For me, travel is often about the little moments. Finding an intimate out of the way art gallery instead of queuing in line at the “famous” large museum. Getting a history lesson from a local shop owner over a hot cup of tea.  Sharing a belly laugh with a stranger over a mispronounced word in a foreign language.   None of these events will change the world, but they do add some color to an otherwise routine day of sight seeing.And while small is good, I have to admit, sometimes its about the big events too.  And visiting London for the Olympics ranks high up there with the big events.  London has long been one of my favorite cities (one I consider a second home) and when I heard they were hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics, I knew I wanted to be here to take it all in.

But as much as I wanted to be here, it all seemed like a bit of a long shot until I started planning my corporate escape/Round the World trip.  Suddenly I had the time to go.  When my good friend and travel buddy Pam offered me a place to stay in her home during the games, I quick added London to the itinerary.

The whole community gets into celebrating the games

Like most people who braved the chaos and crowds to be in London for the games, I am very surprised to see that the chaos and crowds are almost non-existant.  Navigating through Heathrow was a breeze, walking around central London no longer requires me to have my elbows out to get through the crowds and even during rush hour, the trains are no where near packed.

Look around the city and you can see plenty of reminders that the Olympics are going on: signs in bright pink pointing towards Olympic venues, the Olympic rings mounted on Tower Bridge, fans draped in their countries flags.  The only thing that seems to be in short supply are the people.

The Tower Bridge with Olympic Rings

I’m not a big fan of these silly Olympic characters, but I still had to grab a picture with one

Today I went to my first live Olympic event, Judo, and ended up having a blast.  I don’t know the first thing about Judo and its rules, but with great floor seats it was easy to get caught up in the excitement.