Dud you know the Olympics are in Paris next year?

[clary]

...before you read it in my title?

I've got tickets and am madly excited, was commenting to a friend about an issue wrt transport - she knows I am a massive athletics fan.

She said, oh, is there something big in Paris next summer? I was a bit 😮and asked if she was joking, but she also asked a couple of other ppl and they also had no idea.

So, pretty lighthearted really, obv not life or death, more of a straw poll of Sunday MN - did you know? It's a mahooosive deal in my house and also a lot of my circle- but then a number of those people are big on athletics like me.

Yes, watched the announcement 6 years ago.

Well I am pleased some people did get tickets they wanted and can also cheer on Team GB! It seems you just had to be lucky about being drawn early for the ticket windows then. I had tickets for London 2012 and it was brilliant so hope Paris can put on a good show.

It sounds like travel and accommodation is ludicrously expensive but perhaps it’s always the same wherever the Olympics are - as I lived in London I didn’t have to worry about accommodation and travel was super easy too as Boris as Mayor had put everyone off from being in the city!

Yes, have signed up. I have also just seen that there are tickets on Ticombo, but I've never used it and don't know if it's trustworthy like Ticketmaster.

@XelaM have you seen this website - offering packages with hotel and event ticket? No idea if there is equestrian but seems to be a range of sports. Not cheap tho
https://hospitalitytravelpackages.paris2024.org/discover/travel-packages/search?language=en

Thank you. i was literally looking at this website a few minutes ago and the only packages I can see where Equestrian showjumping is included start at over 10,000 EUR per person 🤣 👀🫣

Yes

Only because I was in Paris recently, otherwise I wouldn't. That said I live five miles from the London Olympic park, got free tickets through work to something in 2012 and gave them away. When the Olympic flame came past our flat I only briefly looked at it out of the window. Just not my thing.

Oh yes! Also hoping to see Mondo at the Stade de France.

Really struggling with accommodation. Air bnb prices are bonkers and the ibis hotel types are not open for bookings yet.

@Terminator7 yay Mondo! I’ve just booked the cheapest hotel I could find (not cheap haha) - didn’t know some were yet to be released.

@XelaM ah sorry, that’s bobbins. Equestrian seems to be v popular (or else I know a lot of horsey ppl)

Yes! The Olympic flame is passing through our city :-)

A lot of work has gone into improving the sports facilities in cities around Paris where the teams will train. I have been enjoying upgraded facilities for years now.

But it isn't really solvable is it?

If you know anything about bed bugs, they are very difficult to get rid of and can cost hundreds, if not thousands, per home.

There are bed bugs in every town and city in the world, but Paris is the most visited city in the world so it is bearing the brunt at the moment.

I knew. I'm not a great athletics fan but I like to watch what's going on.

As for bed bugs, they have been the plague of New York city for years. Things still go on.

I follow the Olympics and Team GB in particular fairly closely and attended a few events in London, but this has passed me by rather - I'd heard but forgotten, and it's crept up on me.

I guess it's a good sign: the only reason that previous non-UK big events have been in the UK news this far in advance was because everyone was predicting disaster due to infrastructure/slave labour/pandemic/climate. If the worst that could happen is bedbugs then they're doing well.

I'm now going to start planning a trip to Paris for next October to enjoy all the shiny new infrastructure and squeaky clean Metro at more moderate prices.

Yes but that's because I live in Paris

Btw, regarding the bed bugs... I have a lot of friends and large family who all live either in the centre or on the outskirts of Paris and no one has had or heard of any issues with bed bugs. I can't help but think it's the (UK?) media whipping up hysteria ??

I knew it was in Paid in 2024 but I haven't got tickets.

There was a thread on here recently from a mnetter wondering why she couldn’t get a reasonably priced plane ticket or hotel room in Paris in early august. It turned out she hadn’t realised.

I had no idea at all. I might have heard about it when the award was made, and promptly forgotten about it, but j don't remember!

And a Heads Up... 2028 is Los Angeles!

Yes, I knew. My husband didn't though.

I remember reading a few years ago that they were going to try and clean the Seine ahead of the games to hold some outdoor events in it. I keep wondering how they're getting on with that.

We won't be going, sadly, but will watch on from home :)

I knew, but it wouldn't occur to me to go - I live a days travel away from the south of England so Paris isn't particularly close for me.

Yes, my physio was chatting about how impossibly hard it was to organise accommodation because the tourist tax levy hadn't been set so no-one was taking bookings. Something like that, it was a few months ago and I was mostly in agony while she was talking.

And 2032 in Brisbane!

I also thought that the bed bugs thing was overblown, not sure the Parisians know what the UK media are on about.

I am not going because I am too tight-fisted to pay the inflated prices, although it sounds it's not quite as bad as I thought it would be (eg £200 a night for a hotel). But watching on TV is fine.

I only discovered it this morning reading the paper I think, had no idea.

Anyone else finding that hotels are requiring full payment on booking, by bank transfer?

I’ve paid up front for an apartment on Booking.com.