Olympics, part one: the pre-amble.

So I arrived back in the UK on monday morning and since then I've pretty much been nothing but ill. I think it was my mind and body telling me, in a round-about way, that you're not young anymore, that you need to slow down. And really, I don't blame it for its response after the two weeks I just put it through. But given the chance, would I do it again? In a heartbeat...

I arrived in Seattle on the 15th of Feb, grabbed my bag and hit the road to Portland. I know that's an interesting way to start my Olympics adventure since that just happens to be the exact opposite direction to Vancouver. Well thing is, I love watching sports and relish the opportunity to see a new arena or stadium so it only made sense to go see a Trail-Blazers game. That and the weekend before I left, I had just had a volleyball tournament and wanted a couple days to recoup before getting the festivities underway. This was probably the smartest thing I did all trip long. These couple nights of sleep are probably what helped me last the rest of the trip. So I toured Portland, I looked for touristy things to do, but ultimately wasted time til the game. In the end, it was just another concrete building, but admittedly with a really good environment (even if it was against the clips!).

On the morning of the 17th, I finally headed to Vancouver. It was finally Olympics time! I headed up the I-5 through Seattle and took exit 231 onto Chuckanut Drive. I had done some research and it was said that this was a drive not to miss. So drive it I did and I'm glad that I did it. From there, it was onto the border. Admittedly, I was a bit anxious about the border crossing because I had heard that Canadian residents that cross the border into Canada with an american rental car would not be admitted on grounds of tax evasion. A bit silly, I thought, but a real concern nonetheless. I already had it in my head that if push came to shove, i would play the whole "i'm a citizen, not a resident"-card. Luckily, the crossing went without a hitch, and back to my homeland I returned (albeit 5 flying hours away from what I would consider my actual homeland). I parked my car in Langley, BC mainly because this was one of the furthest approved Olympic park-and-ride locations since I had no feel for how busy it truly was going to be in Vancouver. I figured, the further, the better. I suppose I was right because there only seemed to be one other car there! I made my way to the Greyhound Station and took the first bus off to Vancouver... TBC