For starters... yikes

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have a trip to the Olympics. Probably not as catchy as the original, but kind of fitting.

The flight to Paris was great, despite the fact that we left about a half-hour late. The seat next to me was empty, I had splurged a little and bought a premium seat so there was more room, which came in handy when it came time to sleep. We had dinner (which really wasn't all that bad for airplane food) and I fell asleep pretty easily and slept for most of the flight. I woke up as they were serving breakfast prior to landing in Paris.

Paris is a massive airport and I had to take a train from one terminal to the next, but I was not expecting to have to go through security again. I ended up having to dump two bottles of water that I purchased in the airport believing I was through security until I left the airport. Then my backpack got flagged (it didn't at Logan) and they had to take my camera out and make sure it wasn't some sort of explosive device.

The flight to Milan also left a little late, but it was a quick jaunt over the Alps and we were there relatively quickly and as has been the case in each Olympics, there were volunteers there to greet any credentialed person to make sure we went in the right direction. After I got my suitcase (happy that it made it), I followed the volunteer's instructions and made my way through the Milan terminal to the accreditation station, where I was one of only two people there. They checked my passport, made sure I was legal and then laminated my credential so it is officially official.

The volunteers had said to then backtrack a bit to the transport table and they would get me settled on the way to my hotel. The very nice girl at the table, who was Russian, e-mailed me a train ticket from the airport to the main train terminal in Milan. From there, she told me the transport app would be able to get me to my hotel and showed me how to use it (it's much like the one we used in Paris).

I got on the train and made it to Milan Centrale Station but I had absolutely no idea how to go about getting on the next train, which was basically Milan's version of the T. Luckily, there were signs pointing to a Milan-Cortina help desk and the woman at the table was able to show me how to find the subway. Th only problem I had after that was that the train station is an old building with lots of stairs. The elevators aren't always easy to find, so I carried my suitcases up and down a few sets of stairs until I got to the train I wanted.

The train came and while it was crowded, it was much like Paris, with people getting on and off along the route, so it was never over-crowded. I took it all the way to the end of the line, as instructed and was told there would be a TC bus, which is a bus for those of us with credentials, to take me to the hotel. I found the TC bus stand (luckily it was under cover as it was raining pretty good) and eventually a bus came along. The app had told me it was a five-minute ride from the station to the hotel, but I must have got on the bus going the backwards loop, because I was on the bus for 45 minutes before eventually getting to my hotel. On the positive side, I saw one of the hockey arenas and plenty of old buildings.

Checked into the hotel without any problems until I went to charge my phone and realized that the power adaptors I had were not the right ones. The helpful young woman at the front desk told me there was a store not too far away and they'd likely have something that would help. So I wandered out into the mist and the dark with a mission to find a charger. Her directions were perfect and I found the store without a problem. It was Italy's answer to Walmart, only much smaller. They had everything, including a bakery, produce section, dairy and even phone chargers. I bought the last two they had, hoping that at least one would work for my phone and my laptop. I also bought some Zero Sugar Pepsi since I know I'll be stuck with Coke in the Olympic venues. 

The good news, I got back to the hotel and one of the adaptors worked for both the phone and the laptop. I can't charge them both at the same time, but until I can find a place to buy another adaptor, it will work.

I sat down and wrote a number of stories from games that happened on Tuesday night and after this, it will be bedtime. It's looking like tomorrow will be a lot of hockey (and hopefully finding an adaptor).

The first Olympic Rings I came across in this journey, between the airport and the train station in Milan.