Send those Olympic connections

Last night, Monday, July 8, marked two weeks until my journey to Paris kicks off with a flight from Logan Airport to Amsterdam and then on to Paris for my fifth Olympic experience. While there has been plenty of work that goes into every Olympic trip, this one actually seems like it's been a little easier than many of the others.

Of course, probably the main reason for this is the fact that the last two Olympics took place during COVID, which made everything much more work than normal. There were numerous piles of paperwork to fill out regarding the testing we had to go through. We had to book tests before we left, get testing locations approved, pour over pages and pages of "playbooks," which contained all of the protocols we had to follow once we got to Tokyo and/or Beijing.

I distinctly remember just a week before I was set to travel to Tokyo, I still had no idea if I was going to be able to go. My "game plan" had yet to be approved by the organizers and without the approved game plan I was not allowed to enter Tokyo. And for Beijing, we had to take special flights to and from the Olympics and my flight to Paris to get said flight was cancelled, forcing me to get a new flight and in turn, reschedule all of my pre-flight COVID tests. There were a lot of trying times leading up to the last few Olympics.

This time around, things seem to be going much smoother. There was the case of the missing money that had me scared for a few moments, but for the most part, things have gone without any sort of problems. My credentials arrived last week via UPS, so I can officially get into France and the Olympic events (once it gets verified at the airport). My accommodation money has reached the hotel where I will be staying. I have input all of my arrival and departure details in the web site designed to help us get around while in Paris.

However, the best part of all of this is the complete absence of scheduling COVID tests, booking special flights, reading playbooks and generally fearing that I could be turned away at the last minute by a random positive COVID test. It's been nice. And not having to have a q-tip stuck up my nose or down my throat every other (or every) day will be pretty nice too.

That being said, I've also got to look at where I will be going once I get to Paris. If you know of any local connections to the Olympics, drop me a line and let me know what those connections might be and what events it involves and I will work on trying to see them in Paris. Send me an e-mail at josh@salmonpress.news. 

And keep following this blog for daily updates from Paris and some more updates prior to departure in less than two weeks.


Tokyo Big Sight served as the Main Press Center at the Tokyo Olympics, the only other Summer Games I have attended.

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