I'm sure one could extend it to former military personnel as well; you'd get more old people, parent-child teams, other teams that aren't just athletic friend teams or what have you.
Also I always thought the USS Arizona would make for a great finish line if filming were allowed.
Also also: The Amazing Race 29 - Food and Drink edition
START: WRP Headquarters, Marina Del Ray, CA because starting lines don't matter lol (in reality like...Catalina Island)
Leg 1: to Schwende Canton, SwitzerlandSwiss summer <3 I'd have teams fly to Zurich for an ARI or Detour before giving them cars and having them slowly make their way
here, with a stop along the way for a food related RB. The cable car creates some potentially awkward bunching but I figured a KOR would make up for it.
Leg 2: to Minsk, BelarusSo while I knew I wanted a country that was a part of the former Soviet Union I figured Russia and Ukraine were both Really Bad Ideas and that certain other countries would be visited in TAR 28 so here we are ^_^. One of my co-workers who married a Belarusian assures me that travel isn't as insanely bureaucratic as history suggests and that the people are friendlier so that's really all the incentive I need. PLUS there are plenty of trains out to the next destination...
Leg 3: to Kaunas, LithuaniaBaltic leg <3 I don't know the viability of an ambergris-harvesting FF but I figure that the first Lithuanian leg was hilariously generic (in fact...possibly most generic leg ever?) and so there's a lot of leeway with tasks.
Leg 4: to Athens, GreeceGREEK SUMMER <3 I know the show doesn't really deal with mass-eating challenges or mass-baking challenges for that matter but I'd only go here on the condition that there's a baklava-related task. Bonus if there's a FF based on
this with the difficult part convincing people to join teams <3
Leg 5: to Lefkara, CyprusWhile it would seem this is just a cheap way to get people in swimtrunks or else interacting with drunk locals there's plenty of time for that later (
) so teams can presently focus on detail-oriented tasks like cutting lace and making jam and other pastries ^_^
Leg 6: to Musoma, TanzaniaMainly for black-and-white footage of Colin dying trying to eat an ostrich egg <3 That said, there's still plenty of agricultural and animal-related hell that teams can encounter here (hopefully it makes up for the subpar legs from TAR 5 and TAR 20 in the similar region). NEL because again - making up for TAR 5 and TAR 20.
Leg 7: to Zanzibar, Tanzania...speaking of making up for previous seasons, Zanzibar! As it turns out there's more to do there then solve puzzles (which can be done anywhere), haul logs (ditto) and throwing rungus at objects (which can be done anywhere in East Africa) and I'd like to reflect that.
Leg 8: to Sylhet, BangladeshBangladesh often (always) gets used during the summer and the legs are actually not bad (in TAR 21 the AWFUL Indonesia legs overshadowed the fact that the Bangladesh legs were not terrible, just indistinguishable) but the problem is it always tends to focus on overcrowded, industrial Dhaka. In contrast, Sylhet is peaceful and green, which is perfect for teams to freak out as they pick tea leaves. ^_^
Leg 9: to Khumjung, NepalI've probably written about this leg before - sherpa culture, teaching or feeding adorable sherpa elementary school children, lengthy hikes - but it still works. NEL.
Leg 10: to Jeju Island, South Korea There's a looooot of grumbling about a leg in South Korea and while I initially wanted two legs in Vietnam and Cambodia since they get bad raps, the possibility of Phil and the Pit Stop being amidst a stretch of phallic statues is too hilarious a mental image to ignore.
Leg 11: to Seoul, South KoreaHilariously long ferry ride to get teams into Seoul at night, followed by strange food, singing, dancing, fun locals, and difficult tasks because it *is* leg 11.
Leg 12: to San Francisco, CAStart off with a side trip to Napa (eliminating any extra teams in the process) for grape crushing, then a leg in San Francisco proper dealing with the glut of cultures and cuisines represented, leading up to the final memory task; a 12-course meal consisting of foods encountered during the race.