Day 1: Getting here

It was actually colder in Houston (high 44F) than it was in Vancouver (high 52F) on thursday. Not by much, just about 8 degrees but that is crazy! I had to wake up early (7am) for an entire day of travel and get to the airport at 9:30 since it was an 'international flight', which for someone who has gone to Canada their whole life in about an hour with a 15 min border wait, it was hard to believe that 3 hours early was necessary. The night before I had nearly had a melt-down trying to locate my passport (again I feel should be unnecessary for going to Canada - they are friendly neighbors!), I knew I had put it in a safe place, but couldn't find it anywhere. Luckily Dina knew where it was (text from Dina: Computer = important=no lose=good place for passport)

I was originally going to just bring a small carry-on roller bag, but my need for 8 pairs of boots/shoes nixed that idea. It was kinda hard to pack since it was such a mix of climates (Whistler - very cold, Vancouver - cool and perhaps rainy, inside venues - warm), I just kinda gave up and packed everything I could that equalled exactly 50lbs. At the last minutes I gave up and threw a few more things in my already overstuffed backpack. (I may need to get another bag if I buy any souvenirs)

The flight from Vancouver to Seattle is 4 hours and 45 minutes and then a quick 1 hour layover in Seattle, then a really quick up and down in a puddle-jumper to get to Vancouver. When I got to my layover you could tell something was in the air. The Seattle airport was buzzing

with Olympic fever! Several stores were selling their Team USA paraphernalia and there was even a USA store brought in for a limited time engagement just so airport travelers could get their one last USA souvenir. Several of the other passengers going to

Vancouver were already sporting their country's insignia. I was getting so excited!

When we finally got to Vancouver; Customs was a breeze, no line whatsoever and immediately got through to baggage claim. Just outside Customs was the area where the Olympians check-in. While I was waiting, the entire Czech team (and a few random Russian team members) rolled into the airport. It was really cool to see the entire entourage that accompanies the athletes all in their Team Czech outfits. (Seriously, I'm going to need to get O-geared up!)

I took the sky-train (arguably the best new infrastructure brought to the city for the games) and for $9 was able to ride all night unlimitedly (which was great for when I wanted to go out later in the evening). The train took me straight to my condo in like 20 minutes (it was so clean,nice, and efficient! This is what public transportation should be!)

My hosts Nancy Meek and Ken Levitt met me in the lobby and let me into the fabulous condo Dina and I got. After unloading my very heavy backpack and giant pink roller-bag, I went up to Nancy and Ken's place on the 9th floor to share a bottle of wine and check out their view of the city. They pointed out all the sights you could see from their patio, speculated their opinion on who was going to have the final torch run, and gave me directions to great restaurants that I might try for dinner that night. Nancy and Ken are seriously awesome! Ken is somewhat of a space buff so he was pretty excited to get a NASA shuttle pin that I brought as a gift and to trade with pin-people (pin trading is like an Olympic sport in itself!)

After saying goodnight to the hosts I head out to Yaletown (the hipster area of town) to get dinner and a drink and to talk with the locals. I hit up the Yaletown Brewing company and had a great tapas meal of Potato, cheese and Yaletown ale soup and for fun I tried Vancouver's version of fried green tomatoes. The soup was amazing! Purred potato and cheese with a mild ale flavor. It was better than 'Library' soup (yes I did just say that). The FGT was alright, not quite the southern way, but they at least kicked it up a notch with spicy tomato cream sauce. I ended up chatting with a violist who was playing in the Opening Ceremonies the next night. Rumor has it that I'm going to get my wish to hear some Acadian fiddle music at the OC.

After I finished my meal and drink I decided to visit another bar on the way back to the condo. I stopped at Hub bar also in Yaletown and had a drink next to some rowdy italians and a local Vancouver couple. The consensus is that on friday, the city is going to explode with Olympic-ness and it will be party central for the next 2 weeks. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. I had told the Customs people that I had 3 goals for the trip: 1) See the Games 2) Party hard and 3) Spend some money. Looks like it shouldn't be too hard to do any of them. Bonnie and Matt gave me some tips for bar/clubs that would be jumping for the games, so I have a list of places Dina and I are going to hit up.

So far all the people I have met have been perfectly Canadian; aka super friendly, helpful, talkative, and excited for everyone to be here. They all have their Team Canada gear (even the hipsters have found a way to make it cool) and you can tell something great is about to happen. . . I think everyone is right, this place is going to explode with Olympic party fever.