Smiles from Miles Away

Magical, electric, with unmatched energy! My two Olympics trips are some of my favorite- and I have been on a lot of amazing trips over the years.

Here, I want to share more of the details. What is it REALLY like to get to attend the Olympics? What should first timers know about attending an Olympics? Let’s dig into it.

Tickets & Planning

First off, getting tickets! For Milan, I got tickets about a year in advance of the actual Olympics. I pre registered online and then was lucky enough to get access to tickets in the first draw. It is a bit tricky though because so early on you don’t know what teams will be playing yet. A common rooky mistake is to panic and buy a lot of tickets in the early rounds of ticket drops. Don’t do this…. there will be many more chances for tickets later on if you don’t get what you want. And, typically, it isn’t too difficult to resell tickets if needed. At this point, you also don’t know the exact seats you get. “Category A” which are the best and most expensive all the way to “Category D” which are the cheapest and highest up seats. You can’t be too picky though!

For flights & accommodations, it wasn’t too difficult. I booked a hotel well in advance with free cancellation on Booking.com. For flights, with Milan having 2 major airports and served by a few budget airlines it was quite easy with lots of reasonable flights for not a bad price. We didn’t stay in the nicest accommodations, but we really only needed a clean bed to sleep in because our days were action packed! Also, for logistics we only attended events in Milan. It would have been amazing to see snowboarding, skiing, etc, but there were already so many events in Milan and it made it so much easier.

Opening Ceremonies

First up, was the Opening Ceremony! We arrived the day before just in case of issues in travel, but thankfully everything was smooth. They were having a difficult time selling out the Open Ceremony so they started discounting tickets for locals, students etc. Because of this, our original nose bleed tickets that I bought got upgraded and we were thrilled to get amazing lower level seats. The event was amazing, the technicolor intro, Mariah Carey singing in Italian was funny, the rings being lowered into the stadium, and the Olympians walking across the stage. It was a bit strange that there were also ceremonies in other locations so we didn’t get to see all of the athletes, but oh well. Also, the logistics/stadium were quite the zoo. Italians aren’t really known for their logistics…. The bathrooms didn’t flush, no toilet paper, no soap, and this was like an hour in. As well, they totally ran out of food at like Finland walking across the stage. So we ended up not being able to buy dinner there and had Aperol Spritz for dinner with 2am kababs outside of our hotel on the way home. What can you do!

What to Wear & How to Support

Before the Olympics I honestly wasn’t very excited to go. I bought these tickets over a year in advance, but in the weeks leading up to it everything in the US was going so so poorly. The murders in Minneapolis and ICE being present really impacted me. Do I really want to go and cheer for the USA when such terrible things are happening there? In the end, I made these Minneasota strong pins to wear and hand out. I brought some of my Minnesota appeal to wear to the various games vs USA clothes. They didn’t allow any political statement clothes to be worn into the events, but I thought a pin was a perfect in between of what was allowed, but still showing my support. I also gave out about 15 mini versions to people I met at the games 💕

But, when I arrived I have to say that my hesitation changed quite a bit- in a positive way! We talked to some of the parents of the athletes and the political situation in the US was framed differently. Their children have been working their entire lives for this moment at the Olympics and let’s focus on them and not the political situation. We are there to support the athletes and not the administration. Although, it was funny to hear J.D Vance get booed so loudly at the opening ceremony. He deserved it though! Why show him on the mega tron screens and take away from the athletes walking who are the stars of the show working their entire lives for this!?!

The Games themselves

Next up was the Figure Skating Events. We had tickets to the team figure skating finals. This was really fun because it meant we got to see Single Men’s, Single Woman’s, and Pairs. Ice Dancing was the day before so that was the only event we missed out on. Ilia’s backflip was incredible and the USA Pairs set was indescribable. I was tearing up it was so amazing to watch with the captivating music.

Of all of the events, we had the most fun seat mates at figure skating. We sat by a 18 time Olympics attender Everen, a woman that we called “Salt Lake City” because she had a bag from that Olympics and we ran into her like 4 times throughout the week, and another young American guy. Sadly, we didn’t get a photo of the row of people, but everyone was having a total blast and we learned some interesting stories from everyone we met!

The others events we attended was the US-Finland Hockey game and the preliminary US-Canada hockey game. Both we so so fun for different reasons! The US-Finland Hockey game was I think the second hockey game of the Olympics so it was in a very small venue. Basically, in a conference center with a pop up ice rink. Emma and I both agreed it felt a bit like going to a high school hockey game it was so intimate. We also sat behind several of the parents of the players. They were too funny and knowing Emma and I we chatted with all of them. It was so cool to get the insider scoop on the players and families. Fun fact, there are many players on the team from Minnesota and that played for the University of Minnesota. Loved cheering all the ladies on! The only down side was that JD Vance attended that game…. I wish we could of had a more fun celebrity spotting.

The final event we attended was the Us-Canada Woman’s hockey game. It was very likely that this would be a preview for the Gold Medal game! The crowd was too funny because it was all like midwestern Americans and Canadas. I saw so many U of M, MN Frost, and Wisconsin apparel at the stadium so this game almost felt like being in Minnesota and going to a local game as well. Also, keep in mind that so many of the girls are mixed together on teams for the Woman’s Hockey league. In many cases thy were competing against their own team mates. Emma and I were interviewed so many times throughout. From NBC Social Media, Reuters, etc. it was hard to keep track of all of the photos, interviews etc. We got on the mega tron, danced with the mascot, chatting with some other friends from Minnesota there, and overall was a blast. A few weeks later we even saw that a photo of us made it into the New York Times! Plus, the photo was shared in local news sites around the world. So, basically we are famous 😉

Beyond the Events

Outside of the actual games there are so many things to do in the city for the Olympics. It seemed a bit less than the level of activities in Paris, but difficult to say if that is because it was a winter Olympics, we were there at the beginning of the games and things hadn’t picked up yet or because the games were split across many different cities. We enjoyed visiting a lot of the hospitality houses where you can try the local food, watch the athletes from the variuos countries, and participate in some cultural events. Again, smaller in scale vs Paris, but very fun.

I continue to get deeper into pin trading haha. I bought a bunch of pins on sale after the Paris games for like $2 each and mainly used that as my trading currency. It is such a good opener to talk to people and hear their stories. Plus, what a fun momento to bring back. I still need to figure out a way to display them in my Amsterdam apartment.

As well, we spend some time enjoying the good food Milan has, pastries, pizza, and drank many an aperol spritz outside in the sun.

A lovely trip with so many great memories! I trip to remember. And for those of you wondering, let’s see if I go to the LA Olympics in 2028, but either way I am planning to attend the Winter 2030 in France with the spped skating events likely to happen in the NL.

❤️Melanie