Just before John and I left China for good at the end of 2005, we decided our next big journey through China would definitely have to include a few events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We decided we would do everything in our power to procure tickets for our favorite events. This is going to be our honeymoon trip, despite the fact that it’s happening before the wedding. We figure it’s a great way to start married life. We’re returning to the place it all began just before we get married. How appropriate eh?

Just before Christmas, we managed to get our names on a waiting list with CoSport, an official website for Beijing Olympic tickets and hotel accommodations. Having our names on that list allowed us to get in line for a final bid on an event auction being held later this year.

In April, we were contacted by CoSport with a list of available tickets, events and dates. We spent hours trying to work our favorite events into a four day time slot. Regulations state we are required to purchase any of the tickets we initially bid for, which means if we bid on 50 tickets and we get 50 tickets, we have to take them. Alternately, if we only get a third of the tickets we ask for, we are still required to take them.

My first choice was an athletics event which includes the men’s or women’s 100m, 400m, 800m and a few field events. John and I both agreed one or two of the swimming and diving events should be included. Basketball tickets are cheap, so John decided to purchase almost a dozen tickets for us since his parents will be joining us in July 2008 to attend the events with us.

Earlier this week, we found out we’re going to the Olympics! We’ll be attending two of the athletic events we bid on and several basketball games. We didn’t get any tickets to the swimming or diving events.

We have a huge weekend of planning ahead of us. In addition to trying to finalize wedding details with the resort in Mexico, we are also trying to plan our schedules around next summer. First we have to decide whether we want to try to purchase more tickets through live sales at the end of this month. Then we have to decide whether we can swing a few weeks in China before heading back to Taiwan for a few months. 2008 is going to be one helluva year.

Hoo-Yah! We’re going to the Olympics!