If you had asked me a year ago what I thought my first trip to London would consist of, I probably would have answered with “the usual touristy stuff.”
You know, Big Ben, the River Thames, the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge… All the “must see” things that London has to offer.
I probably would never have answered with “seeing the Olympics.”
But, as it turned out, my first trip to London was completely different than what I was expecting it to be. Instead of cruising the Thames at night, I spent time watching the Opening Ceremonies from a London flat where we could see and hear the fireworks. Instead of visiting museums, I ended up hanging out with other travel bloggers at Olympic team houses.
And, instead of simply watching the Olympics on television, I got to see them live in person.
I got to experience London in perhaps one of the most unique ways imaginable. I was there when the city was absolutely electric with an energy and spirit that can only go hand-in-hand with an international event like the Olympic Games.
I was in London when the city came alive.
I've heard conflicting opinions of London before — people have said it's big and loud, boring and unfriendly. “Grey” is often how I've pictured this world capital.
But London was anything but in the 6 days that I spent there.
The streets were packed with people from all over the world, dressed in colors to support their countries and athletes. Colorful pink signs and purple-clad volunteers adorned street corners and Tube stations to help event-goers find their way. And, everywhere, people were smiling.
I don't think I could have chosen a better time to visit London, even if I never got in all the “typical” sightseeing.
To me, I saw London at its best.
A bucket list dream come true
You hear lots of people talking about dreams and bucket list items. Among travelers, these lists usually consist of things like summiting Kilimanjaro or exploring Laos on a motorbike or riding the Trans-Siberian railway.
For me, though, one of my top bucket list items has always been “Seeing gymnastics live at the Olympics.”
After devoting countless hours and plenty of blood, sweat, and tears to the sport myself for 8 years, Olympic gymnastics has always been the event I most look forward to at the Summer Games. And it's always been the only sport I've ever wanted to see live.
It wasn't an item I thought I would be crossing off my bucket list in my 20s, though. Maybe not even in my 30s. I figured I would have to wait until the Summer Games came back to American soil before I'd have any prayer of getting a ticket and being able to afford to go.
So imagine how surreal it was for me to step into London's North Greenwich Arena on July 29, ready to see some Olympic gymnastics happening live in front of me.
It wasn't the team final, the individual all-around, or even an event final. The only ticket I could get was for a qualifying round of women's gymnastics. But it didn't matter. It didn't matter that I wasn't seeing any medals handed out. It didn't even matter that I wouldn't even be seeing Team USA compete. It was enough for me to just be there.
That's how I felt about being in London for the 2012 Olympics overall — it was great to just be there.
I felt like I was a part of something. Something big.
And that's really the whole point of the Olympics, isn't it? To bring the world together for 16 days of friendly competition and good spirits.
I know I'll never forget my first Olympics experience. Thanks, London, for showing me a great time!
What sort of London 2012 experience did YOU have? Would you ever want to go to the Olympic Games?
Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Dangerous Business Travel Blog. She has traveled to more than 60 countries on 6 continents from her home base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and thoughtful travel through the US, Europe, and rest of the world. Amanda only shares tips based on her personal experiences and places she's actually traveled!
Ahh! Great you could visit the games! Olympics are so fun! Cool pics!
Glad you liked the pics! I had a lot of fun taking them!
Awesome! Did the crowds bother you, though? I find that I can only take crowds for so long..and then I get so exhausted.
I didn’t really mind the crowds, to be honest. And, really, I was expecting it to be MUCH worse than it was!
What fascinating shots. The Bridge shots are just captivating, so many colors. And loved the pink in the post!! Wish you a wonderful day Amanda 🙂
Haha, definitely a pink overload!!
That is sooo cool… kinda makes me wish that we had followed through with our plans to fly into Heathrow during the Olympics and see if we could find tickets.
All the more reason for us to go to Rio in 2016… care to join? 🙂
I would LOVE to join you in Rio in 2016! I think I’m hooked on the Olympics now!
I’m an expat living in London and feel so lucky to have been here at this time. It’s like 2012 is London’s year to shine. I loved every moment of the Olympics and was thrilled to see some of the events live. Being there to see the USA women’s soccer team win gold and attending the closing ceremony were unbelievable highlights for me.
Oh wow you got to go to the Closing Ceremony? Awesome!!! I watched it on TV, and kept thinking that it would have been so fun to see live.
I love that you have a picture from the Kiwi House! 🙂
Haha, of course!!
Wow! Was it really hard to get tickets? Or is that why you were at a qualifying round. I can’t imagine how electric it must have felt there!
Yes, it was tough to get tickets, especially since I wasn’t from the UK. Which is exactly why I was only at a qualifying round — the tickets I could have snagged for the other rounds were WAY too pricey!
Though, once I was in London and they started releasing some of the controversial empty seats, I probably could have gotten more tickets. But my schedule was so packed that I didn’t have time!
How amazing that you got to go!!!
All the photos of my mates going to the Games in London has inspired me to go to one, away from home, in the next 8 years….looking very much forward to the 2024 bid announcement….think I will have to go!
You should definitely go, at least once. Even if you only get tickets to a random event, I promise it will be worth it! I’m hoping maybe the U.S. will win a bid within the next 20 years so I can see the Games on home soil!
Wow! Glad that your dream came true, and that it was so much more … though it seemed very much like a pink-purple coloured dream, too. 🙂
Thanks for the great summary, Amanda!
Haha, yes, there was SO MUCH PINK!
How exciting! I’ve never really dreamed of going to the Olympics, but seeing your photos makes me wonder if I might have to do it someday.
It’s an amazing experience. Even just being in London for the Games was fun. The energy and amount of spirit there was really intoxicating!
AMAZING experience, Amanda! So electrifying to be in a city while it’s hosting the Olympic games! I’ll take that experience over touristy stuff any day! So happy you got to see gymnastics in person 🙂
Agreed, Vanny! The touristy stuff will always be there; but London will only ever host the Games once in my lifetime!
That. Is. Freaking. Awesome!
Nothing like seeing it live, I’ve heard. Makes me think I may have to make the trek to Rio, since *hopefully* I may have made my way down there by then *crosses fingers*.
I didn’t know you practiced gymnastics! What was your favorite event when you competed? Which gymnast impressed you the most that you think didn’t get credit for attempted level of difficulty?
Would love to hear your thoughts!
-Rich Polanco
Nope, really nothing like seeing it live and in person! Such an amazing experience.
And yup! I was a gymnast for quite a long time. Never Olympic-level, of course – not even close! But I still loved it. My favorite event always changed… I used to love beam, then bars, then floor. The only one that was never my favorite was vault! I hated vault.
As far as gymnasts who didn’t get enough credit… hmm. In the qualifying round I saw, there was a gymnast from the Dominican Republic who was the first one from her country to ever qualify for the Olympics in gymnastics. And she attempted the most difficult vault a woman has ever attempted. I don’t think she got enough credit! (Though, I haven’t caught up on all the event finals yet, so perhaps she was in the vault final and got some of the credit due to her?)
Well, what did you know? I’m from DR and had never heard of her!
After doing some googling on her, I found out she has an amazing story. Practices in a gym with no electricity or running water, and most of the time, she doesn’t even have money to travel to meets.
She’s practically the only elite gymnast in the country (baseball and basketball is what we do – medals in track these Olympics notwithstanding).
Yamilet was thisclose to making the Vault finals, classifying as 9th (first reserve).
Thanks for the heads up about her cool story!
-Rich Polanco
Aww, she didn’t make the vault finals? That’s too bad! She was amazing! I’m even more glad that I got to see her in the qualifying round then!
I would love to attend the Olympics some day!!!!!!! I loks like it was a lot of fun. 😀
looks* 😛
It was TONS of fun! Definitely something I’d do again.
I’m not even a big sports person, but I’d love to see The Olympics in person. It sounds like it was an amazing experience, and all the typical tourist sites you missed out on this time will be there for your next trip to London.
That was exactly my thinking, Alouise — London will always be there, but the Olympics wouldn’t be! It was such an amazing thing to witness in person; I think I’m hooked now, though! Already thinking about how I can get to Rio in 2016…
Some great action shots there, how fantastic to have been able to see any gymnastics at all. So glad to hear you had a fantastic Olympic experience (but you should come back to London to see the rest of the good stuff ;).
It was amazing to be able to be there during the Games. But yes, I definitely do need to come back to London ASAP! (Maybe I will later this year!)