In 1948, London hosted what would be known as the “austerity Olympics”. The world was just emerging from world war. Simon Jenkins of the UK Guardian argued for a return to the austerity Olympics… way back in 2008. Things have not improved since.

For London, many of the cogs are already in place. But it’s not too late for Rio to host their own austerity games. There are some things that they have to do… they need to make sure that Rio is safe when the world arrives there. They need to have places for the athletes to compete. Even some of the infrastructure needs to be built. However, in tough times, do we really need to try to best the 2008 Beijing Olympics? There are ways to cut costs, and perhaps Brazil should look into that. They have hosted major soccer events in the past, that can be a base for their austerity Olympics. If London can host a pared-down games after coming out of war (where their city was bombed), then Rio can offer a pared-down version of the games.

In 2018 and 2020, it is possible that the games will be awarded to the countries that are performing the best financially. Hopefully we will be pulling out of the economic doldrums by then, but much of the work to build the games will have to come several years before the games are held. Do we really need to spend that much on the Olympic games anyway?

Until the world economy turns around, perhaps we should keep things simple.

Japan wants to host the 2020 Olympic games in Hiroshima. The 2020 Olympics are the next summer Olympic games that are currently up for bid. Nagasaki originally was going to put in a bid, but abandoned its plans as residents thought that it would be a waste of money. The Japanese Olympic Committee will be meeting this week to discuss the possibility of putting in a bid. If Hiroshima doesn’t bid, Tokyo will probably make a bid.

Only three cities are currently trying to bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Summer Olympics are more widely attended, and tend to be more coveted by would-be host nations. There are currently several cities bidding for the 2020 Olympics, including cities in Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Mexico, the United States, and Australia.

The host city for the 2020 Olympics will be chosen in the middle of 2013.

If you’re planning on a trip to a future Olympics, money may be one of your top concerns. Another consideration that you may want to keep in mind is the language barrier.

If you can read this blog without the extensive use of a dictionary or google translator, then you don’t really have to do a lot of language study. Most tourist areas have employees that speak at least a little bit of English. If you’re planning on a London trip, nearly everyone will speak English. One of the primary languages used in the Olympics is English. If you’re traveling to the London games, or just want to get to the Olympics, see a few sports and go home, you’ll be okay.

However, if you plan on going to Russia or Brazil, and don’t want to be confined to the touristy areas and want to venture out a bit, you may want to start looking into learning Russian or Portuguese. In particular, the average Russian does not speak English.

Don’t let the Russian Cyrillic alphabet scare you off. While the different letters look intimidating, every Russian letter has an English-sounding equivalent, and you can learn to read it in an hour or so. From then on, it’s like learning any other language (I’ve taken a year of Russian). Portuguese is not the same thing as Spanish, but a background in Spanish could help.

You don’t have to be an expert in a language in order to get by in a foreign country. I lived in Italy for three years, and although I do speak and read some Italian, I am certainly not fluent. I do know enough to go places, order at a restaurant, and leave the impression that I’m at least trying to speak their language. In order to engage in conversations with the locals, you’ll want to learn more; but if your main goal is to get out a bit on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, you’ll want to learn at least some of the language.

My favorite language program is Rosetta Stone. I’m currently using it to brush up on my Russian, in the hopes that I might get the chance to go to Sochi in 2014. It really makes learning any language fairly easy. Even my seven-year-old is using it to learn Chinese.

While knowing a foreign language is not a prerequisite for visiting, it certainly helps. I have seen firsthand how attempting to speak in a foreign language will earn you more respect than just speaking English. While it does take a little bit of effort, it can make your Olympic experience more enjoyable.

If you’re like me, you’d really like to go to the Olympics someday. However, for the vast majority of us, the Olympics are not likely to go to your home city, at least not any time soon. To go to the Olympics will take a lot of planning. For the next couple of Tuesdays, I’m going to discuss planning a trip to the Olympics. Although it’s too early to make arrangements for any trip other than the 2010 Singapore Youth Games, it’s never too early to make long-range plans to attend the Olympics in 2012 London, 2014 Sochi, 2016 Rio, or even 2018 (which I’m guessing will be in PyeongChang, South Korea).

What probably keeps most people from getting to the Olympics is money. I know that’s what has prevented me from going to the Olympics since I started wanting to go. Going to the Olympics can be expensive, and can take quite a while to save up for. Depending on how fast you can put away money, you may be able to save up for a trip to the Olympics as early as 2012. I personally am shooting for 2014 or 2016. Here are some tips for saving:

1. Take care of necessities first. For the last few Olympics, this has been my biggest hurdle. It makes no sense to have your car repossessed or have your home foreclosed upon in order to save to go to the Olympics. In this economy, job losses and underemployment could keep you from saving for a trip to the Olympics. Once you can take care of your needs, you can concentrate on saving.

2. Find creative ways to save. If your basic necessities are taken care of, you can start saving; however, there still may not be a lot of extra money to go around. This is where you can start finding creative ways to save.

• Give up your morning latte (or purchase a smaller size) and save the difference
• Keep a spare change jar. As a kid, we used to have a big, 5 gallon glass jug in our living room. My mom would put spare change in it. When it came time to cash it out, it had hundreds of dollars in it. It can really add up.
• Use coupons. My mom funded several vacations by using coupons. She put the money that she saved by using coupons into our vacation fund. We were able to pay for a trip every few years this way.
• Set aside money when you get the chance. Try to set a goal to set aside $5, $10, or any other affordable amount on a weekly basis. The more you can set aside, of course, the faster you will be able to save for the trip you want.

3. Don’t pay to save your money. Depending on where you live, your bank may charge you to have a bank account. While you may want to start a savings account specifically for saving money for your Olympics trip, it makes no sense to pay for the privilege, especially with bank accounts paying no interest. Find out what the minimum amount of money you need for a free account, and open one when you have that amount.

It takes a lot of planning and determination to save up for a large trip like going to the Olympics. Hopefully these tips can help.

Now if you are like I was the first time I heard of this, I had no clue where Sochi was. Sochi is located in Western Russia, off the Baltic Sea. What surprised me the most about this location is that it is a subtropical location. They’re having problems with the snow in Vancouver… why in the world would they hold the Winter Olympics in a subtropical city? It makes no sense to me. I guess there is a ski resort located in the Caucasus mountains. Let’s just hope this subtropical location has snow in four years.

The Sochi Olympics will start on February 7th, 2014, so in exactly four years, the athletes will be competing. While I’m sure that there will be plenty of English speakers there, there’s still plenty of time to learn Russian before the Olympics.

Last October, we looked on as the winning bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics was announced. There were several countries trying to bid, including Chicago, who President Barack Obama was gunning for. The winning bid for the 2018 Olympics will probably be a little less newsworthy, at least in the United States. For one thing, it is the Winter Olympics, which don’t tend to be as popular as the Summer Olympics, and for another thing, the United States doesn’t have a city in the running (Denver was interested in it, but the US was behind a Chicago bid for most of the time it could have been preparing).

There are three cities that are in the running to win the Olympics in 2018. The winner will be announced July 6, 2011.

• Annecy, France – Paris really wants to host an Olympics. The city had been the host of the 1900 games and the 1924 Olympics, but nothing since. Paris tried to trademark several phrases, such as “Paris 2020″, “Paris 2024″, and “Paris 2028″, but it was overturned by a court in France (it would be pretty appropriate to have a Paris 2024 games, a 100-year anniversary). Anyway, France was a little reluctant to throw Annecy into the ring, as they really want to focus on getting the games for Paris. An Olympic games in Annecy wouldn’t necessarily prevent Paris from having the Olympics in 2024 either… the United States hosted the games in Atlanta in 1996, then again hosted the games in Salt Lake City six years later, in 2002. Still, the local population is not entirely enthusiastic with hosting the games, so it might very well be held elsewhere.
• Munich (München), Germany – Germany was also hoping for a summer games in 2024 or 2028 (in Berlin or Hamburg), but they decided to throw their weight into a Munich bid. They can use several existing facilities, including some that were used in the 1972 Munich games, and others that were even used during the Garmish-Partenkirchen Olympics of 1936, which might help in these difficult economic times. If they win, Munich will be the first city to host both a winter and summer Olympics. The biggest thing that Munich has against it is that the 2014 games are going to be held in Europe.
• Pyeongchang, South Korea – Pyeongchang is trying for the third time to bid for an Olympics in 2018. The citizens really want it, and it’s not in Europe, which could help them. They could be the front runners.