I must admit, the Olympics have taken a bit of a back seat the last few months, as the busy spring season took over my work life, keeping me on the road every day covering games all over the state.
With Saturday's baseball and softball championship games, the spring season officially came to an end and with it, my busy season drew to a close. I use the summer months to take a bit of a writing break, though I still cover things and write stories to keep the papers full of content. However, my output in the summer months pales in comparison to the school year. I feel like I earn a bit of a break.
Obviously next summer will be pretty busy, with the Paris Summer Olympics scheduled for the end of July and beginning of August, meaning I'll be spending June and early July gearing up for that trip.
Over the course of the last few months, I was able to make my accommodation requests to the Paris 2024 team. As has been my case in the previous Olympics, I went with the least expensive options I could find. One of the key things to look for in Paris, which is different than in previous iterations of the Olympics, is the access to the public transportation system. It appears that media will be advised to use the transport system in Paris as an easy option to get to and from their hotels, in particular. The hotels I chose and submitted were close to the public transport stations on the line that leads to the press center.
Beyond that, I hadn't really done much when it comes to planning out this trip over the course of the last few months. On Friday, I did go to TD Bank in Wolfeboro and got the proper information together so I could fill out a form that Paris 2024 needs in order to set up my account to make payments. As always, Donna at TD Bank in Wolfeboro was incredibly helpful and I filled out the form as requested and sent it on its way yesterday afternoon. I received a notice this morning that my form had been received.
I will say, on that regard, Paris has been far superior to many of my Olympic trips, as the press operations team seems to be right on top of things in regards to responding to e-mails and questions to the best of their knowledge. I was always skeptical as to whether my e-mails to Russia, South Korea, China or Japan were going through.
I've also spent a little time going through the Paris 2024 press information, looking at venues and schedules and thinking about things I want to see. That being said, it's far too early to set any plans in place. Right now, I think the next step will be securing the housing and then looking for flights.
I anticipate a summer full of making donuts in order to help pay for the trip, but I also anticipate a summer of making preparations for what is sure to be another exciting experience.
A map of the venue locations for the Paris 2024 Olympics, at least for the venues located in and around Paris.
