500 Days until Sochi!

[lamarenee]

http://m.washingtonpost.com/sports/o...7bd_story.html

[MikiAndoFan#1]

I can't wait!

[Sylvia]

Here's a Moscow news article in English about Sochi and the Olympic venues, transportation, etc.: http://themoscownews.com/business/20...190240098.html

[l'etoile]

Wow!! It's amazing how so much can change during very short amount of time and now that Sochi is coming up, I think things would get crazier than ever before!

[IceIceBaby]

500 days and then a whole generation of skaters will retire

[Vash01]

It's not even 2013 yet, and I am already excited and looking forward to Sochi. I wish I could be there in person in 2014.

[peibeck]

500 days and then a whole generation of skaters will retire

Don't be sad; there is definitely an exciting new generation of skaters coming up, especially in the Russian ladies and dance teams.

There are rumors the venue for the ice skating (and this year's GPF!) isn't completed yet. Hopefully they are getting the roads and venues in order quickly.

[love_skate2011]

Don't be sad; there is definitely an exciting new generation of skaters coming up, especially in the Russian ladies and dance teams.

There are rumors the venue for the ice skating (and this year's GPF!) isn't completed yet. Hopefully they are getting the roads and venues in order quickly.

indeed a whole new generation that promises to be exciting

ice skating venue ? I think its done
there is a Federation Cup scheduled to be held in October 7 in Soci
so I assume its the same venue

[TwizzlerS]

Attending a Winter Olympics is #1 on my bucket list and I think Sochi is the time to check that one off. I've never gone to any Olympics. Is anyone thinking of going to Sochi or have any suggestions on how to plan the trip?

[DaiKozOda]

I haven't been this excited about the OG since Salt Lake City. Can't wait for Sochi

[DaveRocks]

Attending a Winter Olympics is #1 on my bucket list and I think Sochi is the time to check that one off. I've never gone to any Olympics. Is anyone thinking of going to Sochi or have any suggestions on how to plan the trip?

I definitely plan to go! It's too soon to book flights and hotels, but I'll be doing so just as soon as it's possible. The venue for skating is a decent size (I think it holds 12,000), so I'm hoping that I'll be able to get tickets...

[peibeck]

ice skating venue ? I think its done
there is a Federation Cup scheduled to be held in October 7 in Soci
so I assume its the same venue

Good to know they are going to have a skating event there before the GPF. (And yes, it is at the "Iceberg" as they have dubbed the arena!)

[FarFarAway]

It's not even 2013 yet, and I am already excited and looking forward to Sochi. I wish I could be there in person in 2014.

Well, it'll be much easier to be there in Sochi for Europeans and Americans than for Russians, sadly.

There are rumors the venue for the ice skating (and this year's GPF!) isn't completed yet. Hopefully they are getting the roads and venues in order quickly.

It is almost ready, if you understand the Russian meaning of almost As far as I know the Iceberg is not completely ready and there is a great deal of construction works going on around it and the whole site, so I expect there will be some discomfort of a kind

[4rkidz]

Attending a Winter Olympics is #1 on my bucket list and I think Sochi is the time to check that one off. I've never gone to any Olympics. Is anyone thinking of going to Sochi or have any suggestions on how to plan the trip?

I started to look for tour groups but haven't really seen anything yet.. I have a Canadian and European passport - so I don't know if I still need a visa That's why I figured would be simpler but more expensive to go with a tour group.. but is on my bucket list right now

I definitely plan to go! It's too soon to book flights and hotels, but I'll be doing so just as soon as it's possible. The venue for skating is a decent size (I think it holds 12,000), so I'm hoping that I'll be able to get tickets...

are you looking at planning yourself or going with a tour group.. or we can just join your group

[FarFarAway]

Attending a Winter Olympics is #1 on my bucket list and I think Sochi is the time to check that one off. I've never gone to any Olympics. Is anyone thinking of going to Sochi or have any suggestions on how to plan the trip?

I am planning, but it all depends on how expensive tickets will be and how they will be sold inside Russia. Something tells me this won't be that easy.

Hotel booking (at least for Russian citizens) will be the easiest part in this, as it seems. They plan to make it organized here with the kind of call center and website where there will be all the info on the hotels and prices, but these are only talks as of now.

If I hear anything definite, I may post it on the board, if someone needs the info.

[DaveRocks]

are you looking at planning yourself or going with a tour group.. or we can just join your group

I'll be making plans on my own. While a distinct advantage of going with a tour group is that accommodations are secured, the sky-high pricing is not for me. I'm hoping that there will be many hotel options for the general public. We shall see.

FarFarAway: Yes, please do post any info! It would be greatly appreciated!

[Zemgirl]

500 days and then a whole generation of skaters will retire

Don't be sad; there is definitely an exciting new generation of skaters coming up, especially in the Russian ladies and dance teams.

There will always be new and exciting skaters, but it does seem as though a pretty large number of long-time competitors will be retiring this time around. Plushenko and P/T have been competing since the 1990s, Joubert and Savchenko skated in SLC (not together ) and Takahashi, Kostner and P/B made their debuts the following year... and there are of course others who have been around for a while. I'll miss a lot of them, and the new generation of skaters born and bred for this system, well, most of them don't do as much for me.

No way am I going to Sochi for the Olympics, though. It will be well beyond my price range.

[peibeck]

I'll be making plans on my own. While a distinct advantage of going with a tour group is that accommodations are secured, the sky-high pricing is not for me. I'm hoping that there will be many hotel options for the general public. We shall see.

It is a very fashionable resort town, from what I understand, and there are quite a lot of hotels from what I have read online.

I'd recommend an experienced international travel agent if you don't use a tour for something like this though.

It also looks like the area where the skating events is in Sochi itsself, so the temperatures should be nice and mild.

[FarFarAway]

It is a very fashionable resort town, from what I understand, and there are quite a lot of hotels from what I have read online.

It is and there are But there is one problem: Sochi is not like a normal town, like NY or LA or Vancouver or Seattle. It's very very thin stretch of habitable land on the shores of the Black Sea. It's more like extremely thin and extremely long version of Long Island, NY.

In fact Sochi rather consists of a set of different microcities and it takes quite a lot of time to travel by bus from northernmost to southernmost (where there is an Olympic cluster being built). Even Adler, the part of Sochi closest to Iceberg is not just behind the corner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sochi

So getting a hotel during Olympics in central and northern parts of the Sochi is okay, since our government promises to build highways and city express train right to the Olympic cluster, but be prepared that it will take some time to get to Iceberg.

It also looks like the area where the skating events is in Sochi itsself, so the temperatures should be nice and mild.

It's actually in the outskirts/suburbs of Sochi. The weather in February when Olympics will take place is rather unpredictable: it may rain, or even sometimes snow with temperatures like +5 +10, or the sun may shine and it'll be something about +15.

[DaveRocks]

Thanks for the very helpful info, FarFarAway!