IF YOU have only just decided to go to the Olympics in Beijing: On your marks, get set, go! You will need to hotfoot it now to a travel agent.
There were some packages that included tickets to the games left when Life! checked. That is great news for Singapore's Olympics squad, who will lap up all the homeside cheers they can get when they compete. But the bad news is, the packages are being offered by only three out of 15 tour agencies checked.
Agents who opted not to go for Olympic gold said it was impossible to snare tickets for the mega sporting event, plus arranging tourist visas to be approved was a hassle, and the prices of airfares and hotel rooms were sky-high.
Some Singaporeans have already won their Olympic race, though.
Take sports-lover May Loh, 40, who readily forked out more than $3,000 - twice the normal price for a jaunt to Beijing - to achieve her Olympic dream of seeing the event live.
Come Aug 20, Ms Loh, a solutions manager, will don the official Beijing Olympics T-shirt and head to bustling Beijing with her travel partner Yong Mei Yoke, an accountant.
Ms Loh (pictured above) is one of 80 people who have taken up the $3,418-a-head Team Singapore travel package from Singa China Travel, the Singapore Sports Council's official Olympics travel partner. The sum will take care of her return airfare on Air China and accommodation at the four-star Millennium Hotel.
More importantly, two pairs of tickets to two sports have been thrown in, as well as a half-day tour of Beijing. She thinks the price is worth it, saying: "It's the Olympics and catching it live is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"The games are hardly (ever held) in Asia. I wouldn't consider going for the Olympics in other continents because it would be way too costly."
Ms Loh, who represented her junior college and university in badminton, and enjoys sports such as swimming, running, scuba diving and skydiving, will be watching four Olympics events: table tennis, athletics, synchronised swimming and soccer.
A quick check on the Beijing Olympics' online ticketing website showed that tickets to watch a preliminary round of table tennis would cost at least $135.
Adrenaline junkie Loh may be leaping with joy, but the idea of going to the Olympics has fallen a little flat with some, going by the small numbers taking up packages offered by other agencies.
Travel agents say the difficulty of getting game tickets is a hurdle in itself. The other has been the expense, with some packages including air tickets costing as much as four times a regular Beijing package, outside of the Olympics season.
Chan Brothers Travel, which obtained tickets via a land operator based in China, has 10 passengers for its four-day-three-night free-and-easy package, which starts from $2,198 and includes tickets for a basketball
tournament and the 100m men's race.
"The low sign-up is primarily due to the steeper hotel rates and the cost of game tickets," says Ms Jane Chang, the agency's senior marketing communications executive.
Over at SA Tours, marketing and communications manager Ruth Lim says 10 people have taken up its Olympic tour package, at $2,583 each. This includes a pair of game tickets per person, accommodation at a five-star hotel and airfare.
Customers could choose among watching qualifying rounds of basketball, track and field and badminton. SA Tours has stopped taking any more names for the package as there are no more game tickets available.
Ms Lim says: "The package is a joint promotion with Air China, enabling us to provide special rates for accommodation, air travel as well as a pair of game tickets."
BIRD BATH: Students cool off on a hot summer day at a public fountain in front of Beijing's National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest.
Other sports fans have negotiated their own route to the games by getting tickets through a ballot with the Singapore Sports Council.
The council declined to say how many people got tickets this way, but happy winners include Quek Xue Wei, 24, and friend Joanna Lim.
Ms Lim paid $200 to secure two pairs of tickets to watch squash and table tennis. She and Ms Quek will be at the games from Aug 12 to 16. They obtained their accommodation and airfares in a separate package through Singa China Travel. The council's marketing communications executive Hazwani Hasni says packages which do not include game tickets cost $2,988.
Ms Quek, who has never been to Beijing before, says: "The amount we're paying is obscene, but it's the Olympics." Her budget for the trip, on top of games tickets, is $300 to $400. The pair also hopes to visit the Great Wall of China during the stay.
Team Singapore assistant director Amy Chong said Ms Quek and Ms Loh are part of a group of Singaporeans travelling to Beijing who will watch a selection of 14 sports, out of which six will have them cheering for home team athletes.
But tardy types take note: The finish line has long passed on that deal, as the tour operator says tickets to the games are no longer available.
Packages which do not include game tickets are still up for grabs, however. Ms Loh, a self-confessed armchair Olympics fan, says she has been a supporter "ever since it started showing live on television".
She hopes to extend her holiday by a day so that she can watch the Olympic Games' closing ceremony on Aug 24.
So determined is she to be at the ceremony that she is trying to bid for tickets on eBay - even though she may have to pay $1,000 for them.
Ah, that is the striving Olympic spirit.
Tours still available
CHAN Brothers Travel is offering two Olympics packages that include game tickets with departure dates on Aug 6, 14 and 22.
The five-day Beijing tour package (from $1,838) includes return airfare, all land transfers, four nights- local homestay, guided sightseeing and most meals, including a Peking duck banquet.
A ticket to one of the Olympic Games events is included.
Alternatively, you can opt for the four-day free-and-easy package from $2,338, which departs on Aug 15. It includes airfare, accommodation at a three-star hotel, daily breakfast and tickets to the basketball tournament and 100m men's race.
Commonwealth Travel offers "tailor-made" packages at each customer's request, subject to availability of game tickets. Packages could cost as much as several thousand dollars per person.
Don't want your pennies going into the pockets of travel agencies? Plan your own Olympic excursion. Check out these sites for game tickets: www.beijing-2008tickets.com; www.olympicticketservice.com; www.ticketnetonline.com
Olympics-themed packages which include tours of the Olympic venues but without game tickets are also available, but travel periods are either before or after the games.
SA Tours has a five-day-four-night package which includes visits to the Beijing Olympics Countdown Clock, the official countdown timepiece at Tiananmen Square (pictured below); the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest; and the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, dubbed Water Cube. Prices start from $699.
Chan Brothers Travel also offers packages that visit the same sites. Prices range from $588 for a five-day package tour to $718 for an eight-day Beijing/Chengde/Tianjin package.
To inquire about packages, call Chan Brothers Travel: 6212-9686; SA Tours: 6532-4111; Commonwealth Travel: 6532-0532.
This article was first published in Life!, The Straits Times on July 22, 2008.
