I listen on podcast from Boca Raton Florida . You recently has the author of Pauline Frommer’s London on the show. I want to go to London for the 2012 olympics. Obviously this is a long time away, but if I do nothing it will come and go without me. How far in advance should I start booking accommodations, travel and event tickets? More importantly, how do I determine the best accommodations to have easy access to the events and transportation?
1160 days and counting!!!
Matthew
Hi Matthew,
There are several issues you need to deal with, and each requires a different timeline, in terms of your planning:
Tickets: These do sell out, so it's important that you snap up the events you want to see as soon as they become available for purchase. Though it hasn't yet been announced which travel company will be handling ticket sales, for the last several Olympics that honor has gone to Cartan. I'd suggest you get on Cartan's mailing list so that they can alert you when the tickets go on sale (I'm assuming they'll be the vendor, though there are no guarantees).
Housing: A strange thing happens each and every Olympics, no matter where they're held. In the year before the Games, prices on hotel rooms skyrocket. But then about a month before the Games, prices plunge. Here's why: major corporations and governmental agencies reserve (but don't pay for) large blocks of room and so prices rise in response. Inevitably, these monoliths realize they're going to be using fewer rooms than expected and so they release them at the last moment.
How should you handle this? Do what the big boys do. About a year and a half in advance of the Games, make a reservation and do so at the lowest price you can find. Don't worry about where in London you'll be lodging. The public transportation there is so superb you should be fine wherever you end up. Then keep checking the prices and when they finally drop, cancel your first reservation and make another one.
Airfares: Limited capacity means that you should make your air reservations about 330 days in advance of your arrival (that's the earliest they go on sale). You want to make sure you have a way to get to the Games.
I hope this helps and that you get to have your dream come true of being at the Olympics. I was in Beijing last summer during the Olympics, and I have to say it was an awesomely exciting event to get close to (even though I never did get inside a single event as I traveled at the very last minute.)
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