لا أيضا متأخّرا لإندفاع إلى اللعب
فبراير - شباط 24, 2008, مسافرة عمليّة | فصل صيف لعبة أولمبيّة
لا أيضا متأخّرا لإندفاع إلى اللعب
ب [ميشلّ] [هيغّينس]
[إيت] [س] لا أيضا متأخّرا أن يخطّط رحلة إلى بيجين لعبة أولمبيّة. يوقن, توقّعت أكثر من مليون زائرات أن يزور أثناء الفصل صيف لعب هذا أغسطس - آب, وكثير فنادق سياحيّة يحجز مادّة صلبة. غير أنّ [بروكرستينتورس] يستطيع بعد طاردت نوع ذهب أولمبيّة إن [ث] بصدد يريد أن يكون مرنة, ينفق قليلا كثير مال وربّما يمزج داخل مع الفرع محلّيّ.
على الرغم من كبريات فندق إزدهار أنّ سيضيف آلاف الغرف إلى المدينة, كثير بيجين فنادق سابقا يباع خارجا حتّى أحد أنّ [هفن] [ت] مع ذلك يفتح, بما في ذلك متنزهة جديدة [هتّ]. وال 241 غرفة مندرين [أرينتل] يتلقّى داخل ال يبهر تلفزيون مركز ثقافيّة ينتظر قائمة ميلان إلى جانب لتحفظات.
يحمّل ال قليل من فنادق مع فراغات معدلات فلكيّة. النهضة بيجين يسأل فندق, في [شونغ] منطقة قرب عدّة موقعات أولمبيّة, بما في ذلك الشاطئ كرة الطائرة أرض, 8,000 [يون] ليلة (حوالي $1,095 في 7.3 [يون] إلى الدولار) لالمتبقّي ناد أرضية غرف مترفة, مع حجز أدنى من 18 ليال; المعدلات عاديّة 1,600 [تو] 2,200 [يون]. حتّى ال 430 غرفة جيّدة غربيّة [أل] ملعب مدرّج يحمّل فندق, بصعوبة مترفة, جيّدا على $500 [ا] ليلة.
وفرص نحيلة إلى لا شيء ل يحرز تذاكر فرديّة إلى حادثات من خلال قنوات معياريّة. الطريق وحيدة أن يحصل تذكرة فرديّة من الرسميّة لعبة أولمبيّة تذكرة بائعات من خلال يانصيب نظامة, وتصدّق ب كثير تذاكر يتلقّى سابقا يكون خارجا.
فقط خصّصت [ا سرتين نومبر وف] تذاكر إلى كلّ بلد. رجات على 4.5 مليون تذاكر كان أثناء اليانصيب متأخّرة, أيّ أنهى في ديسمبر - كانون الأوّل, وفقا ل بيجين ينظّم لجنة لللعب, أيضا يعرف ك [بوكغ]. [ثت] [س] أكثر من مزدوجة الرقم حقيقيّة تذاكر يخصّص ل أنّ عمليّة بيع فترة. Though more tickets could be distributed closer to the Games, there are few guarantees of actually getting a seat.
So whatâs an Amanda Beard groupie to do? At this stage in the game, your best bet is to go through a tour operator that specializes in the Olympics. These operators have stockpiled a large number of tickets and secured blocks of hotel rooms â but it wonât be cheap.
CoSport, a tour operator based in New Jersey â and the official Olympics ticket agent for the United States â has numerous hotel packages that include tickets to many events. A recent search on its Web site, www.cosport.com, turned up a five-day package at the Landmark Hotel in the Chaoyang district with tickets to four events (womenâs gymnastic finals, beach volleyball preliminaries, womenâs springboard diving preliminaries and menâs basketball preliminaries) for $5,943 a person, based on two sharing a room.
Another operator, Roadtrips Inc. (www.roadtrips.com), based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has five-night packages from $6,250. It even has nosebleed seats left for the coveted opening ceremonies.
âThere are options for essentially everything,â said Duane Penner, vice president of sales for Roadtrips. Still, he added, hotel and ticket choices are limited, so you might not get a room with a view, or 10 contiguous seats to the menâs basketball final. But seats are available for those âwilling to sit in twos,â he said.
If tour operators donât offer the tickets you want, you can also try online ticket brokers like www.ticketliquidator.com and TicketCity.com. These companies specialize in tickets for concerts and sporting competitions, and still have a wide selection of Olympics tickets. A recent search on TicketCity, for example, turned up seats at gymnastic events for $89.
Lodging alternatives are more limited. Unlike the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, a city easily accessible from Milan by high-speed train, Beijing isnât easily reached from other cities that could serve as an alternate base.
âTwo months before the Olympics you could find a hostel for 20 bucks a night in Milan,â said Robin Fisher, a travel agent at Carlson Wagonlit Travel Journeys in Madison, Wis., referring to the 2006 games. âItâs a little bit harder to travel in China.â
To ease the burden, about 1,000 Beijing families are being recruited by the government to play host to foreigners during the Games, according to the Associated Press. At least 400 English-speaking residents have listed rooms for rent at Homestay Beijing 2008 (www.homestayBeijing2008.com), a Web site started last May by Piet Bos, a Dutchman who has been living in China since 1998. Listings â most for an entire apartment rather than a traditional home stay that would require you to share space with the host family â range from a two-bedroom apartment near the Workerâs Stadium for 2,500 yuan a night with a minium seven-night stay, to a two-bedroom, one-bathroom in a traditional hutong alleyway for 7,500 a night, including a maid and daily breakfast.
For those who donât need high-thread-count sheets, cheap rooms can still be found through budget lodging sites like HostelWorld.com, Hostel.net and Boo.com. A recent search on HostelWorld.com, for example, found the 1Hai Inn, a guesthouse near the LaMa Temple with private rooms with shower and toilet, for as low as $92 a night. The Beijing Downtown Backpackers hostel, a hutong in the Dongcheng district, had rates as low as $28 a night in an eight-bed dormitory, and $105 a night for a double bed in a private room.
Finding a cheap flight, however, may require some patience. A recent spot check on Cheapflights.com found nonstop flights to Beijing from Newark in August for about $1,700 round trip. And flights with a single stopover, in Tokyo or Seoul, were $1,050 from Los Angeles on American Airlines to $1,800 from New York on Korean Air. It may pay to procrastinate. âTypically deals come out four to six weeks prior to travel dates,â said Carl Schwartz, director of U.S. marketing for Cheapflights.com, âso some of the best deals will be seen in late June or early July.â
To keep track of price drops, sign up for e-mail alerts from deal aggregators like Airfarewatchdog.com, Travelzoo.com and Farecompare.com.
Of course, youâll probably want to tack on a side trip.
âYou really donât only want to go to Beijing,â said Ruth Skeie Sorensen, vice president of Battery Travel Associates, an affiliate of Altour in New York City. âSince you go that far, you should try to include Shanghai and Hong Kong.â
A flight from Beijing to Shanghai is roughly two hours and can cost between $250 to $350 round trip, according to TravelGator.com, a travel planning site that allows travelers to build and share possible itineraries as they explore ideas on where to go for their next vacation. Expect to pay around $850 round trip for the three-and-a-half-hour flight to Hong Kong during the peak Olympic travel period.
In China, bargains are plentiful. Expect to pay between 50 and 150 yuan for Peking duck in Beijing. And donât be afraid to bargain at popular shopping areas like the Panjiayuan (Dirt Market) and the Yaxiu and Yashow Markets.
Getting around the capital cheaply isnât difficult either, with taxis charging 10 yuan for the first four kilometers and 2 yuan a kilometer after that. And the even cheaper subway system is easy to use, with fares starting at 2 yuan, or about 27 cents.
[original article at The New York Times]
