Author Topic: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)  (Read 129428 times)

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Offline michael

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #425 on: February 17, 2009, 05:33:24 PM »
Thanks for the highlights peach!
great interview rob.

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #426 on: February 17, 2009, 05:36:16 PM »
If no teams who took the second flight had enough money to pay the taxi at the end, was this a production error? Did that group actually need more money than the first group?

Were the train tickets or taxi fares using this route much more expensive than the other way?

Preston says that they spent NO money (outside of race expenses) to that point.

Bummer....
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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #427 on: February 17, 2009, 06:09:35 PM »
That was a great interview. Preston & Jennifer were so funny. I really wish they had stayed. I agree with Rob. They were very entertaining.
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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #428 on: February 17, 2009, 06:30:05 PM »
Sounds to me that they used all their money on taxis from Malpensa Airport to downtown Milano, then to the border with Switzerland, instead of taking trains all the way.

Malpensa Airport is on the far northwest side of Milano. Neobie found good train connections without having to go to downtown Milano, cutting straight across to the Milano/Zurich mainline, which is close to due north out of Milano.
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Offline georgiapeach

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #429 on: February 17, 2009, 06:34:40 PM »
It is possible they were told to take taxis though, based on that interview about being told to use one customs entry over another.
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Offline Belle Book

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #430 on: February 17, 2009, 06:47:48 PM »
Thanks for the leaderboard, Joab and for the interview portions, Georgia peach!

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Offline Ashe

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #431 on: February 17, 2009, 08:06:12 PM »
That was a great interview. Preston & Jennifer were so funny. I really wish they had stayed. I agree with Rob. They were very entertaining.
It was a good interview, indeed, but I'm still glad they're gone.  I found them not the least bit entertaining.
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Offline puddin

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #432 on: February 17, 2009, 08:29:53 PM »
I love Jennifer and Preston even more now, sounds like the time they spent in sequesterville helped their relationship and am looking forward to the next sets of the elimination station clips   :hearts:
Preston says that Kisha giggled about Preston walking off the bungee jump for weeks ...hmmmmmm

Offline Mrs Shrek

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #433 on: February 17, 2009, 08:37:40 PM »
75 swiss francs is about $US 64.00, so I can understand why the locals weren't too keen on being hit up multiple times - that's a lot of money to beg for in a small rural town

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #434 on: February 17, 2009, 10:03:36 PM »
I love Jennifer and Preston even more now, sounds like the time they spent in sequesterville helped their relationship and am looking forward to the next sets of the elimination station clips   :hearts:
Preston says that Kisha giggled about Preston walking off the bungee jump for weeks ...hmmmmmm
I noticed that too. I wonder if the sisters are eliminated early.
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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #435 on: February 17, 2009, 10:32:58 PM »
It is possible they were told to take taxis though, based on that interview about being told to use one customs entry over another.

Peach,

I ran back the first of the program. They open the clues at Los Alamitos and it says to fly to Zurich or Milan and nothing else. When the famous lines are crossing the USA and Europe to Zurich and Milan, Phil says that they are to take trains to Locarno. Nothing is said about taxis and nothing is shown on the program with them in taxis. All you see is them running out of the airport and then running to the train station. When Jennifer/Preston find the "train station" it is the one in Chiasso, Switzerland. That border crossing at the southern end of Lake Como is very congested. In the GE shot, traffic on the Italian side of the highway is backed way up. It may have been suggested in the added on instructions about getting there by taxi, but I think that they were being told, was to go to the train station to clear customs and not on the highway (autostrade) customs.

I found this about Malpensa International Airport from Wikipedia.Org.

"Milano Malpensa Airport (IATA: MXP, ICAO: LIMC), former "Aeroporto Città di Busto Arsizio" [3] is located in the province of Varese, about 50 km from central Milan, Italy. It is one of 3 international airports in the Milan area. The airport is connected to Milan by the Milano-Varese highway as well as by the "Malpensa Express" train starting from the Milan Cadorna railway station (LeNord regional railways) and taking about 40 minutes."

Malpensa Airport is only about 40-50 miles from Locarno, as the crow flies. From what Preston described in the RFf interview, they went the 50 km to downtown Milan, then 50 km back north to Como-Chiasso border crossing. Think if it as the two long sides of a piece of pizza, with the airport and Como at the outer edges of crust. If they had just driven straight across, they would have saved a lot of time and money I suspect. I followed the railroad and highway from Malpensa to Saronne (I think that is how it is spelled), then to Como. I think the Italian taxis just wanted a larger fare and probably took them the long way around.

From what Preston said in the interview, all 5 teams that flew to Milano, took taxis.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2009, 10:43:15 PM by DrRox »
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Offline Jobby

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #436 on: February 17, 2009, 11:02:59 PM »
I love Jennifer and Preston even more now, sounds like the time they spent in sequesterville helped their relationship and am looking forward to the next sets of the elimination station clips   :hearts:
Preston says that Kisha giggled about Preston walking off the bungee jump for weeks ...hmmmmmm
I noticed that too. I wonder if the sisters are eliminated early.

Nooooooo. :'(

Offline Kiwi Jay

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #437 on: February 17, 2009, 11:06:41 PM »
Sorry Joab. But yay  :yess: :wohoo: They seem boring so far. So I am neutral and would rather see them go than a few others. Hope they get better though!
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Offline Belle Book

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #438 on: February 18, 2009, 08:22:51 PM »
I love Jennifer and Preston even more now, sounds like the time they spent in sequesterville helped their relationship and am looking forward to the next sets of the elimination station clips   :hearts:
Preston says that Kisha giggled about Preston walking off the bungee jump for weeks ...hmmmmmm
I noticed that too. I wonder if the sisters are eliminated early.

In the spoilers section, there's indications that LaKisha & Jennifer make it to Siberia.  So they probably aren't eliminated right away, but they are eliminated in time to make it to Sequesterville.

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #439 on: February 18, 2009, 08:44:06 PM »
I believe they will be eliminated before Leg 5. Since Leg 7 should be Sequesterville. I believe they will pull the NEL back to Leg 4 and Leg 5 this season.. and Leg 6 since this is a 12 Legs season.

Leg 12 - Finale
Leg 11 - Final 4 elimination
Leg 10 - Final 4 NEL
Leg 9 - Final 5 elimination
Leg 8 - Final 5 NEL
Leg 7 - Final 6 elimination
Leg 6 - Final 6 NEL
Leg 5 - Final 7 elimination
Leg 4 - Final 8 elimination
Leg 3 - Final 9 elimination
Leg 2 - Final 10 elimination

Yup.. should go like this. Unless they decided to have 2 NELs on either Leg 4/5 and 1 NEL on Leg 4/5.. Lakisha and Jennifer don't make it pass Leg 7 at all and will make it to Leg 4/5 at least.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2009, 08:55:03 PM by Joab »

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #440 on: February 18, 2009, 09:21:26 PM »
Any chance it wasnt true and they are eliminated soon?
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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #441 on: February 19, 2009, 08:23:33 PM »
Leg 4 or Leg 5 isn't very early in the Race, but it's still early.  And that's where I was thinking LaKisha & Jennifer would go out anyway -- more Leg 5 because I thought Leg 4 would be an NEL, but you might be right, Joab.

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #442 on: February 26, 2009, 12:14:57 PM »
It is possible they were told to take taxis though, based on that interview about being told to use one customs entry over another.

When Jennifer/Preston find the "train station" it is the one in Chiasso, Switzerland. That border crossing at the southern end of Lake Como is very congested. In the GE shot, traffic on the Italian side of the highway is backed way up. It may have been suggested in the added on instructions about getting there by taxi, but I think that they were being told, was to go to the train station to clear customs and not on the highway (autostrade) customs.


Dr. Rox,
When the teams hit Paris or Frankfurt they would have to do the U.S. to Europe customs clearance there. Due to the arrival date of Nov. 1, the old policies were still in effect so entry at the Zurich airport would have required a second, easier customs clearance. From Milan teams would be clearing customs on the train (always very easy by my experience) to Switzerland except possibly Preston and Jennifer who would have had to do it in a taxi.

The new policies are as follows effective 12/12/08:
Switzerland last night dismantled its check points at its borders with Germany, Austria, Italy and France, after the country officially became a member of the passport-free Schengen zone.

But its membership of the now 25-country zone will prove short-lived if the Swiss fail to vote ‘Yes' in a referendum on the freedom of movement of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens scheduled for 8 February 2009.

However, the passport-free entry does not happen in reality until March 31 2009 under Schengen zone rules. It is clear that they did not impact on AR14 but will on any Amazing Races going to Switzerland in the future.

Switzerland rejected European Union membership in 1992 but is now affiliated with 25 countries (almost all EU members) on this,


Offline cba

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #443 on: February 28, 2009, 06:29:37 AM »
It is possible they were told to take taxis though, based on that interview about being told to use one customs entry over another.

When Jennifer/Preston find the "train station" it is the one in Chiasso, Switzerland. That border crossing at the southern end of Lake Como is very congested. In the GE shot, traffic on the Italian side of the highway is backed way up. It may have been suggested in the added on instructions about getting there by taxi, but I think that they were being told, was to go to the train station to clear customs and not on the highway (autostrade) customs.


Dr. Rox,
When the teams hit Paris or Frankfurt they would have to do the U.S. to Europe customs clearance there. Due to the arrival date of Nov. 1, the old policies were still in effect so entry at the Zurich airport would have required a second, easier customs clearance. From Milan teams would be clearing customs on the train (always very easy by my experience) to Switzerland except possibly Preston and Jennifer who would have had to do it in a taxi.

The new policies are as follows effective 12/12/08:
Switzerland last night dismantled its check points at its borders with Germany, Austria, Italy and France, after the country officially became a member of the passport-free Schengen zone.

But its membership of the now 25-country zone will prove short-lived if the Swiss fail to vote ‘Yes' in a referendum on the freedom of movement of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens scheduled for 8 February 2009.

However, the passport-free entry does not happen in reality until March 31 2009 under Schengen zone rules. It is clear that they did not impact on AR14 but will on any Amazing Races going to Switzerland in the future.

Switzerland rejected European Union membership in 1992 but is now affiliated with 25 countries (almost all EU members) on this,



Custom clearings have been rare between the Swiss and surrounding countries borders for almost three years already - by train and by car / taxi. The voting by the Swiss citizens whether or not to joing the Schengen rules was in June 2005 and was pretty much established in reality just weeks later. I'm travelling between Austria and Switzerland frequently (since Sept. 2006), most of the time by train, sometimes my dad pays a visit and drives me. I had to show my passport and state whether I've got something to declare at the customs a total of three times travelling by train (out of more than 50 journeys) and not a single time with the car - not even when I moved and our car was obviously totally loaded. I have seen Taxis passing without being held up, too.
I have a friend who frequently travels to Italy and she says it's the same at the boarders there.
As additional information - Nov 1/2 was a weekend and then there's lots of traffic at the Switzerland - Italy borders due to many short weekend vacations by south Swiss people to Italy. Plus, Nov 1st is a catholic holiday (Italy is mostly catholic and so is south Switzerland).

To clear up the last paragraph in the post above:
It was not the European Union Memberships that Switzerland rejected in 1992; as a matter of fact, we have not had votings on whether to join or not because it's clear from polls it would result in a very clear "no". The 1992 voting was on the EWR (short for "Europäischer Wirtschaftsraum", I believe that would be "European Economic Area" or something similar in English. It's basically an agreement between the member countries of the European Union and those of the European Free Trade Association (of which Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland are the member). Norway and Iceland joined it. So did Liechtenstein, but because in customs and finances Liechtenstein is part of Switzerland and Switzerland rejected to join, neither could Liechtenstein.

Offline apskip

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #444 on: February 28, 2009, 08:05:49 AM »
cba, while what you say is technically correct, again I find it misleading. Voting down the EEA was equivalent to not proceeding with the European Union in 1992. The bassi for my conclusions is:

Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It took part in negotiating the European Economic Area agreement with the European Union. It signed the agreement on 2 May 1992, and submitted an application for accession to the EU on 20 May 1992. However, a Swiss referendum held on 6 December 1992 rejected EEA membership. As a consequence, the Swiss government decided to suspend negotiations for EU accession until further notice. Its application remains open.

I am going in my airline flight information to call their flights "LX", their airline code. I can't remember exactly back to my travel agent days, but I do not think it used to be LX.

« Last Edit: February 28, 2009, 08:32:47 AM by apskip »


Offline apskip

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #445 on: February 28, 2009, 09:39:06 AM »
Forgive me if I am duplicating something that has been said earlier in this thread. I have looked at this thread, but zinging through at top speed I could have missed something. In one of the EXTRA VIDEOS, there was a very large watch on someone, I think Kris, that read 350pm while at the pit stop. He and Amanda finished 5th in episode 1 and this was at Stechelberg. Let's assume that setting up the camera after Phil checked them in took about 2 minutes and then work backward:

Taxi from cheese task in Interlaken through Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg - first segement is 10km, so say 15 minutes; 2nd is a 15 minute drive; total time = 30 minutes + 5 minutes to find the pit stop   time leaving Interlaken 3:13pm

Cheese Task - this one is hard to say, but I will go with 45 minutes for a relatively efficient team time getting to cheese is 2:28

Walk to Kleine Rugen Wiese from Interlaken train station - my Interlaken map does not have Kleine Rugen Weise on it, but I can infer where it is due to the location of the Rugen Woods just above it. They are 400m from Interlaken West station, so it would be about 500 m to the farthest point on a road running parellel to the ridge on top and perpendicular to goign up the hill. I say it's about a 5 minute walk once teams get their bearings, so maybe 8 minutes total 2:20 aqrrival at Interlaken West

Now, Kris and Amanda were in the 745am group, so theywould not have made the 903am train. They would have been on the 1050am with Brad and Victoria arriving Interlaken West at 2:23pm. That's a pretty good convergence.


Offline cba

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #446 on: February 28, 2009, 03:00:19 PM »
cba, while what you say is technically correct, again I find it misleading. Voting down the EEA was equivalent to not proceeding with the European Union in 1992. The bassi for my conclusions is:

Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It took part in negotiating the European Economic Area agreement with the European Union. It signed the agreement on 2 May 1992, and submitted an application for accession to the EU on 20 May 1992. However, a Swiss referendum held on 6 December 1992 rejected EEA membership. As a consequence, the Swiss government decided to suspend negotiations for EU accession until further notice. Its application remains open.

I am going in my airline flight information to call their flights "LX", their airline code. I can't remember exactly back to my travel agent days, but I do not think it used to be LX.



You are correct in everything you're written. From how I read your previous post, the way I read it, it sounded like the 1992 referendum was directly about accession to the EU, what it wasn't. Maybe I read it wrong. :)

Huh, I believe the last paragraph is on the Swiss / Swissair topic from the other thread?
Swissair used to have SR as their airline code. LX used to be Crossair's code and is the one now used by Swiss.
As already written over there, Swiss was built by combining Swissair and Crossair. Meaning taking over planes and (most) personell from them both. However, Swissair was bancrupt and Crossair wasn't. The Swiss government supported the start of the new airline with (lots of) money (and basically payed for Swissair from October 2001 until March 2002 to prevent it to all go down including many associated firms that would be able to survive on their own) and one of their demands was that the basic structure of the airline was taken over from Crossair, not Swissair. This decision was a mixture of a) Crossair not being bancrupt like Swissair, meaning their strategies seem to be better and b) demands from the Crossair owners and CEO as a compromise for them giving up their successful airline to save the other one.
(I'm sorry for my choice of words here, it's a bit difficult to expalin such things in a language I'm not native in  :-[)

Offline puddin

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #447 on: February 28, 2009, 03:57:41 PM »
I understand you perfectly cba  ;)

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #448 on: February 28, 2009, 04:40:57 PM »
Danke, cba!!

I understood you too. What you found is called in the TV/movie biz as a "continuity" conflict. WRP/CBS used stock footage of an old Swissair DC10/MD11 in that shot. The plane belonged to the old Swissair, not the new Swiss.

I have learned over the years to not pay to much attention to what type of aircraft that WRP/CBS uses in the airport sequences. They rarely match actual aircraft type. They like to get the name of the airline out there. I doubt very seriously that any airline would use a DC10/MD11 on a fight from Zurich to Munich. If the did, they wouldn't be around much either.
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Offline cba

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Re: TAR14 EP1: 'Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me' (Switzerland)
« Reply #449 on: March 01, 2009, 02:37:43 AM »
I doubt very seriously that any airline would use a DC10/MD11 on a fight from Zurich to Munich. If the did, they wouldn't be around much either.

Oh look maybe you just found the reason for them going bancrupt!  :lol:
J/k .... I know for a fact they didn't. My dad was a engine technician specialized on Swissair's (later Swiss') MD-11's. ;)