My 2010 Vancouver Olympics through clever devices

Last month, our nation & planet came together on Canadian soil to celebrate human achievement at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Earlier this decade, I had promised myself that I would partake in this massive event, as I was an avid athlete & loved the culture of the Olympics. My family also has ties to the Olympiad, as my father ran the flame for both Montreal & Calgary Games. I felt it was my duty to continue the tradition & at least go to the games if I wasn’t taking part.

Well, my plans didn’t quite go how I wanted. As the time came to plan school schedules & budgeting, I simply no longer had the spark in me. This changed the moment the Games opened. I spent that first weekend with friends in Ottawa, watching the first few days of the Games on TV. The entire time, I was absolutely sick of kicking myself for not getting myself out there. As soon as our first gold medal came thanks to Alexandre Bilodeau, I knew I had to go.

This is where clever devices came into play. Within 24 hours of (somewhat drunkenly) saying “I’m going to Vancouver!!” I had already arranged my lodging with a friend at UBC, as well as booking my flight out, thanks to a great last-second deal through Air Canada. This was all done on my iPhone, without any computer booking or travel agent. I thought that was pretty cool.

Over the three days between my booking & departure, I began using my phone to do so much more than talk. Having the official Vancouver iPhone ap, I was able to check out what events were happening while I was there. I found a couple hockey games that I wanted to attend, & VANOC had an official fan-to-fan ticketing system, all accessible through my phone. Furthermore, Craigslist provided a huge aftermarket for ticket exchange. I used CL in Toronto to arrange ticket purchase & pickups, so when I landed, immediately after meeting my friend at my gate, I met a ticket vendor at another gate & picked up my first set of hockey tickets. It was pretty fun to be able to do that straight from my pocket.

This continued the whole week I was there. I was able to check ticket availability, event results & locate friends all through my phone on my standard data plan. Finding scalpers through our phones became fun, as my group of friends would all hit the listings & haggle until one of us got a guy down to the cheapest price. This got us great deals, even managing getting lower-than-face-value on sold-out tickets to more than one event. The official iPhone ap was very convenient when events went from scheduled preliminary or qualifying events to unscheduled semi-finals. We were able to check locations, times & results of these events, as no other media source was as up-to-date & accessible. Although there were some shortcomings, such as how to get from the suburbs to the Olympic cauldron via public transit, the ap was still a great tool to follow the greater Olympic spirit. There were many cultural & social events happening all over the city, which would have been fun to see through a clever device. I didn’t follow Twitter while I was there, but I can imagine that a lot of tweets would have covered the nightlife aspect. Through Facebook Mobile, I was able to track down where our Latvian contingency was gathered. Some local Latvians organized some events at bars, such as meeting up before our hockey games or watching our own Latvian skeleton slider Martins Dukurs claim a well-earned gold medal. Truly a special moment.

I came home with the biggest smile on my face & stories to tell for the rest of my life. Truly a spectacular, energetic & heart-warming experience. Clever devices did a big part in helping coordinate & facilitate the whole trip, which I thought was something I wanted to share.