Author Topic: Your favorite/least favorite Routes  (Read 9970 times)

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Offline TheWarrior

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Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« on: July 21, 2012, 01:30:17 AM »
Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here. Let's put aside everyone's thirst for interteam tensions and dramas and look at the route. I'm sure many of us watch TAR because we want to take a look at countries which we may not be able to travel to in our lifetimes.

What's everyone's favorite route? 

I like the routes of 5, 6, 12 and 17. They travelled to many exotic countries which are pretty much unheard of, the challenges and the culture shock factor was there.

My least favorite route would be 7, 8 and 13.

8 is a no brainer. I think for obvious reasons, the route pretty much blowed.

7. To fans of this season, let's face it, without the much hyped up drama between Romber and the rest of the teams, this season is as boring as watching paints dry just by looking at its route. They travelled to many English speaking countries, where people could at least get by with basic English (South Africa, Botswana, India, England - Duh!, Jamaica, Puerto Rico - part of USA), there were little culture shock factors in terms of language. Of all the Asian countries, why India again? And out of so many European countries, why England? It did not feel like a race-around-the-world, more like a race halfway-around-the-world.

13. The route was pretty bad too as they stuck in the same city (Delhi and Moscow) for 2 legs. They could have done better with exploring the other parts of the country.

Offline Air

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2012, 01:38:41 AM »
TAR2 is HORRIBLE. Double legs everywhere and NO EUROPE  (:;).

On the other hand, I really like TAR10 and 17.

10: Exotic locations and great tasks.

17: GHANA AND BANGLADESH FTW! Also St. Petersburg and epic South Korea leg (IMO).


Offline supah

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2012, 01:47:26 AM »
5, 10, 12, 17, and 20 had the best routes.

14 was WAY too bland for me  :groan:

Offline Sam‽

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2012, 01:49:08 AM »
I quite like the TAR2 route actually, apart from the lifetime they seemed to spend in Australia and New Zealand! There's lots of legs in Europe anyway! :lol:

My favourite routes countrywise are 12, 17, 18 and 19.

I like the new countries that 12 visited, and they showcased them relatively well, a minority of the tasks were a bit of a let down (why so many bicycles?  (:;) ) but overall I find the legs very entertaining.

17 has the great locations and tasks, the first detour in Saint Petersburg might just be my favourite detour ever.

18 had great locations as well, the first 6 legs are fantastic. Varanasi and Austria were okay in the middle but they could've been better. But the legs after that go back to the fantastic level!  :hearts:

I like the way 19 was structured in most of the legs, and how they started to switch up where the main travelling section was located. For example, the Bangkok leg doesn't seem to be popular, but I really like that leg for some reason, the buses caused a bit of chaos there.

Although I do like the routes of basically all of the seasons, there are some that are more iffy than others.


I think Season 5's route is overrated. Sure, they went to 6 continents, but there was no opportunity to really learn much about the places. They stayed in one place for like 5 minutes then all of a sudden they were jetting off to somewhere a few thousand miles away. I actually prefer seasons which have two legs in a few of the countries. I like the 2-leg cities (like Delhi, Moscow, Shanghai). Maybe I'm just weird.  :lol3:

Welcome to the forum, TheWarrior!  :hello2:

Offline ianthebalance

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2012, 03:00:20 AM »
Best: Seasons 6 and 9
6: 7 episodes in europe, awesome africa locations, sri lanks (1 of the best legs EVER in my opinion.)
9: Brazil legs, Nice Europe locations, Australia, Japan, Alaska in the winter. 59,000 miles and it didn't feel rushed in each continent.

Worst: Seasons 8, 13
8: No explanation neccesary.
13: If only 11 legs, why have 4 legs that only took place in 1 city (delhi, moscow)


Offline Theo

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2012, 09:28:55 AM »
Best:
10 : Because it visited many countries: 13!

12 : Because it featured one of my favorite places in the world: Dubrovnik!

19 : Because it visited my country for the first time after 18 seasons :-[

Worst:
13 : Actually I like the way TAR moved on this season. It went to South America first then navigated eastward. It also featured some good and potential places: Bolivia, New Zealand, Cambodia and Kazakhstan, as well Brazil, India and Russia, but they didn't use them well. Two legs in Brazil, India and Russia :stare

14 : Not that I hate China or something, three legs in China were more than I can take. Although they were good legs, but still... :stare
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Offline selfeviction

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2012, 12:24:17 PM »
TAR 5,10,17 was the best
14,18,20 were okay
15,16,19 were so horrible

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2012, 12:42:23 PM »
19 horrible?

My personal favourites are 3, 12 and 17.

Most horrid were 16 and 14 (especially 14).

Offline choroneko

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2012, 01:00:56 PM »
TAR 17 is my favorite.

TAR 19 was such a shame. Pretty good countries but never used very well.
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Offline Marionete

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2012, 01:48:33 PM »
17 has the great locations and tasks, the first detour in Saint Petersburg might just be my favourite detour ever.
OMG, mine too! :OOOOO
I wish so much they'd do a switchback on that!

I loved the route of TAR17 and TAR15, these are probably my 2 favourites, but I also really enjoyed TAR16 because of Seychelles, France & China's legs.


Offline TheWarrior

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #10 on: July 21, 2012, 06:40:01 PM »
Thank you Sam.

Yes, I agree. 14 has routes which were pretty similar to the very first season. The Thailand legs were boring for me. Unfortunately, season 19 has to reiterate that.

In my personal opinion, I don't really like the idea of the race having back to back European legs. Europe and Australia to me is like a comfort zone for the racers, as there is very little culture shock factor, the locals resembles the racers (or at least most of them), they can travel around without getting stared at (of course somehow they will, with camera and soundman following them and if they behave badly).

I would rather see more legs of Asia and Africa.

The reason why 17 was on my list is because even though they travelled to many known countries (England, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Korea), most of the places they went were pretty off the beaten path. They visit places which were only known by locals, did activites which were rather unusual (rock climbing in Oman, travelling on sampans in the midst of metropolitan Hong Kong, going into a U.S. army camp in South Korea).

Yeah. And season 10 rocks. They visited every part of Asia!

If I were to rank:

Best - 17, 10, 6, 12

Above Average - 4 (probably the best Indian legs ever on TAR, and the culture shock factor of South Korea), 5 (for Egypt, Philippines and a terrific Indian leg), 9, 11.

Average - 2 (best Thailand leg featuring Chiang Mai, nice African legs too), 19 (first time visit to Indonesia and I pretty much learned lots of stuff about that country!)

Below Average - 3 (too many European legs), 14, 15 (slightly better than 14, but 3 continent race lacks cultural variety)

Worst - 7, 8, 13 (these 3 seasons lack creativity in destination planning)

Offline JordanJones123

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2012, 05:04:59 AM »
It gets hate, but 16 is my fave... why?

Best showcasing of South America, Cool european places and the seychelles were awesome. this route is far better than most. the only one that comes near is 18, but for an all star edition that should be expected
Jet and Cord are still the best!!! Bring them back!

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Offline Declive

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2012, 05:06:24 AM »
I like Season 10's route.
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Offline Sam‽

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2012, 07:54:01 AM »
It gets hate, but 16 is my fave... why?

Best showcasing of South America, Cool european places and the seychelles were awesome. this route is far better than most. the only one that comes near is 18, but for an all star edition that should be expected

I think 16's route was pretty good, just quite a few legs didn't have very good tasks, or tasks that were a bit too easy, and that's what people have a problem with. And it's probably also because there was no places that were really new, apart from the Seychelles.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2012, 08:01:08 AM by Sam. »

Offline choroneko

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #14 on: July 25, 2012, 06:16:01 PM »
The France legs in season 16 were great IMO.
The detour in the first France leg tho was kinda imbalanced. That morse code was kinda impossible to finish. Regardless of what, that champagne tower task was awesome.
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Offline Sam‽

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #15 on: July 25, 2012, 08:51:00 PM »
The France legs in season 16 were great IMO.
The detour in the first France leg tho was kinda imbalanced. That morse code was kinda impossible to finish. Regardless of what, that champagne tower task was awesome.

I agree, but I'd say both of the detours in France were imbalanced. The champagne tower task was brilliant, but it shouldn't have been paired with the other task, the tower was much harder and time-consuming, whether they finished it or not. The champagne tower as a Roadblock would've been fantastic.

Offline Magnus

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #16 on: July 26, 2012, 06:03:33 PM »
Tar 9 and 20 are the best routes for me. Season 15  has great locations but not much variety

Offline TheWarrior

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #17 on: July 26, 2012, 09:22:34 PM »
TAR 11 and 20 has above average routes. But I hated the Indian legs of TAR 20. Cochin is one of the less chaotic places, very western influenced, almost everyone speaks English, and they chose to stay there for 2 consecutive legs, and its not that big anyway.

Offline AmazingRace

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #18 on: July 27, 2012, 06:47:07 AM »
TAR10 is my favourite!  :ghug:

Offline Caelestor

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #19 on: July 27, 2012, 03:48:38 PM »
Considering only routes and not other factors such as tasks or casts:

TAR 1: Unique start in South Africa and a detour to Tunisia while in Europe.
TAR 2: The Southern hemisphere route is a classic. If the race had spent three legs in S. America as was originally planned, there wouldn't be so much route fatigue after Australia.
TAR 3: A lot of Europe after TAR 2, but the unique destinations (Mexico, Scotland, Portugal, Morocco, Switzerland) make this a surprisingly fresh route.
TAR 4: No Africa, but I liked how the route detoured a lot (French countryside - even though the leg was poorly designed, Kerala, Borneo, the jump to S. Korea and then down to Australia).
TAR 5: The classic six-continent, long-distance flight route. Good choice of locales. The only thing that really sticks out is the huge New Zealand detour.
TAR 6: Very similar to TAR 3. I still maintain that TAR 6 has the best destinations out of all the races so far (Iceland, Norway, Senegal, Corsica, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Xi'an).
TAR 7: Too much time spent in S. America. The destinations after that were pretty good though. I think the great circle route really throws off a lot of people.
TAR 8: No comment
TAR 9: This route was really good, a la TAR 5, but the transition from Asia to Australia to Thailand was done much better.
TAR 10: My most favorite 4-continent/westward route for the sheer diversity of countries: Mongolia, coastal Vietnam, Kuwait, the Indian Ocean countries, Finland, Kiev, Morocco, Spain.
TAR 11: Suffers from too much time spent in S. America and an awkward detour into Europe.
TAR 12: Another route similar to TAR 3/6 with some great destinations: Ireland, Burkina Faso, Dubrovnik, Italy countryside, Taiwan.
TAR 13: The Bolivia to New Zealand to Cambodia jumps are genius, but the route suffers by spending 4 legs in Delhi and Moscow. Had they moved two more legs to Western Europe or Africa, the jump to Portland wouldn't be so daunting.
TAR 14: Not a huge fan of 3-continent routes, even though Siberia was a nice detour.
TAR 15: Again, not a huge fan of 3-continent routes.
TAR 16: The zig-zag route itself is good. Even with French winecountry, Seychelles, Penang, & Singapore, it didn't live up to its potential, though.
TAR 17: Another route similar to TAR 12, with amazing destinations: English countryside, Ghana, Swedish Lapland, summertime St. Petersburg, Bangladesh, S. Korea. And the tasks/cast was great too.
TAR 18: I liked the Australia start and the big jumps in the route. Though most of the countries had been used before, the route explored newer unseen areas: Australian outback, rural Japan, inner China, Varanasi, the Matterhorn, summertime Rio de Janeiro. S. America at the end of the race nicely contrasts snowy Europe.
TAR 19: Very good route. Taiwan, Indonesia, Lake Malawi, Denmark, Belgium, Panama were all highlights.
TAR 20: Paraguay, Azerbaijan, and Hiroshima were nice detours. It really dragged in the second half though with the double legs in Tanzania and India though.

In general, the 4-continent Africa/Asia/Europe routes are my favorites because it feels that the race explores each continent quite in-depth. I do like how the producers have gotten more creative with their 5-continent routes lately, though, in the order of continents visited. Three-continent routes are really boring, in my opinion.


Offline Wadsy

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #20 on: March 23, 2021, 04:15:05 PM »
Best:

3 - Great locations throughout, particularly Scotland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I also enjoyed all of the Asia legs which is something I cannot say for the majority of recent seasons.
6 - Hands down the best in my opinion. I guess they were making up for a lack of Europe in TAR 5 since here we get the most legs in Europe in the entire series. That's not all, all other locations - Senegal, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and China were also equally amazing! The Honolulu final could have been better but that is a minor gripe.
30 - I was really impressed with this one. It felt very TAR 6 at some points with a lot of Europe but not a dull moment! Iceland, Belgium, France and Czech Republic were all fantastic. The Morocco, Zimbabwe and Bahrain legs were also nice, with the Thailand leg being cool as well.

TAR 29 gets an honourable mention

Worst:

4 - On paper the locations look good I guess but after watching the season felt differently. I am a huge fan of Europe but here we get some of the worst in the series with Vienna and France being abysmal. The first Malaysian leg is so boring and just unexciting and Australia was poorly used - majorly! On a more positive note, I enjoyed the Italian legs, India 2 and Malaysia 2.

8 - No comments necessary.

11 - Another one I feel guilty for putting on the list but it feels like a copy of seasons 5 and 7, having so many legs in South America, followed by Africa (been there done that!). There was only one European country which sucked even more and Guam was incredibly dull.

13 - This is one of my least favourite seasons and I have never gone back and watched it since it first aired. I cannot think of anything good about it, except the New Zealand leg and the locations were as easily forgettable. I think Bolivia and Kazakhstan were good but it was too long ago to remember.

24 - Yeah I think we all know why this is here. Least number of countries outside the Family Edition, double legs everywhere and 3 continents - complete nonsense.

TAR 2 gets a dishonourable mention
« Last Edit: March 23, 2021, 04:21:19 PM by Wadsy »
Wadsy

Offline LandonM170

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #21 on: March 23, 2021, 09:25:15 PM »
My favorites are probably: S5, S10, S17, S29, S32

Also, can't forget S12 (was a little Europe heavy however it payed off with 3 new countries in Europe and two more in Africa and Asia).

My least favorites are: S2 (5 double leg countries :idgit), S4 (4th season and half the route is countries already visited :dick), S8 (to many rural country legs; where is Chicago, Seattle, Miami?), S14 (any season with 3 continents is automatically a least favorite), S15 (I enjoyed the locations and season however only 3 continents), S16 (to many already visited countries that were overused), S18 (enjoyed the locations however most countries were new cities and old overused countries), S21 (three continents really), S24 (three continents and overused countries with 4 double legs), S25 (fantastic season however only North Hampshire and 4 double legs), S26 (horrible except Namibia and Peru), S27 (great season except we are going to go to every overused countries we can find except for two), S28 (to many middle east/central asia legs, and of course China which was just visited in S27 and S24), S31 (Vietnam, Japan, United Kingdom, and Switzerland should have been replaced).

I couldn't forget S7 and S11 for having 4 SA legs! Would have been great for both of them otherwise.

Offline Declive

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #22 on: March 23, 2021, 11:23:04 PM »
I think any route that explores the max. number of continents has the win for me.
Also, i love when they go "remote" but to a big city. I love seeing the development of these places.

Like, i'd love to see them go countryside Canada but also love to see them go to the biggest city in some small country.
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Offline Wadsy

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #23 on: April 02, 2021, 07:10:50 PM »
I think any route that explores the max. number of continents has the win for me.
Also, i love when they go "remote" but to a big city. I love seeing the development of these places.

Like, i'd love to see them go countryside Canada but also love to see them go to the biggest city in some small country.

I would have said that as well regarding the continents but it didn't turn out the way I wanted.

To this day seasons 5 and 11 are the only editions to have visited 6 continents and neither would fall under a season with the top locations.
TAR 5 lacked Europe and while I know they did go to Russia, I am not a fan though I did like TAR 14 when they explored Siberia and the less visited areas.
I also was not a fan of the El Nido leg and even Canada was a tad underwhelming because they hardly did anything there.
I won't even get started with TAR 11 with all of it's South America and Asia legs.
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Offline NELs

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Re: Your favorite/least favorite Routes
« Reply #24 on: April 02, 2021, 07:46:37 PM »
I think any route that explores the max. number of continents has the win for me.
Also, i love when they go "remote" but to a big city. I love seeing the development of these places.

Like, i'd love to see them go countryside Canada but also love to see them go to the biggest city in some small country.
To this day seasons 5 and 11 are the only editions to have visited 6 continents

TAR Australia vs New Zealand visited six continents. This statement would be true if you counted only US seasons, but when say "editions" it becomes a false statement.