Hundreds of Paralympians are flying into the UK - as the flame for the London 2012 Games is kindled at four locations around the country.
British Airways said Wednesday would be its busiest day for Paralympic arrivals at London's Heathrow airport.
BA is flying in teams from 25 countries including ParalympicsGB, who will be arriving next week from their training camps abroad.
Australian Daniel Fitzgibbon said he was looking forward to competing in the sailing regatta at Weymouth.
The 36-year-old, who flew to the UK from Sydney, said: "It's all been good so far. Now for the sailing."
Canadian Diane Roy, 41, who flew from Montreal, said she was excited to be in the UK.
Roy, who won two bronze medals in Athens and a silver and two bronzes four years later in Beijing, faces a tough schedule in London.
She will be taking part in the wheelchair 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m and marathon. But she said: "The only thing I'm worried about is the weather. I hope it doesn't rain."
Meanwhile, four Paralympic flames have been lit at the top of the highest peaks in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
They were kindled by four teams of scouts on Northern Ireland's Slieve Donard, Scotland's Ben Nevis, Mount Snowdon in Wales and Scafell Pike in the Lake District.
They will be carried down from the peaks in miners' lanterns ahead of events in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The flames will then be reunited at Stoke Mandeville, the home of the Paralympics, next Tuesday, before a 24-hour relay takes them to the Olympic Stadium in Statford.
Locog chairman Lord Coe, who joined the team scaling Snowdon, said: "I'm absolutely sure this will start the excitement around the Paralympics.
"We get the Paralympics in this country and this is just a great way of starting the flame on its journey to the Paralympic Stadium."
The first of the Paralympic Games road lanes has come into force between junctions 3 and 2 on the M4, which takes traffic from Heathrow into central London.
It will be in operation each day as needed from 5am to 10pm, with "ordinary" traffic able to use it outside these times.
The lanes are part of the Paralympic Route Network (PRN), which, is much smaller than the 109-mile Olympic Route Network ORN).
Apart from the M4 lane, the PRN will not come into force until next Wednesday, when the Paralympics begin.
It will be focused on the City of London where the International Paralympic Committee and the world's media will be based, and on venues in east London.
With a record number of tickets sold, there wil be as many spectators travelling to Stratford as there were during the Olympics - up to 215,000 a day.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "The Paralympic Games are shaping up to be the best ever as London continues to buzz with Olympic excitement, and Paralympic tickets are selling like hot cakes." The Games will run until September 9.
