Opening Ceremonies for one reason or another. So this was the chance I had been waiting for.

And it lived up to the hype, at least in my mind. Yes, it was much more subdued than the ceremonies that Beijing brought to the world to open up the Summer Games back in 2008. I don't think anyone expected the spectacle that those ceremonies brought. It's different times, with COVID still a thing and the world still recovering from a pandemic, it was expected that things would be a bit more toned down.

That was OK. The parade of athletes was something to behold and the athletes moved into the stands after marching in and by the time the host nation, China, which is traditionally the last group of athletes to enter the stadium, came in, it seemed like a pretty full house at the Bird's Nest, the iconic stadium that also played host to the aforementioned 2008 Opening Ceremonies.

That being said, it was still a spectacle. The preshow included hundreds upon hundreds of dancers across the stadium floor and the ceremony concluded with a dramatic torch lighting, as different Chinese Olympic luminaries carried the torch around the stadium and eventually lit it inside a giant snowflake, which itself was comprised of the snowflakes carried in ahead of each country as they entered the stadium. The snowflake was then suspended mid-air with the torch in the middle as fireworks blasted off the top of the stadium.

As I wrote before the ceremonies, I was there plenty early enough, but we still had to cram in buses to get back to the media center when the night was over. It was also nice to find a bag filled with Beijing 2022 items on our seats, with a hat, gloves (both of which I brought with me anyway), blanket, seat pad and more. It was plenty cold in the stadium, so the seat pad was a welcome touch. 

All told, I am not complaining. I did something that's been one my bucket list for a long time and yes, it was cold. But I've spent hours standing on the side of a mountain shooting alpine races, so the cold is just something I know how to deal with.

This is an Olympics like no other in many ways. At least this way was a positive way in my book.

The Olympic flame is suspended in mid-air in the center of the snowflake as fireworks shoot from the top of the Bird's Nest.

Head for the hills

 After spending the first two days of the Beijing Olympics in the Beijing cluster, Saturday brought the first trip up to the mountains, where I wanted to catch a couple of different events, including seeing Kennett graduate Sean Doherty kick off his third Olympics.

Getting to the mountains is not the easiest of tasks in the time of COVID. The first thing I did when I got to the Main Media Center this morning was stop at the transportation desk to inquire about the process for getting on the high-speed train, which connects Beijing to the Yanquing and Zhangziakou clusters in the mountains. As it turns out, it’s not too hard, as there in an app that allows us to log in as Olympic participants and book tickets. 

So, I booked a seat heading up to the mountains on the 9:30 train to the furthest cluster, Zhangziakou, since that is where the biathlon, cross-country skiing and ski jumping venues are located, along with the snow park that is home to the freestyle skiing and snowboarding competitions. I hopped on a shuttle at the Main Media Center and rode to the train station and waited for the train.

The train is pretty new and moves pretty quickly (at one point I remember looking up and seeing a speed of 165 kilometers per hour on the board) and covers the many miles in about 50 minutes. At the end of the train trip, I hopped on another bus and made my way to the Zhangziakou Press Center, which serves the same purposes as the Main Press Center, just in the mountains. I walked through a little and found the Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken (the latter was not open) but didn’t indulge. Then I hopped on another bus and climbed a bit higher in the mountains to the Genting Snow Park, where I watched the snowboard slopestyle qualifying for the women. While it was chilly, the place was a work of art and truly impressive with great views as well.

From there, I headed back to the ZPC and got on a different bus, which took me to the broadcast center, which serves as the transportation hub near the ski jumping, biathlon and cross-country ski venues. I hopped on a bus and did a quick tour of the cross-country venue before heading to biathlon to watch Sean.

Sean had a great race, coming out of his second shooting stage in second place and handing off to the final leg in fourth place, with the team finishing seventh when all was said and done. Sean graciously took a few minutes to talk in the freezing cold and after I transcribed my notes in the venue media center, I hopped on the bus that eventually (one stop later) got me to the train station for the trip back. And that’s where I’m writing this, as I wait on the train (it will be posted when I have internet back at the media center).

It was a good day for sure, albeit incredibly cold. And the return train didn’t leave me enough time to get to see the US women’s hockey team as planned. I’ll be back in the mountains tomorrow, this time starting in the other cluster for men’s downhill.

I anticipate the wind and cold will be out there with me.

The Genting Snow Park was the site of the snowboard slopestyle competition on Saturday.

It's time (or almost anyway)

I am sitting in the press work room at Beijing's National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. Just outside my window, rehearsals are going on for the Opening Ceremonies, which now start in less than five hours. 

Obviously, I got here more than five hours before the start of the ceremonies, so I must have been excited about something. First and foremost, we were advised to get here a little early to avoid overcrowding on later buses, but also, what does it hurt? I wasn't on the first bus out of the media center, but there was also no way I was going to be on the last bus. 

This has been a long time coming for me. I know I have told this story before, but I'm telling it again. In my Olympic newness back in 2014, I didn't even think about booking flights for earlier than the start of the Olympics and I was in the Moscow airport awaiting my flight to Sochi while watching the opening ceremonies on television. Four years later, I thought to myself, I would schedule an earlier flight and get there that day and have no worries. Of course, I didn't factor into that decision the long train ride from the airport in Seoul to PyeongChang and I watched the opening ceremonies as I was checking in to my media housing. At least that time, I was in the same city.

This summer, being my third Olympic experience, I told myself that I was going to make it to the opening ceremonies and booked my flight to land the day before they were scheduled. Then, COVID happened and I was forced to stay in my hotel room for three days upon arrival, meaning I had the Olympics on television again, this time in my hotel room in Tokyo.

So, as Pomp and Circumstance blares in the stadium outside my window and I harken back to my days playing that song over and over and over in high school and college, there is a little excitement because it's going to be something to see. Yes, it may be a subdued ceremony compared to the incredible pageantry Beijing organizers pulled off in 2008. And yes, it will probably be a little cold (I packed a hat and gloves), but it will be worth it for me. 

Yesterday I went in to the USOPC office in Beijing and visited with Bill Hancock, who got me my ticket to the opening ceremonies (and also met a guy who has a house in Conway and knew about the Kanc Ski Jump owned by Kennett High School), and then went to the media help desk and picked up another credential we needed. Last night before I went to my hotel room, I got my COVID test taken and just for safe keeping, did another one this morning when I got up. If we are negative, we don't get e-mails, so I have to assume all is good. And, my credentials let me in to the stadium and we were told if our tests were positive, we could not get in.

I'm psyched, in case you couldn't tell. The me who was on with Greg and the Morning Buzz yesterday was a little out of it and tired (like Roadkill said, I was talking into my shoe), but I woke up today feeling refreshed and it's been a solid day of getting around and getting acclimated. Now it's time for the opening ceremonies and I'm ready to go. Even if I still have a four and a half hour wait.

More than five hours before it starts, I was on site and ready for the opening ceremonies.

A much better start

Yesterday, the first day in Beijing, provided many challenges and frustrations, as mentioned in yesterday's blog post. But, there should also be some attention on some of the good things that have happened both yesterday and so far this morning.

First and foremost, I got on the shuttle bus after clearing my COVID testing yesterday and found out that the bus to the media center doesn't make another stop along the way and the total time is just 15 minutes each way. After the trips from the hotel to the media center in Tokyo that took up to an hour on some days, this was a welcome development. With the closed loop in place, the bus literally comes right to the hotel door and drops us off right in front of the media center. And it works out well on days like today, when I leave my hotel and forget things and have to go back.

While the hotel internet leaves a lot to be desired and the wireless in the media center is not great, the breakfast at the hotel was absolutely more than I expected. The options were incredible, including just about everything you could normally expect at breakfast, such as eggs, toast, sausage, "beef bacon," (their words not mine) and this morning there was French toast as well. They also had some different options, including French fries and vegetables, probably because many people work the night shift. Additionally, there is plenty of local cuisine that may not be up my alley, though the fried rice was pretty good.

Another plus is the fact that I do indeed have my ticket to the Opening Ceremonies, which take place tonight at the Bird's Nest. This will be the first opening ceremony I have been to in four Olympic experiences. We have been told to dress warmly, since it is expected to be a bit chilly. 

This morning marked my first time ever seeing figure skating in the Olympics. The first portion of the team competition was this morning, so prior to the Opening Ceremonies I made my way to the Capital Indoor Stadium to watch some of the competition. Much like in Tokyo this summer, there were not a lot of fans in the stands, though there were more than there were this summer. 

While yesterday was filled with frustrations, today has started off better, so here's hoping things continue on the right track.

The first event of the Olympics in 2022 for me was at Capital Indoor Stadium for figure skating.

First day frustrations

The first day of any experience is going to bring frustrations and that was definitely the case today as I tried to navigate my way through the first day of the Beijing experience.

Like many people, I saw the video of the woman making her way through the airport processes and was feeling pretty good. Now I am wondering just who she was having relations with that allowed her to go through "in about an hour." Because that certainly didn't happen with our flight. All told, we were in the airport for more than three hours. While the testing, the paperwork, etc., was all efficiently done, the waiting was what took the time.

We got in to the airport a bit after 7 a.m. this morning (Thursday). We exited the plane and made our way through the empty airport to a large waiting area. It was surreal, creepy in a way. The airport was completely empty besides us, which is just so strange. We waited in the seats and every once in a while a person in a hazmat suit would come up and tell a group to get up, sending us through the first machines, which took our passports and one of our health QR codes. We then made our way through a machine that took our temperatures and moments later I realized I forgot my suitcase and had to backtrack to get it. 

Next it was down an escalator to the testing area, where we were given our COVID tests, both throat and nose. It went pretty quickly and then we moved down an elevator where we waited in line to go through Chinese customs. It was here that I realized that my vaccine card was no longer in my possession. Luckily I had a picture of it in case I needed it... More on that later.

I got through customs and from there it was on to have our accreditations validated, which was a quick process and from there, we all had to sit in another large group of chairs. And there we waited. And waited. And waited, for them to call the "cluster" where our hotel was located. I also noticed a woman in a hazmat suit holding an American vaccination card, so I went over and sure enough, it was mine, so I got it back. That was the good news.

Finally, when all was said and done, my group was the last to go down another escalator and all our luggage was spread about another room. Once I found it, I was told to make my way to the corresponding bus that went with our hotel. We got on the bus and sat there for about 20 minutes before the bus moved. And when we did move, we had a U-turn in the middle of a city street and a couple of wrong turns, but eventually we got to all the hotels.

And the Chinese are taking the closed loop incredibly seriously. Our hotel driveway has two different gates on it that both have to be opened before the bus can come in or go out. And there are guards opening and closing the doors.

I hadn't been in my room long when the front desk called and said that my airport COVID test had come back negative, which meant I was able to go out of the hotel. So that I did. I got on the bus and ventured to the Main Media Center, where I found out where things were located (the general store had lots of empty shelves), had a bite to eat that came from a robot and picked up my ticket to the opening ceremonies and my press kit, which was quite nice.

Being as I was beat, I came back to the hotel with the idea that I'd write this blog and possibly get some sleep, only to find out that I can't access any of the web sites I need to do my job from my room. Once that was explained to me, they pointed out the coffee bar area in the lobby where the Beijing 2022 wifi is located, which allows us access to social media and things like this blog. Not exactly convenient, but truth be told, I don't plan on spending tons of time in my room the next few weeks anyway.

The good news is that the trip to and from the media center is about 15 minutes. That is manageable and buses leave regularly. The only thing I am hoping for now is that the high speed train is reliable. If not, I could be in some serious trouble.

So day one is done. Now we wait and see what day two has in store.

This is the hallway outside the main press workroom at the Main Media Center.

The first leg ... and the thing I forgot

A lot of planning, a lot of worrying, a lot of frustration and a lot of work went into this trip to Beijing for the Winter Olympics. The last few months have been pretty frustrating at times, but there was the end goal of making it there and that was always on the mind.

While the first part of my journey is over, all of that is still around as I prepare this morning for my second half of the journey, my trip from Paris to Beijing.

The flight from Logan to Paris was smooth and we arrived at the airport earlier than anticipated. Much to my delight, my luggage arrived as well and I set out to sit around the airport for a while. I had booked a hotel, but I couldn't check in there until after 3 p.m. and I had also received an e-mail from Air France that I could check my checked baggage at 4 p.m. the day before, so I figured that would make life easier on the day of the flight.

So, I hung around the airport for about 10 hours, basically doing nothing but watching people wander by, some in a hurry, some taking their time. Obviously, I was in no hurry. I did grab a small bite to eat, exchanged a small bit of money for Euros (I will be back in Paris for a day or so at the end of my trip) and listened to Greg and The Morning Buzz on the phone. 

I also went on the air with the Buzz for 15 minutes or so talking about the journey and how long it's taken to get to this point and what the plans are the rest of the way.

The hotel was easy to find, right off the terminal train near the airport parking lot, so I was able to get checked in and settled fairly easily. I was still on east coast time, so at 5 p.m. or so, I was starting to get a little tired and I am pretty sure I fell asleep for an hour or two. I did wake up around 7 or so and went downstairs and got my free drink from the bar (I got a bottle of water, living on the edge), but came right back upstairs and fell asleep. 

I woke up at 11 p.m. thinking it was the next day, but I realized I had plenty more sleep ahead of me, I was back asleep fairly quickly and didn't wake up until almost 8 a.m. I went downstairs and had some breakfast and I am about ready to check out and head to the airport for my flight to Beijing. Here's hoping that it goes as smoothly as the last flight did.

And, I did figure out what I forgot to bring with me. There's always something and this time it was a belt. The pants I wore on the plane didn't need one, but other pairs I have in my luggage definitely do, so I am going to have to bite the bullet and spend way too much money on one at a shop in the airport.

Next check-in should be from Beijing.

I spent a good portion of my Tuesday in the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.