240 replies to this topic

[mtvcdm]

Absentia for a year's about long enough. I Googled some countries in prep for the Olympic viewing I plan to do (read: every waking hour) and got this (thanks in large part to Lonely Planet):

*Greece. Structure an entire leg around the modern pentathlon (which is why I listed no particular city, but you can think of several Olympic-related cities). That's shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and running. The Roadblock can be one person trying to score so many points against a pro fencer, and the Detour can be two horse-related events (clean the stable or ride around one of those jumping courses). And of course, run a fairly long distance to the Pit Stop.
*Clipperton Island, Pacific Ocean (about 1,100 km southwest of Acapulco, Mexico). The island is one big ring, about 6 km square. It's mainly beach with a bit of forest. This could be part of a Killer Fatigue leg near the end of the race island-hopping the Pacific, ending in, say, the Galapagos or Easter Island. The task would be, you'd fly the teams via small aircraft onto the island, they'd grab the clue telling them to do a lap around the island (how is up to CBS, but I'd suggest dune buggies considering the size and terrain of the island), then the next clue says to get off the island to wherever.
*Hoge Veluwe National Park, Netherlands. It contains the Kroller-Muller Museum and Europe's largest sculpture garden, containing works by artists you've actually heard of. I'm thinking one of those "attach bus/ferry/etc. tickets to sculptures and let 'em look" tasks, with this rider: The departure times on the tickets and which sculptures have them (well, the names of them, anyway) are known. However, any labeling done by the museum for benefit of tourists is removed. And a team must rip an envelope from the sculpture (meaning it's theirs and they can't exchange it) before they can open it and find out what time they leave.
*Machu Picchu, Peru. It's very simple. You put the clue at the bottom, make it say "You see that tiered hill over yonder? Start a-climbing. Next clue's at the top."
*Niagara Falls/Buffalo, Canada/United States. How have they not gone here yet? I was at Niagara earlier this summer, and they could do one of those urban-area legs here. The Falls, Casino Niagara (if you're at the falls, you can't miss it) highlights an absolute ton of various attractions on the Canadian side within walking distance of each other, and don't forget the whole driving-across-international-borders thing.
*The Little Mermaid statue, Copenhagen. I really don't see it as anything more than a "come here, get clue, leave" location, but Denmark needs a leg.
*Iceland as well. I'm seeing two locations here: From Reykjavik, drive north to Helgafell, a holy mountain (of a staggering 240 feet) featuring prominently in Icelandic history and literature. According to legend, if you follow some rules while climbing it you get three wishes granted (climb the southwest slope to a temple without looking backwards or speaking, the wishes must be "for good and made with a guileless heart", and descend the eastern slope, never revealing your wishes to anyone.) From there, they can travel waaaaaaay over to the northeastern island of Grimsley, which contains both cliffs (because we love us some scenic shots) and the most avid chess players in one of the most avbid chess-playing countries on earth. Players who lost matches have been known to fling themselves into the sea. To that end, the Detour can be either a) climb a cliff or b) play one of those players and capture, say, 3 of his/her pieces.

[Sue Denim]

Okay, ever since I first saw it on television, I have always wanted to drive out to Western Nebraska and see Carhenge.

What is Carhenge? It is a replica of Stonehenge made out of old cars! It always gives amazing footage on screen!

This is the quirkiness of Nebraska. Take a look, it's real.

http://www.carhenge.com/history.htm

[mallycat17]

Where I'd like to see them go:

Island hopping in the Caribbean (Trinidad&Tobago, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Aruba, etc.)

Central/South America: Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador

Europe: Monaco, Monte Carlo, Sicily, Norway, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, more of Russia, and even though they've been to France and Italy twice, there's still a lot more of those two countries that I would like to see

Asia: Cyprus, Armenia, Indonesia, Taiwan Turkey

Africa: more of Namibia and South Africa, Seychelles, Ghana

Would also like to see them explore New Guinea, Fiji, Tahiti, and Guam. I think all of these places are safe to travel to (a few countries I'm not too sure about.)

[mtvcdm]

Cyprus, Armenia and Turkey are too risky. Istanbul just had a bombing or two prior to the US-Turkey basketball game. Greece is fine; the locals seem to be much more laid-back then the rest of the world on the Olympic security thing (they do have a lot of security, but large chunks of it are sent by other countries).

[Pointe3579]

Japan still tops my wish list, but I know it probably won't happen because of cost.

[pinkgodzilla]

I have always wanted to drive out to Western Nebraska and see Carhenge.

I vote for heading for the 'Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota' after that.

Japan has been kept of the list due to the redtape involved in country rather than the cost. They just fly through it, but apparently the film permits and related bureaucratic stuff makes it untenable. According to production in an interview way back when.

Edited by pinkgodzilla, Aug 11, 2004 @ 2:12 AM.

[mallycat17]

I figured Turkey might not be safe. Not sure how safe Indonesia is, either, but I'd still like to see them make it there one of these days.

[hlmac17]

I would also like them to go to Japan.

How about a leg of the race that covers England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland?

[Lingo]

There was that one leg of TAR3 that went to London and Scotland. And wasn't part of TAR4 in Indonesia?

[Mama Tiger]

We've heard that Japan is just prohibitively expensive. Not to mention I'm sure getting all the necessary permissions would be an exercise in patience like unto which you have not seen. Papa Tiger and I got married in Japan, and to get a Japanese marriage certificate took hours of explanation on the part of our friend/translator in the Fukuoka civic marriage office. And that was an easy request, just to let two crazy gaijin get married.

I can only imagine what it would take to get permission to have Americans running around Japanese sites -- they are unbelievably picky about following the rules, all the rules, all the time. We went to one site that had footprints painted on the ground to show you the path which you were supposed to follow, and since it was ten minutes to closing and not another soul in sight, we went the wrong way -- and were promptly stopped by a nice Japanese man who came running up out of nowhere and showed us the error of our ways.

Yeah, Japan might not work too well.

[chicagofan]

How about trying to find something or another on Peachtree in Atlanta - seemed like every other street was Peachtree something or another when I was there.

Literary U.K. - a little Shakespeare in Stratford, Jane Austen in Bath...

Scandinavia - since I've never been and would like to go

Anywhere Canada

Yurts and Yaks in Mongolia?

And then there's always Chicago - I can see the start now. It's wintertime, and 11 cars have been buried in the snow. You must dig out a car - the clue is in the glove compartment. It tells you to drive the car to O'Hare...and the race is on.

Edited by chicagofan, Aug 12, 2004 @ 9:18 AM.

[Dbrain2004]

I understand why the race can't go to Japan - still a little sad, though.

Has the race ever been to Shanghai? There's plenty of things they can do there, and the Shanghai Stadium would be a perfect Pit Stop.

And even though this might be a stupid suggestion, what about Cuba? Havana has plenty of places that would make good Pit Stops.

[PButtercup]

And even though this might be a stupid suggestion, what about Cuba? Havana has plenty of places that would make good Pit Stops.

Americans are not allowed to go to Cuba (without special permission only given to some journalists, students etc). It's too bad, the people there are lovely!

[Lingo]

TAR1 went to China, but I can't remember exactly where. Beijing? Beijing isn't Shanghai, is it?

Since TAR6 is being run in Aug.-Sep., I hoping they'll be willing to go to some more northern locations, like Central America, the Carribeans, Canada/Greenland/Iceland, Northern and Eastern Europe, Mongolia, and hopefully returns to Russia and China.

Edited by Lingo, Aug 12, 2004 @ 3:54 PM.

[cutecouple]

Beijing is not Shanghai - they are completely different.

And then there's always Chicago - I can see the start now. It's wintertime, and 11 cars have been buried in the snow. You must dig out a car - the clue is in the glove compartment. It tells you to drive the car to O'Hare...and the race is on.

I've always imagined Chicago in the summertime: simply get from O'Hare to Wrigley Field (giving the street address not the actual name) at 5 PM on a Thursday or Friday evening, preferably with a car guaranteed. Or set up the end of the Blues Brothers.

[theschnauzers]

About the Peachtree in Atlanta suggestion -- you have no idea how confusing not making sure you have the correct street name with "Preachtree" in it can be in metro Atlanta.
At last count there was something like 125 street names with "Peachtree" in metro Atlanta -- the situation is so bad that a moritorium was declared a couple years ago prohibiting any further streets or roads being named or renamed with "Peachtree" as part of the name.


As to China, the first Race went to Beijing and vincinity, and the second Race went to Hong Kong, which is part of China. I would think Shainghai would be a great venue for a future Race as well.

Edited by theschnauzers, Aug 12, 2004 @ 4:45 PM.

[Lingo]

Oh yeah, Hong Kong. I'm still used to thinking of it as NOT part of China.

Beijing is not Shanghai - they are completely different.

Sorry, I remember that those Chinese cities have "native" names and "Western" names, and I thought that maybe Beijing and Shanghai were a pair of those.

Edited by Lingo, Aug 13, 2004 @ 8:20 PM.

[The One]

Yeah, Ireland would be nice. And maybe getting from England to France via the English Channel. I wanted TAR to go Japan quite a lot, since it's a nice and developed country, but it seems expensive to me.

Maybe go to Peru and those countries more northern in South America, considering that they never went there. The nearest was Rio de Janiero in Brazil in TAR2.

Edited by The One, Aug 13, 2004 @ 9:08 PM.

[sardonic]

I'm guessing one reason that we haven't seen many legs in South America (and none in Central) is flight availability. The logistics of flying 11 teams in and 9 teams out of, for example, Lima, Peru, might be hard because there are fewer flights available there than if they were to send the same 11 teams into France or Italy. I'm surprised they haven't done anything with the Caribbean yet--although less exotic, I'm sure Jamaica would have enough flights in and out.

I'd like to see them go to Eastern Europe-- countries like Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, or Poland.

[theschnauzers]

Scandivania (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark), Iceland, Kenya, Chile, Bangladesh (if the Racers think India is difficult, there's a place that is really bad off), Mongolia, and anywhere in Eastern Europe....and major cities such as Berlin, Budapest, etc. Word to Ireland, every image I've ever seen of the place screams for TAR. And for the Australian's benefit, Western Australia.
There are other places that just aren't practical for Americans right now, but I'll save those for another time.

Edited by theschnauzers, Aug 14, 2004 @ 12:53 AM.

[rosmarina]

Hadrian's Wall in England - really spectacular, and lots to see. Maybe an eating roadblock involving Cumberland sausage.

Sicily. Best preserved Greek temples, plus a volcano.

Newfoundland, Canada - maybe Gros Morne or L'Anse aux Meadows. Or Cape Spear.

I've watched only TAR4 and 5, so I don't know if they've already been to these places.

[TPorter2]

I think the Principality of Monaco would be a cool locale for TAR. And since I have been there, I would enjoy being able to say so. :)

[Prairie Fire]

I keep thinking of this thread during each episode...

They really should go to London or Paris again. Both were very quick one-clue stops in earlier seasons, but there's so many landmarks and neighborhoods in each of these cities. And the incredible job the Amazing Camerapeople do is reason enough.

TAR in Belgium would be a trip. Brussels has three train stations, speaks two languages (French and Dutch), and has a host of obscure landmarks. Lots of potential for confusion.

Of course, the producers have said they're going for more "exotic" locations, so these may not fit the bill...

One other thing that would be interesting is if they start in Atlanta, Chicago, or San Francisco and tell the teams to proceed to the airport by public transit only. It's easy to do if you know how, but that's not how most people do it, so the teams would have a heck of a time getting directions from locals.

Edited by Prairie Fire, Aug 18, 2004 @ 2:16 PM.

[recker]

Western Africa would be cool if they could do it flights being a problem and country stability, besides Ghana, being a little iffy right now. But if Ian brought a great moment to TAR3 when he returned to Vietnam imagine an Afro-American team returning with all the mixed memories of both their "roots" and of the horrors of the old slave trade running through their hearts and minds

Ghana is number one on my mental list of "places that TAR should go that seem like they would be realistic, but just barely" (i.e. stable with decent air connections, but not big tourist destinations). If done tastefully, a leg in Ghana that included old slave forts could be really dramatic. Couple that with tasks that are no more contrived that trying to find a particular market stall and you could have a really powerful episode. I agree that the rest of West Africa is a non-starter, though.

Number two on the list is Ethiopia, now that the skirmishes with Eritrea are settling down -- lots of history that most people don't know about. Addis Ababa is a regional air hub.

And I echo the interest in Eastern Europe. I'm surprised they haven't spent any time here, considering that it includes (to my mind) the best of both worlds: safe enough to turn the racers loose for driving, while simultaneously having fewer English speakers than Western Europe (and therefore more opportunities for racer frustration).

[amalia]

Great ideas everyone!

Edited by amalia, Aug 21, 2004 @ 8:31 AM.

[closetTVfreak]

Someone above quoted the producers as looking for more exotic locales, but I like the US ideas people have been throwing out -- it would still be fun to point out how exotic some American locales feel to out-of-towners. So, for example, force people to navigate through the Big Dig in downtown Boston (although it's nearly done, even the locals still often give bad directions); visit the cajun parts of Louisiana; go to Amish country, etc.

Otherwise, how about some of the smaller places in Europe? Be the fastest team to get to and out of Andorra, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro?

They're in Tanzania now, but I'd love to see them go to Zanzibar -- it's unbelievably beautiful.

[Mama Tiger]

That's true, closetTVfreak -- send 'em out to navigate around the bayous in a pirogue, and the roadblock would be the first person to swat 10,000 mosquitoes. Which would only take about five minutes.

Actually, several years ago the local New Orleans paper's TV magazine ran an April Fool's spoof of Survivor: Bayou, which included such challenges as video poker and pothole dodging, and for the endurance contest had only two words: accordion music. Hee!