SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Getting to the Olympics as an athlete is a long shot for many.

Getting there as a spectator may be easier than thought, if the price is right.

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The cost of traveling to Athens, Greece, may be what is keeping trips to the Olympics from selling well.

"We've been getting lots of inquiries; however, the cost is the big deterrent," said travel agent Trudy Flores.

KCRA-TV in Sacramento, Calif. randomly called 15 travel agents, and not one had booked an Olympic vacation.

Flores priced a six-day Olympic trip for a family of four, with airfare from Sacramento to Athens, hotel, food and a souvenir or two.

"It's about $21,000. And that's at a very budget hotel. That same package, if you were traveling at non-Olympic times, would be about $8,200," Flores said.

Money and security concerns have resulted in Olympic games ticket sales being 30 percent lower than the same amount of time before the Sydney Games in 2000, which means event tickets are available.

Travel editor Peter Greenberg offered two Olympic travel tips: forget about flying straight to Athens.

"Go the back door. You buy cheap round-trip from California to London, and then go online for EZJet.com or RyanAir.com and buy a cheap secondary trip from London to Athens," Greenberg said.

Second, he says to learn the difference between a booked and a blocked room.

Companies block rooms, hoping to get people to pay high rates.

But if no one books the blocked rooms, consumers could get a bargain rate right before the games.

"It happened before Sydney. It happened in Utah about 10 days before the Olympics. A lot of rooms will come free because they blocked too many rooms," Greenberg said.

To order Olympic venue tickets, click here.