If you're thinking about heading to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, get busy booking before all the tickets and hotel rooms slip away.

China's big day, its debut on the world stage if you will, is just one year away. As the government steps up construction and lays the foundation for the final preparations, it's time for the masses to plan their Beijing Olympic trip. It's never too early to start and we've already done all the hard work for you. On these two pages you will find everything you need to know about joining the celebration in 2008.

Get your Tickets

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, or BOCOG, announced two ways to reserve tickets to the Games. Either book online at www.tickets.beijing2008.cn or go to one of the 1,000 appointed Bank of China branches spread across China (call 8610-952008 for locations).

To register online, enter a valid e-mail address, select the sports you want to see with price, select where to pick up the tickets and select your payment method. Repeat steps to add other sports before submitting the application. You can only submit one application per ticket phase. Successful applicants are chosen by random lottery.

There are three ticketing phases and one has already closed (those who applied will hear back before September): Submit your application for phase two from October 2007 to January 2008, or for Phase 3 from April to September 2008. All tickets will be delivered in May 2008.

There are a total of over 7 million tickets, including 2.7 million tickets for the opening / closing ceremonies. The BOCOG expects the most applications for these ceremonies and for the following sports: hurdles, gymnastics, diving and table tennis. If you're fine seeing any sport and want a better chance at winning the lottery, try applying for handball, archery and wrestling. The BOCOG received over 700,000 applications ordering more than 4.9 million tickets during the first phase.

Get a Room

Rumor has it that hotel rooms will be six to 10 times more expensive than normal, except for the 113 BOCOG designated hotels, one sixth of the total star-class hotels in Beijing. A random check of Beijing's hotels found that the Grand Hyatt Beijing and Beijing Jinglun Hotel “are already fully booked,” while the Crown Plaza and Shangri-La Hotel won't release their room rates until October and the end of the year respectively.

Adhiyanto Goen, InterContinental Beijing Financial Street's PR executive, says rates at the Intercontinental for the 2008 Games will range from US$750 to US$1,200 per night and the hotel is already booked to capacity, with 90 percent of the rooms booked by foreigners. While many hotels are fully booked, the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven, Holiday Inn Central Plaza, Crowne Plaza Sun Palace, the Crowne Plaza International Airport and InterContinental's newest hotel to open in April 2008 close to the Olympic Stadium, still have rooms available.

With possible sky high rates and limited occupancy, many people are searching for apartments to temporarily rent. To see what's available, check www.homestaybeijing2008.com (Beijing residents take note, post your apartment here if you want to turn a profit over the Games), or if your Mandarin is up to snuff, try www.olymhomtel.com.

Getting Around

According to the BOCOG website, all successful Olympic ticket applicants will receive a free “Spectator Guide to the Olympics” with directions to the 31 competition venues, and online PDFs in a variety of languages will be available at the BOCOG website for downloading.

The Olympic Subway Line, and light rail from Dongzhimen to the Capital International Airport are furiously being constructed to alleviate traffic during the Games. By June 30, 2008, four new subway and light rail lines will come online. In addition, the city will open direct bus routes to competition venues. On the roads, no emission or ultra-low emission taxis will be in service, and new regulations will aim to keep the rate of empty cabs on the road under 25 percent.

To encourage spectators to use public transportation, Beijing will offer “free services to the competition venues by subways and buses,” says Yu Chunquan, vice director of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau and vice public service secretary of the BOCOG. “No private parking space will be offered at the Olympic venues.”

Check out the English language Beijing subway map at www.bjsubway.com; call a cab at 96103 (press 9 for English service) or check the bus routes at 96166 (press 3 for English service).

Get Away from the Crowds

In one year, Beijing will be overrun with sports enthusiasts, the media and huge packs of public security personal. So if you can't breathe in the crush of people, but don't want to miss out on the Games, head to one of the six other Chinese cities hosting events: Qingdao will hold the sailing competition while Hong Kong is to host the equestrian events; Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao are the sites for the football preliminaries.

During the 2004 Athens Olympics, a Norwegian tour group docked a ferry along the coastline, which saved them the cost of expensive hotel fees. Will others follow suit in Tianjin or Qingdao?

Get your Memories

Don't take home a ripped off memory. For official Olympic memorabilia, head to Oriental Plaza (5876-6661), Lufthansa Center (6460-6123), Silk Market (5876-6661), Beijing International Hotel (6512-6688) or Shangri-la Hotel Beijing (6841-2211, ext.2541). A set of the five friendly Fuwas runs ¥228, while commemorative gold coins and a set of six stamps are ¥150.

Olympics by Numbers

28 Olympic programs, 302 sub-categories

302 gold medals

10,500 athletes are expected to participate in the Games

21,880 torchbearers will join the torch relay, which will run 137,000 km over 130 days

The National Stadium (Bird's Nest) covers an area of 258,000 sq. meters with 91,000 seats

The surface of the National Aquatics Center (Water Cub) is covered by 1,437 pieces of transparent material.

The highest price for the opening ceremony tickets is ¥5,000; the lowest is ¥200.

Beijing expects 550,000 international guests and 2.4 million domestic spectators.

Over 800 star-class hotels and 4,000 hostels will provide about 420,000 rooms.