Travel Hassles and Hand Warmers: A Reporter’s Day at the Olympics

9 a.m. I’m here to contribute to The Times’s live coverage, and I’m sending updates to editors from my phone, describing what I’m seeing. I can’t type with gloves on, and it’s 12 degrees Fahrenheit, so I quickly tap out messages, then cram my hands back in my pockets and clutch hand warmers as if I’m trying to squeeze juice from a lemon.

10 a.m. I’d like to stay outside to hear from Shaun White, a three-time Olympic gold medalist. (All athletes walk through the “mixed zone,” where they stop to answer questions from reporters.) But instead I go back into the warm workroom to write the text for a piece my colleagues on the Graphics desk are working on, breaking down the biggest tricks of the day.

Noon Booking taxis is a luxury here, and now I’m using the much more common transportation system: buses for closed-loop participants. I take one to the main media center, where I am beyond elated to find a pizza restaurant. (I can hear your protests, but trust me: Very little authentic Chinese food is available inside the loop, and, after nine days, I need a taste of home.)

3 p.m. I take a bus to the cross-country skiing course, where the press area puts me right at the finish line. I’m not writing any stories here, but I’m keeping an eye out for any breaking news or inspiration for a feature story. It is, still, so cold.

5 p.m. Another bus to the biathlon. From the press area, it’s pretty hard to see the part where the athletes shoot the guns, which is disappointing.

7 p.m. For my fourth event of the day, I take another bus to the enormous ski-jumping center, a mammoth facility that looks a bit like a Bond villain’s lair. I’m agog at how high and fast they are flying.

8 p.m. I take two buses back to the train station, chatting with editors and responding to emails on my way back to Beijing, where I’ll have to book one more taxi.

10:30 p.m. I make it back to my hotel and plop down on my bed. It ends up being one of my earliest nights here.