Sports Traveler Guides Blog

This past Tuesday police officials in London began conducting security tests for the 2012 Summer Olympics.  In order to prepare for every situation the London police have teamed up with the Met, UK Border Agency, and other surrounding police forces.  At this point there has been 600 million pounds set aside for the operations of all security during the 2012 Olympics.  The 600 million is just a piece of the reported 9.3 billion pounds that is required to host the 2012 Summer Games.  It has also been reported that the Olympic Security committee will use up to 12,000 officers at the peak of Olympic traffic.

While the Kentucky Derby (and Oaks) is the crown jewel of Louisville, the party starts wellbefore the races. Several exciting events dot the calendar in the weeks leading up to the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.

The first thing to do before landing in Louisville is learn how to pronounce the name of the city...unless you enjoy getting the evil eye from the locals. It's correctly pronounced "LOO-uh-ville"...not "LOO-iss-ville" or "LOOY-ville."  Can't pronounce the pronunciations? Click here for the audio pronunciation.

On Friday, April 29th, the Great Balloon Rush-Hour Race is set for a hopeful 7 a.m. start, weather permitting of course. During the rally, balloon pilots chase a "hare" balloon and attempt to drop bags of Kentucky Bluegrass seed as close to a target on the ground as possible. Take a look here for several other hot air balloon-related events, including "The Glimmer" which takes place at night.

A few days before the Derby on Wednesday, May 4th a race of a different

Sports Travelers headed to Florida for NASCAR’s season debut this month have a lot to watch out for, both on and off the track.

Daytona Beach will be packed with things to do before and after the Great American Race. Conveniently enough, the city of Daytona Beach has come up with a great guide to make sure you make the most of your time away from the track. And instead of destroying trees, just flipbook it! The 88-page online visitors’ guide walks you through everything from restaurants and nightlife to shopping and family fun.

Daytona Beach Visitors' Guide

On race day, a lot of eyes will be focused on where the rubber meets the road – literally. Daytona International Speedway reportedly spent around $20 million to repave the historic track for just the second time. The entire race surface was torn up, leveled and repaved in a process that was started after the July 5, 2010 Coke Zero 400 and finished earlier this year. A lot of time was spent making sure  track dimensions remained exactly

An article published from the blog of Author and Founder of Sports Traveler, Anbritt Stengele...

When you arrive at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport you can see it. A huge, silver dome hovering in the horizon, sometimes glowing from the sun rays reflecting off of it. It is the greatest sports arena every created and the largest indoor sports arena in the USA - The New Cowboys Stadium located in Arlington, Texas and home to my favorite football team and America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys.

Cowboys fan or not, EVERYONE needs to visit this place. It is an architectural masterpiece. Perfectly symmetrical with two arches bigger than the St. Louis Arch holding up the roof. Inside is a combination of steel and glass that just about takes your breath away when you reach the field. The most spoken word you will hear when you enter the building is WOW! Everyone seems to say that. And rightfully so. Trust me, go take a look and you will also say wow.

On my first trip there, I took the Stadium Tour on a non-game

I love NASCAR racing at big tracks. That's why I usually turn up at the Daytona 500. But nothing compares to the shear massive-ness of Talladega SuperSpeedway. I've never seen a track so big and a race so filled with non-stop action as the racing at Talladega. If you have never experienced it, now is a great time.

Talladega is a small town located about an hour and half outside of Atlanta. The track isn't in the town. It's about 10 miles outside of town. In fact, on my first trip to Talladega I was wondering if there was a town at all. The terrain is rolling hills with small mountains lining the horizon in the distance. A beautiful scene when you sit up in the Tower seats with non-stop racing on the track below you.

My favorite memory of last year's race was that of one of our clients that had flown all the way from Australia to see the Talladega Race. We were watching them go green and the cars were zipping past and the Australian was just standing there with his mouth open in awe. He

I have just returned from a week long preview trip of Beijing for the upcoming Olympic Games. It was truly the best trip of my life - and trust me, I have been on a lot of trips. But Beijing is by far the most interesting place I've seen. I wanted to take a moment to write on our Sports Traveler Blog to let everyone know about some of the great sights that I saw as I previewed our tours for the upcoming Olympics in August.

Our onsite partners for this event are fantastic. Already, they have everything planned and are ready for our Sports Traveler clients to arrive. I previewed our tours to the Great Wall and I took a tour of the Forbidden City. I even took a Hutong Tour and had tea with an older Chinese couple in their home - something that I think everyone should make time to go do.

The scene in Beijing is something special. It's modern and old world. Crowded yet you will find peaceful parks to sit and relax. The food is excellent. I have many restaurant selections that I will list on