Teddy greets me during my morning bus ride inside the Bubble.

Covering sports events during Covid times is challenging for athletes, fans, and photographers. Here at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, it is no exception as we live and work in a Great Bubble.

A bubble described on the internet has many definitions, but this one fits the Beijing Bubble.

“Living in a bubble means to live in one’s world, completely isolated from what is happening all around.”

Olympic Photographers and all Olympic accredited persons (Broadcast, Athetles Officials, Volunteers, and more) at the Beijing 2022 Games live in an expanded bubble with our Hotels, Venues, and Media Center all connected by special buses.

On arrival here in Beijing, we are all tested at the airport and then taken to our hotels to begin life in the Bubble.

I feel like a hamster in one of those Muti room hamster cages connected by tubes. I can move around but cant venture out of my cage. Life in the Beijing Bubble isn’t bad as it is one of the safest places to be in the World as everyone inside has been vaccinated and is tested daily.

But it is frustrating as Beijing is a great city with much to explore if food, culture, and sightseeing, but you can see it all from the windows of the hotels and buses.

My day starts here early, about 6 am, when I prepare for my day with cameras, bus, and competition schedules. Then it is straight to a Covid Test which we all have to do daily. Different people do the sample collection, but I have a favorite lady who always greets me with heart-warming enthusiasm. I will miss her demeanor but not the deep-mouth swab Covid Test when it comes time to come home.

Then it’s breakfast; we have a mix of American and Asian dishes here, and I have never eaten so many eggs in a row. I will be here 40 days in all, and I am down to eating fruit cups and milky yogurt, which I a good thing, I am sure my Doctor would say.

Next, it’s time to grab my gear and head through Security and Covid screening to get on my bus TG-B-17 to the Main Media Center. It’s here I get twenty minutes to sit back and enjoy the views from the Bubble of Beijing life.

It may be strange to some who know me, but one of the most comforting things I see on my bus ride is Teddy, a giant stuffed teddy bear peeking out a window looking down at me as I ride the bus. I have had colleagues who have had to go into one to three-day quarantine here due to a close Covid contact.

But if Teddy disappeared from this window. I would wonder what happened to him (did he or someone in his family get Covid?). I know I will forever miss him.

We see many great things outside the closed bus windows during the day while moving from Venue to Venue covering Olympic events on the Bubble Bus. We can see children playing, mothers shopping, and others commuting to work. Oh, and most importantly, the restaurants we would love to eat in. This everyday Beijing life and we are separated from it by a pane of glass.

After our day covering events, it is time to jump on a bus, head back to the big hamster cage (the Main Press Center), and transit though back to our hotels while watching colorful night scenes pass by through the safety of the bus.

I have been to China a few times and feel for my colleagues on their first visit here as they will have entered the Beijing Bubble, stayed confined in it because of the pandemic, and will leave Beijing without really experiencing the real Beijing.

Because Beijing is like London, New York, Rome, or Paris, this is one of the great cities in the World.

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