The Vancouver Winter Olympics will be taking place from February 12 through the 28th. Hotels are filling up, packages are being offered and leading up to the event, the Olympic Torch is crossing Canada.
The Olympic torch has already traveled across most of Canada to Banff Lake Louise and its national park. The torch has been taken across the country departing from Victoria and flying by air above the northernmost reaches of Canada, landing in Newfoundland and then traveling by ferry, canoe, bus, bicycle, car, horse, snowshow and ski. Now it has finally arrived in British Columbia where it will zigzag its way back to Vancouver where it will inaugurate the Olympics.
Here is the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay by the numbers
106 days (October 30, 2009–February 12, 2010)
189 community celebrations
1037 communities and places of interest
119 Aboriginal communities
19 places of interest
14 Canadian Forces Bases and Canadian Forces Stations
33.7 million; national population
90% of population within one hour’s drive of the relay route (over 29 million)
12,000 number of torchbearers
45,000 total kilometres through the country
18,000 total kilometres by air
1,000 total kilometers by water
22,000 total kilometres by land
100 approximate number of different modes of transportation used along the relay
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
