YVR for Olympics - late stage booking - should we?

[haydensydney]

My partner and I have been tantalising at the thought of attending the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.
Due to annual leave restrictions I would only be able to take leave on the Thursday and return on the Sunday pm, via LAX. VA have Y+ fares for about $3k ea. Tickets to the ceremony are on ebay for a min of $1500 US a pair.
Accommodation appears to be the issue, with all 4/5 Star rooms fully booked out. Even a 3 star is coming out at about $2k AUD for the whole stay, which is on the steep side. All up, its sitting at about $10k min.
So what do you guys think? A few people who i've spoken to either sit in the "Your Crazy, don't do it" or the "GO GO GO" camps.
What do the experts think?
:?: :?: :?:

 

[meloz]

My partner and I have been tantalising at the thought of attending the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.
Due to annual leave restrictions I would only be able to take leave on the Thursday and return on the Sunday pm, via LAX. VA have Y+ fares for about $3k ea. Tickets to the ceremony are on ebay for a min of $1500 US a pair.
Accommodation appears to be the issue, with all 4/5 Star rooms fully booked out. Even a 3 star is coming out at about $2k AUD for the whole stay, which is on the steep side. All up, its sitting at about $10k min.
So what do you guys think? A few people who i've spoken to either sit in the "Your Crazy, don't do it" or the "GO GO GO" camps.
What do the experts think?
:?: :?: :?:

Which answer/advise do you really seek?:?:

Meloz

 

[Maca44]

If I had the opportunity I would definitely do it, BUT I would not go if I only had a few days like you have. For that outlay of funds, I would like to stay there for a while and enjoy the experience, and it would be a great experience.

 

[haydensydney]

Which answer/advise do you really seek?:?:

Would you go for such a short trip?

 

[tuapekastar]

My partner and I have been tantalising at the thought of attending the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.
Due to annual leave restrictions I would only be able to take leave on the Thursday and return on the Sunday pm, via LAX. VA have Y+ fares for about $3k ea. Tickets to the ceremony are on ebay for a min of $1500 US a pair.
Accommodation appears to be the issue, with all 4/5 Star rooms fully booked out. Even a 3 star is coming out at about $2k AUD for the whole stay, which is on the steep side. All up, its sitting at about $10k min.
So what do you guys think? A few people who i've spoken to either sit in the "Your Crazy, don't do it" or the "GO GO GO" camps.
What do the experts think?
:?: :?: :?:

Obviously my answer is influenced by my interests (which rank low for both Winter Olympics and any sort of Opening Ceremonies - love watching many of the Summer Olympics sports though, and a few of the Winter ones), but I would say stay at home and watch it on telly (well, I probably wouldn't watch it, but I think maybe you would).

You will be be paying way over the odds for everything. Much better ways IMHO to blow the 10K. Perhaps a short (and cheaper and potentially much more luxurious) holiday to somewhere where you can watch it on the box anyway.

But hey, if that's what you really want to do, then (and said seriously) go for it and have fun...it's your money and what you want to do.

Yours sincerely
Seriously jaundiced reader. :shock:

 

[meloz]

Would you go for such a short trip?

Possibly.

I did F to BKK and J to IST then AYT for a 4 minute total solar eclipse.

Just do it.

Meloz

 

[Mal]

I live in the "don't do it" camp... but whatever choice you make is yours.

Booking last minute for an Olympics is pretty crazy, unless things are selling very cheaply. I would also be very cautious about buying tickets on Ebay.

Why not plan a proper trip in 4 years time for the next one? Or even a trip to the UK for the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in 2012?

 

[stuartfaz]

As much as I'd love to see a Winter Games, I'll settle for the Foxtel multichannels. But...

My partner and I have been tantalising at the thought of attending the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.

...I reckon you've answered your own question. Go for it.

 

[meloz]

I live in the "don't do it" camp... but whatever choice you make is yours.

Booking last minute for an Olympics is pretty crazy, unless things are selling very cheaply. I would also be very cautious about buying tickets on Ebay.

Why not plan a proper trip in 4 years time for the next one? Or even a trip to the UK for the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in 2012?

Because there is a chance you may be run over by a bus.

Meloz

 

[Mal]

Because there is a chance you may be run over by a bus.

Perhaps. Many other things could happen too.

Oh, and more on buying tickets via Ebay:
"The reselling of tickets through any source other than vancouver2010.com is prohibited and may result in tickets being invalidated."

 

[meloz]

Perhaps. Many other things could happen too.

Oh, and more on buying tickets via Ebay:
"The reselling of tickets through any source other than vancouver2010.com is prohibited and may result in tickets being invalidated."

Valid point, best we all stay home.

Meloz

 

[haydensydney]

Oh, and more on buying tickets via Ebay:
"The reselling of tickets through any source other than vancouver2010.com is prohibited and may result in tickets being invalidated."

Ohhhh..... thanks for telling me that. Never thought about that possibility.

I contacted Centurion lifestyle who are on the case for me. Ironically (or not quite so), because the Olympics are sponsored by VISA, they do not take Amex. They basically wiped their hands clean at that point, and pointed me towards eBay. I didn't respond kindly to this suggestion and mentioned that there must be a broker, somewhere, that could organise it for us and where we could pay by Amex.
I'm expecting a call tmrw/Fri - should be interesting to see how good the Centurion team really are at making the impossible happen

 

[Mal]

Ohhhh..... thanks for telling me that. Never thought about that possibility.

It's usually used for most events these days to try and stamp out scalping through Ebay etc.

Enforceability varies, (and the easiest step you can take is to not buy a ticket that mentions the seat number in the auction!) but that isn't the only issue - if shelling out $1500 / ticket, I would want to be absolutely certain the ticket was genuine. Pretty hard to tell through an Ebay sale.

 

[Natt]

I wouldn't but that just me

such a short time :shock:

we actually reversed our upcoming RTW trip to avoid Vancouver that time of year.

I would ask yourself why you want to go, is it because a break is way overdue, you both want to do something spontaneous and crazy, or you really and truely want to see the Olympics

Maybe you could find somewhere with a big screen TV/projector and rent it out, crank up the air conditioning and do up a canadian themed picnic just for the two of you

that could be fun

 

[swylie]

You could save a fair bit of money and book several years in advance for the following 2014 games instead?

 

[haydensydney]

I would ask yourself why you want to go, is it because a break is way overdue, you both want to do something spontaneous and crazy, or you really and truely want to see the Olympics

Spontaneous and crazy.

The picnic suggestion sounds interesting although... the neighbours may look at us funny sitting on the balcony dressed in ski gear

 

[haydensydney]

oh it would also push me into Gold Velocity territory... any excuse would do really

 

[Natt]

Spontaneous and crazy.

The picnic suggestion sounds interesting although... the neighbours may look at us funny sitting on the balcony dressed in ski gear

I think my neighbours have already decided we are crazy ages ago

I'm all for doing dreams - hopefully I'll be hanging out in North Alaska freezing each night for a month trying to see an Aurora

but if its spontaneous and crazy, rather than the olympics, I would choose something with better value

I would still do a local event though, maybe you could rent a snow making machine (synthetic not water based), they look pretty reasonably priced, have a salmon bake etc

or you could even get picnic goodies from Canada direct for authenticity - theres enough time for them to arrive by post - that could be cool

and then plan something bigger later - come to Tasmania - thats a nice place

anyway not take up the topic too much - can you tell I was born in the year of the Rat (they like the good stuff!!)

 

[davidj-bell]

My partner and I have been tantalising at the thought of attending the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.
Due to annual leave restrictions I would only be able to take leave on the Thursday and return on the Sunday pm, via LAX. VA have Y+ fares for about $3k ea. Tickets to the ceremony are on ebay for a min of $1500 US a pair.
Accommodation appears to be the issue, with all 4/5 Star rooms fully booked out. Even a 3 star is coming out at about $2k AUD for the whole stay, which is on the steep side. All up, its sitting at about $10k min.
So what do you guys think? A few people who i've spoken to either sit in the "Your Crazy, don't do it" or the "GO GO GO" camps.
What do the experts think?
:?: :?: :?:

Whether you want to do this or not is entirely up to you. It's your money and time, and if doing this will give you pleasure, then by all means go for it. But if you think that the $10K can be used for better things, then that is your answer.

Not wanting to sound like an economist, your problem is one of "opportunity cost" and utility - what enjoyment does an activity give you, and what could you do instead with that money, and does that activity give you more or less enjoyment?

Do a list of things you enjoy doing, cost them and give each an "enjoyment value", from 0-10. For each one, divide the enjoyment value by the cost, and average them out. That'll give you a dollar cost for a point of enjoyment. From this, work out what you think going to the olympics will give you on ejoyment, and that will give you the upper limit on spending. Bit rough, but with a bit of finessing, you'll be able to have a working model.

 

[BlueAU]

$10k for 2 isn't bad, I did a 6 day stint to Japan and spent $7k, it was impulse and went next day. Good luck! Take photos for sure please