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Personal Finance
Go for the gold in Sydney
August 1, 2000: 8:02 a.m. ET

Act fast and you can be watching the games in the land Down Under
By Staff Writer Rob Lenihan
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The world's greatest athletes will descend upon Australia in September, and, if you do some hustling, you can be right there with them.

The 2000 Olympics kicks off in Sydney Sept. 15 and runs until Oct. 1. If you've given up your dream of seeing the games live in favor of the couch potato relays, travel experts say don't reach for that crying towel yet.

 You can get a deal that will get you Down Under for the games, but you may have to do some serious sprinting to make air and hotel deadlines.

 Sure it's a long way to go, but they only do this once every four years, you know. And thanks to friendly exchange rates, the U.S. dollar is jumping higher than a pole-vaulting champion.

 "It's quite doable," said John Owens, vice president and editor-in-chief of Travel Holiday magazine. "Once you get there, Australia is an incredibly good buy. It's hard to believe how good the prices are. You can stay in a really good hotel for about $140 per night, where in Europe, the same hotel would cost about $400 per night."

 Let the games begin...

On your mark


 Travel experts say they are seeing an increase in calls as the list of Olympic competitors takes shape.

 "There's been a resurgence of activity in booking," said Howard Goldberg, vice president of passenger sales for the Americas at Qantas Airways Ltd.. "People are excited. In the last week our phones have been ringing a lot more." graphic

 What can you see? Credit card company Visa International, an Olympic sponsor, recently announced that tickets to the opening ceremony, along with the swimming, track, cycling, and rhythmic gymnastic events are no longer available.

  However, you can still get tickets to major events, such as diving, basketball, boxing and weightlifting.

Andrew Hempstead, co-author of "Australia Handbook" from Moon Travel Handbooks, warned the best seats at the events are gone, but added that the sailing events, which take place in Sydney Harbor, can be seen for nothing. Plus the marathon goes right through downtown Sydney.

The Deal-athon


Ruth Ridley vice president of Newmans South Pacific Vacations in Los Angeles, said her company has 6 day/3 night packages includes airfare from Los Angeles on Air New Zealand, three nights accommodations, and tickets for up to five Olympic events for $3,129 per person, double occupancy.

"The rest of Australia has excellent availability and prices," she said. "You're going down that far, you might as well have a good look around."

 Hempstead suggested scheduling your trip so you can avoid the rush of opening and closing ceremonies. You can attend some events and then see the sites outside of the games, such as the Blue Mountains. If you still haven't had enough sporting events, the Paralympic Games will run in Sydney from Oct. 18-29 and feature 4,000 elite athletes with disabilities.

Cartan Tours in Manhattan Beach, Calif., offers several Olympic packages, such as the "Blue Mountains Olympic Special," which includes airfare, six nights accommodations and event tickets for about $3,349.

Inta-Aussie South Pacific has a package offering such features as round trip airfare, three-night hotel accommodations, and an additional stay at one of several locations for $3,998.

If you want to go with a group, Spectacular Sport Specials in New Orleans has a package going for $6,830 that includes roundtrip airfare, event tickets and professional travel staff.

While Qantas is not selling event tickets, the airline certainly get you to Sydney, and the company's partner, Qantas Vacations has 8 day/6 night packages ranging from about $3,389 to $6,900.

 If you're having trouble getting a direct flight, try going to Hong Kong and take a connecting flight to Sydney. Cathay Pacific has flights to Sydney every day of the week.

And if you want to work on your bidding prowess, Internet auction site eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) is hosting several Olympic-related offerings, including a bid for a ticket to the opening ceremonies going for $2,200.

Web surfing event


For general information, try the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games Web site, where, with a Visa card, you can buy tickets to Olympic events online.

The site also posts stories about Olympic competitors, sells game-related products and tracks the progress of the Olympic torch as it makes its way to Sydney from — where else? -- Olympia, Greece.

The Australian Tourist Commission Web site also contains information about the games and life in Australia in general. The site can also hook you up with an "Aussie Specialist" in your area who will help you plan an Australian vacation.

Experts say you should be prepared for crowds in Sydney and local officials have raised concerns about traffic problems. There are new roads and train lines in place to handle the more than 750,000 expected visitors and cars have been banned from all Olympic sites.

"Sydney's a very walkable city if you're staying in town," said Ridley of Newmans South Pacific Vacations. "I'm sure there's going to be traffic congestion, but they've spent an awful lot of time and money trying to deal with that." Back to top

  RELATED STORIES

Go with the smart money - July 25, 2000

  RELATED SITES

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Site

Qantas Airways

Qantas Vacations

Cartan

Inta-Aussie South Pacific

Newmans South Pacific Vacations

U.S. Olympic Committee

Australia.com

eBay

Air New Zealand

Travel Australia - Internet

Spectacular Sport Specials


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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.