awayfromitall

That said....D is going to be studying abroad in Cambridge this summer and would like to attend an Olympic event...basketball, football, or track. Tickets available via the US site went on sale yesterday but were gone in about 10 minutes before she got any. I'm wondering if there is a different method to acquire tickets.

awayfromitall

I should probably say...at a reasonable price...which would probably be $250 or less. I saw tickets available on the Canada site for track but they were $840 a piece.

janisj

AFAIK tickets must be bought from your home country's site. Anyway, I believe UK tix applications closed long ago.

Her best bet would probably through ticket brokers but they will have HUGE mark up.

I was on the US mailing list (signed up through the London site nearly a year ago BTW) but didn't try for tix in the end because I'm going to the UK earlier in the year.

janisj

Didn't see your second post. And I'd like to fly business class for $500. Just a fact of life, the Olympics ain't a low cost spectator sport.

awayfromitall

Well, if you bought the tickets legitimately before they sold out, many sold for as low as $140.

flanneruk

Your daughter MIGHT still be able to get tickets (such as for football, with even less difficulty for women's football, and for much of the Paralympics), especially at venues outside London. She should just go onto the UK London 2012 site where some booking is still open.

I don't understand the point about "the Olympics ain't a low cost spectator sport." £30 tickets for the men's Bronze Medal football match at Old Trafford (probably the world's best known football stadium) are still on sale, and they're even cheaper at less prestigious grounds like Cardiff. Under normal circs, you couldn't buy an Old Trafford ticket for Man Utd against the local blind school for that.

It's the organising committee's intention to be the first Summer Games ever to sell every single ticket for both able-bodied and paraplegic games (the Chinese couldn't even give them away, which tells you the real truth about China's alleged superhuman cunning). That means UK allocations are going on sale in batches, and the process isn't over yet.

janisj

flanner: the problem is we can't buy tix through the official 2012 site. They must be purchased through our home country site and are sold out. I've had probably 25 update/info e-mails from the UK site --but I could not not purchase my tickets there. That is why I said it would be expensive because even the £30 tix will near £100 thru a broker.

Not sure if the para games tix can be bought directly though.

awayfromitall

Any idea if international people can volunteer at the Olympics?

awayfromitall

Never mind on that...I see volunteer applications are closed.

flanneruk

"That is why I said it would be expensive because even the £30 tix will near £100 thru a broker."

If your daughter's at Cambridge, can't the UK be her home site?

I've just bought two Senior tickets for a number of track & field finals at the Paralympics for a TOTAL of £10. For those younger: from £10 each

awayfromitall

She goes to college in the US now but is going to do a study abroad just for the summer at Cambridge. She doesn't have any
sort of address there yet to use as a "home address".

janisj

I read it to mean she isn't in the UK <i>yet</i> and that looks to be the case. And it isn't even just home addresses -I could have asked friends to order, but they couldn't use my US issued credit card.

But as I said, I decided in the end not to attend (I've been to 4 other Olympics and each time the ordering system has gotten more convoluted)

willit

I received an Email recently (sometime this week)from the Football Association offering football tickets for the Olympics. I didn't note the price, but I gather they have been reduced from a quite high £50.

RM67

This is all a bit academic, because apart from the football, there is next to nothing left. Even most of the packages have sold out.

I can't remember the exact date, but at some point early in 2012, there's going to be 'resale' which is tickets that people were allocated but don't want coming back onto the market. But these will only be available through some official portal (to stop touting) so it will be very controlled and I'm not sure whether overseas visitors will have access or not yet.

awayfromitall

Anyone want to save me a geography lesson and tell me which of the following soccer stadiums would be most accessible from Cambridge:

Cardiff
Coventry
Glasgow
Newcastle
Manchester
Wembley

janisj

None really except for Wembley. Wembley would be closest/easiest, being in London. All of the others are hours by train w/ multiple changes.

Coventry would be next nearest -- but its about 2.5-3 hours by train each way.

The rest -nope . . .

flanneruk

Practically nowhere on earth is accessible from Cambridge - including the Olympic stadium in London.

By car, Coventry's actually quicker to get to than either Wembley or the Olympic stadium. But "accessible" is an odd word to use for the Olympics in London. LOCOG is recommending you allow around 90 minutes from its Park and Ride to get to the stadium, and another hour to get through security. It recommends 90 minutes to get from the nearest railway station into the stadium.

These absurd times are all shorter at Wembley or Coventry. The likelihood is that it'll be about the same time, net, by train from Cambridge to sitting inside either Wembley or the Olympic stadium. And the same time by car to Coventry, Wembley and the Olympic Stadium.

Newcastle's further away, but slightly faster to get to by train, than Manchester. Both need about 4-5 hours by train each way (plus whatever security arrangements there are), and about 90 mins less by car. Journey times are all calculable from http://travel.london2012.com/SJPWeb/...nnerInput.aspx

bilboburgler

Feet, up in your front room with a beer, what's not to like?

Well lots so I'll be away on a french holiday miles from the TV

RM67

''Practically nowhere on earth is accessible from Cambridge''

There are two different lines that will get you into London in less than an hour from Cambridge.

And one of those lines (the Liverpool Street route) has trains coming into London diverted via and stopping at Stratford, specially for the Olympic Park.

That said, there's not much left in the way of tickets (other than football) so if I were studying in the UK next year and didn't already have tickets, I probably wouldn't be planning on visiting the Olympics myself.

colduphere

We went to Beijing where many of the tickets were $5-$10, though not track and field, swimming and a few others. I almost fainted when I first saw London prices. We'll go to Russia for the next Winter Olympics. Who wants to go to Russia in the winter?