Thursday, July 17, 2008
àoyùnhuì de piào 奥运会的票
Olympic Tickets.
We have them. Physically. We entered the first of 3 'lotteries' well over a year ago, selecting our top 10 Olympic events and dates and requesting tickets. I secretly think the lotteries were marketing research schemes to figure out how to price the tickets. Anyway, we were chosen for 5 events. Woohoo! That was 12 months ago. Then we waited to get our tickets. All the while wondering if we were really going. Was the online system reliable? The credit card we used had been charged, but since then canceled, could we still pick up the tickets? Characteristically, the website offered little condolance, other than that the tickets would be available around June 2008, and we would receive an email letting us know when to retrieve them. We started making plans, even booking and paying in full for our hostel during the games (3 bed dorm in 9 dragon's hostel, comes with a 5x mark-up). Still no tickets. Finally the email arrived. They were ready to be picked up.
Even at that point, I was only 50/50 that we were really going. Horror stories were posted on local blogs, if your name on your passport and credit card didn't match completely (including middle name) you were out of luck. And then there was the question of picking them up at the bank. Bank lines in China are notoriously insane, you can spend 4 hours changing currency. We planned a Tuesday over (long) lunch to go pick up the tickets.
The bank ended up being our local bank of China, about a mile from home. We entered around lunch time, and were pointed to a back table laden with Olympic pamphlets and maps. No line. We presented Tim's passport. A scan was taken and 2 minutes later we had an envelope of 10 heavy card stock tickets, for all the right events and days. Five minutes later, we were back in the glaring sun, hot summer day, slightly dumbstruck. That was IT? By far the best bank experience ever. AND.... we are going to the Olympics :)
Here are the events we will attend, look for us on TV. We'll be in the nosebleed section. Market research showed that people won't pay too much for those àoyùnhuì de piào.
18 August, 10:00 - 12:45 Women's Triathlon
18 August, 19:00 - 22:10 Athletics
19 August, 10:00 - 12:35 Men's Triathlon
20 August, 09:00 - 10:50 Beach Volleyball - men's/women's? we don't know, hope for women's
20 August, 19:00 - 22:00 Baseball - unfortunately, we can't go to this one!
We have them. Physically. We entered the first of 3 'lotteries' well over a year ago, selecting our top 10 Olympic events and dates and requesting tickets. I secretly think the lotteries were marketing research schemes to figure out how to price the tickets. Anyway, we were chosen for 5 events. Woohoo! That was 12 months ago. Then we waited to get our tickets. All the while wondering if we were really going. Was the online system reliable? The credit card we used had been charged, but since then canceled, could we still pick up the tickets? Characteristically, the website offered little condolance, other than that the tickets would be available around June 2008, and we would receive an email letting us know when to retrieve them. We started making plans, even booking and paying in full for our hostel during the games (3 bed dorm in 9 dragon's hostel, comes with a 5x mark-up). Still no tickets. Finally the email arrived. They were ready to be picked up.
Even at that point, I was only 50/50 that we were really going. Horror stories were posted on local blogs, if your name on your passport and credit card didn't match completely (including middle name) you were out of luck. And then there was the question of picking them up at the bank. Bank lines in China are notoriously insane, you can spend 4 hours changing currency. We planned a Tuesday over (long) lunch to go pick up the tickets.
The bank ended up being our local bank of China, about a mile from home. We entered around lunch time, and were pointed to a back table laden with Olympic pamphlets and maps. No line. We presented Tim's passport. A scan was taken and 2 minutes later we had an envelope of 10 heavy card stock tickets, for all the right events and days. Five minutes later, we were back in the glaring sun, hot summer day, slightly dumbstruck. That was IT? By far the best bank experience ever. AND.... we are going to the Olympics :)
Here are the events we will attend, look for us on TV. We'll be in the nosebleed section. Market research showed that people won't pay too much for those àoyùnhuì de piào.
18 August, 10:00 - 12:45 Women's Triathlon
18 August, 19:00 - 22:10 Athletics
19 August, 10:00 - 12:35 Men's Triathlon
20 August, 09:00 - 10:50 Beach Volleyball - men's/women's? we don't know, hope for women's
20 August, 19:00 - 22:00 Baseball - unfortunately, we can't go to this one!
# posted by Laurel @ 2:19 PM 
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