London 2012: To be, or not to be: that is the question

Since I was a young child, I have always been captivated by the myriad athletes who devote years of their lives to preparation for the Olympics; both those who succeed and earn gold as well as those who fall short of a medal. Some may find boring the long human interest stories with which networks break up competition, but I eat it up. I remember learning about the lives of Russian and Chinese gymnasts, being sent off hundreds of miles away from families to go to sport schools and who can forget Dan Jansen. Well, somewhere along the way I added "attending the Olympics" to my at least once in my life "to do" list.  So, I'm trying to go to the London 2012 Summer Olympics since it's seemingly close. However, it's not going so well. Unfortunately, I missed the March deadline to join the lottery (who knew?). I really should have done my research early on! Then I discovered a way to go through the official U.S. site. Well, I confused days and thought the 2nd chance lottery was today, but it was actually yesterday. NICE! After two strikes, I'm not yet giving up. There are a few sites selling tickets at quite a profit as well as some that are offering packages. Tonight my friend Liz and I found a Czech site offering 3 event tickets plus coach transportation (bus from Prague to London - SWEET) plus accommodation at a university dormitory for about 1,000 USD. That might seem like a lot, but I'm not so sure... We shall see!