Day -2: The Arrival

At 10:15AM Pacific Time, the wheels of Air Canada's Airbus A321 flight AC111 touched down on Vancouver airport runway. Thanks to favourable winds, we made it here 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Cool! I get a head start to this crazy Olympic journey!

Arriving to Vancouver through YVR is an experience in itself. Parts of the airport are converted into VANOC's accreditation centres and media hot-spots. And every single ad is Olympics-related!

I hopped on the newly-built Canada Line, a light, fully-automated rail system linking the airport with Vancouver's downtown core. Just over 20 minutes and $8.75 later, I arrived at the Vancouver City Centre stop. When I walked out of the station it hit me: I landed right in the heart of the action! The Bay building is covered in enormous pictures of models in their official Olympic clothing line, some streets are closed to traffic and filled with sculptures, sports gear, flags, tourists and locals taking it all in...

After I settled in at my friend's place, where I'll be staying for the next 16 days (thanks, Adam!), I went to the Uniform and Accreditation Centre (at the Pacific Coliseum) to pick up my accreditation card. I couldn't get the uniform that afternoon because there just wasn't enough time: we had to make it down to BC Place for the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games! As I mentioned previously in a post, all volunteers got a complimentary ticket to watch the rehearsal. I hopped on the SkyTrain and met up with Adam at the Stadium-Chinatown stop, from where we trotted down to BC Place. Once we passed through security and hot-dogs stands, we located our section (447), row (RR), and took our seats (101 and 102). BC Place is enormous! It seats over 60 000 spectators. The stands were illuminated in blue and the floor was covered in artificial snow. I'm not really supposed to talk about the show but let me just say this: it's going to be grand!! Expect an awesome kick-start, a fantastic light show, plenty of good music, and a touch of magic... actually, plenty of magic!! And of course the lighting of the cauldron remains a big secret. The rehearsal ended just before that part, so don't ask me who will be lighting it! I have no idea... Polls on the streets reveal that most people would like Betty Fox (Terry Fox's mother) to do the honours, while others voted for Wayne Gretzky. Time will tell... (I won't 'cause I really don't know!)

After the show, we headed out to meet up with some friends at a house party. We also made plans to watch the opening ceremony from their place as it’s facing False Creek and BC Place, and the view from the balcony guarantees a spectacular show! From there, we headed out to Gastown’s Met karaoke bar, where after a few rounds of pool and pitchers, we called it a night.

Hello, Vancouver! Hello, World!

The 2010 Winter Games are just 2 days away…