AR14 Timeline(revised 2/5):
NOTE: I have made changes for Interlaken through Romania. The net effect of them is to have leg 3 be to Salzburg and legs 4 and 5 be in Romania.
Oct. 31 leg 1 depart U.S. for Locarno, Switzerland via Frankfurt and Zurich or via Milan:
LAX to Milan-Malpensa(MXP) as follows: TN022 1145 0845+1 connecting with AF1214 0945+1 1145+1
Here are the bus schedules in the same time frame:
Shuttle bus leaves airport Arrival in Bellinzona at Connecting train leaves Arrival in Locarno
12:30 14:20 14:39 14:58
14:30 16:20 16:39 16:58
From LAX to Milan-Linate a similar schedule applies:
TN (Air Tahiti Nui) 022 LAX CDG 1145 0845+1, conecting with XM5997 CDG LIN 0935+1 1110+1
From LAX to Zurich via Frankfurt we have the interesting combination:
LH457 LAX FRA 1435 1025+1 connecting with LH3726 FRA ZRH 1200 1255
What I find most interesting is the fit LH457/LH3726 has with the observer comments about seeing 7 teams in Frankfurt Airport the morning of Saturday Nov. 1. I expect no other reason to go to Frankfurt except to connect to Zurich. There are 10 nonstop flights on Saturday between Frankfurt and Zurich, so if any are delayed there are alternatives.
The train schedule from Zurich to Bellinzona to Locarno indicates that 3 1/4 hours is required. Here is is:
Train leaves airport Change in Connecting train leaves Arrival in Locarno
11:47 Zurich HB (main station) 12:09
Arth-Goldau 12:52
Bellinzona 14:40 15:06
12:47 Zurich HB (main station) 13:09
Bellinzona 15:40 16:06
13:47 Zurich HB (main station) 14:09
Arth-Goldau 14:52
Bellinzona 16:40 17:07
16:47 Zurich HB(main station) 17:09
Bellinzona 19:40 19:06
It is my belief that AR14 teams used a minimum of 2 flight combinations to get to Locarno. One may be to Milan, another to Zurich directly, and a third to Zurich via Frankfurt.
Nov. 1 arrive mid-morning in Europe and reach Locarno sometime in the afternoon; then tasks; this might be a TBC to allow known timing of next leg, but probably isn't
Nov. 2 Verzasca Dam bungee jump then Locarno to Domodossola to Spiez to Interlaken by train; then tasks in Interlaken
dep. Locarno 1047 arr. Domodossola 1235
dep. Domodossola 1248 arr. Spiez 1353
dep. Spiez 1425 arr. Interlaken West 1454 or dep. Spiez 1432 arr. Interlaken West 1451
total trip is 4 hours train
There is an alternate train route through the Goschenen Tunnel
Interlaken tasks
Nov. 3 leg 2 Interlaken possibly by rail to Zurich, then plane to Salzburg; arrival possibilities mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and late evening
From Interlaken to Salzburg, the early morning Tuesday(as in Nov.4) train schedules are:
dep. Interlaken West 0605 transfer trains in Spiez, Romanschorn, 7 min. walk to ship, ship to Frederichshafen ship terminal, 5 min. walk to Hafen station, 2 min. train to Frederichshafen station, Ulm, then arr. Salzburg 1454 after a 8 hour 53 minute trip OR
dep. Interlaken West 0731 transfer trains in Spiez, Bern, Zurich arr. Salzburg 1529 after a 8 hour 0 minute trip
More likely it will be a 5.5 hour (standard case with no getting lost along the way) self-drive car trip west to east within sight of the Alps all the way to Bertechsgaden
Tasks in Bertechsgaden and Raushberg parasailing.
Evening Pit stop in Salzburg
Nov. 4 leg 3 depart Salzburg for Bucharest, with several late-night flight options:
through Munich drive back from Salzburg early evening, then LH3424 2130 0025 MUC OTP
through Frankfurt OS269 1830 1950 SGZ FRA connecting to LH3416 2030 0005 FRA OTP
Nov. 6 arrival in Bucharest after midnight; transfer to train to get to Brasov
morning train departures: Bucharest Nord 2358 arr. Brasov 0246 or dep. 0630 0922 or dep. 0730 1019 or dep. 0616 1051(note: nobody would want this) or 0830 1124 or 0942 1254 or 1130 1404
Nov. 7 tasks in Brasov
pit stop in Transylvania (includes Brasov)
Nov. 8 leg 5 AR14 Timeline(revised 1/26 exactly 2 months after the prio version):
1.First there is a comment on what happens between Phuket and Guilin. The most obvious possibility is a leg in Bangkok, but if WRP has a "Been there, done that" attitude like me, I want to see somewhere else in southeast Asia next.
2. We haven't a clue on where in India AR14 is going except that air connections through Delhi on to Bangkok and Phuket are probable. We know that you can easily get to Phuket via Singapore alao.
Oct. 31 leg 1 depart U.S. for Locarno, Switzerland via Frankfurt and Zurich or via Milan:
LAX to Milan-Malpensa(MXP) as follows: TN022 1145 0845+1 connecting with AF1214 0945+1 1145+1
Here are the bus schedules in the same time frame:
Shuttle bus leaves airport Arrival in Bellinzona at Connecting train leaves Arrival in Locarno
12:30 14:20 14:39 14:58
14:30 16:20 16:39 16:58
From LAX to Milan-Linate a similar schedule applies:
TN (Air Tahiti Nui) 022 LAX CDG 1145 0845+1, conecting with XM5997 CDG LIN 0935+1 1110+1
From LAX to Zurich via Frankfurt we have the interesting combination:
LH457 LAX FRA 1435 1025+1 connecting with LH3726 FRA ZRH 1200 1255
Note: some of those above are too early to get if the taditional Amazing Race start timing holds.
What I find most interesting is the fit LH457/LH3726 has with the observer comments about seeing 7 teams in Frankfurt Airport the morning of Saturday Nov. 1. I expect no other reason to go to Frankfurt except to connect to Zurich. There are 10 nonstop flights on Saturday between Frankfurt and Zurich, so if any are delayed there are alternatives.
The train schedule from Zurich to Bellinzona to Locarno indicates that 3 1/4 hours is required. Here is is:
Train leaves airport Change in Connecting train leaves Arrival in Locarno
11:47 Zurich HB (main station) 12:09
Arth-Goldau 12:52
Bellinzona 14:40 15:06
12:47 Zurich HB (main station) 13:09
Bellinzona 15:40 16:06
13:47 Zurich HB (main station) 14:09
Arth-Goldau 14:52
Bellinzona 16:40 17:07
16:47 Zurich HB(main station) 17:09
Bellinzona 19:40 19:06
It is my belief that AR14 teams used a minimum of 2 flight combinations to get to Locarno. One may be to Milan, another to Zurich directly, and a third to Zurich via Frankfurt.
Nov. 1 arrive mid-morning in Europe and reach Locarno sometime in the afternoon; then tasks; this might be a TBC to allow known timing of next leg, but probably isn't in which case we have a pit stop
Nov. 2 leg 2 Locarno to Domodossola to Spiez to Interlaken by train; then tasks in Interlaken
dep. Locarno 1047 arr. Domodossola 1235
dep. Domodossola 1248 arr. Spiez 1353
dep. Spiez 1425 arr. Interlaken West 1454 or dep. Spiez 1432 arr. Interlaken West 1451
total trip is 4 hours train
Nov. 3 leg 3 Interlaken probably by rail to Zurich, then plane to Salzburg; arrival possibilities mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and late evening
From Interlaken to Salzburg, the early morning Tuesday(as in Nov.4) train schedules are:
dep. Interlaken West 0605 transfer trains in Spiez, Romanschorn, 7 min. walk to ship, ship to Frederichshafen ship terminal, 5 min. walk to Hafen station, 2 min. train to Frederichshafen station, Ulm, then arr. Salzburg 1454 after a 8 hour 53 minute trip OR
dep. Interlaken West 0731 transfer trains in Spiez, Bern, Zurich arr. Salzburg 1529 after a 8 hour 0 minute trip
Based on the above, it seems more likely that teams flew to Salzburg on Nov. 4. In order to do that the optimal route is to take a train from Interlaken to Bern(somtimes changing first in Spiez) and then change for Bern to Zurich. The trains that fit are:
First train is dep. Interlaken West 522 transfer at Bern, arr. Zurich HB 0728, transfer there to Zurich Airport dep. HB 0746 arr. Airport 0747, a difficult 23 minute connection to make the first flight below from Zurich airport; see a. below for best flight
Next is dep. Interlaken West 1031 transfer at Bern, arr. Zurich HB 1228 dep.HB 1237 arr. Airport 1246; see b. below for best flight
Last is dep. Interlaken West 1729 transfer at Spiez and Bern, arr. Zurich HB 1928, dep. HB 1937 arr. Airport 1946; see c. below for best flight
At Zurich there are several nonstop flights to Salzburg, each with a connection from one of the train trips above:
a. C91202/LX4290 0810 0915 ZRH SGZ
b. C91204/Lx4292 1335 1440 ZRH SGZ
c. C91208/LX4294 2040 2145 ZRH SGZ
tasks in Salzburg
pit stop
Nov. 4 leg 4 depart Salzburg for Bucharest, with several late-night flight options:
through Munich drive back form Salzburg early evening, then LH3424 2130 0025 MUC OTP
through Frankfurt OS269 1830 1950 SGZ FRA connecting to LH3416 2030 0005 FRA OTP
Nov. 5 arrival in Bucharest after midnight; transfer to train to get to Brasov
morning train departures: Bucharest Nord 2358 arr. Brasov 0246 or dep. 0630 0922 or dep. 0730 1019 or dep. 0616 1051(note: nobody would want this) or 0830 1124 or 0942 1254 or 1130 1404
tasks in Brasov area, ending with either a TBC or normal pitstop
Nov. 6 more tasks in Transylvania plus possibly Bucharest
Nov. 7 pit stop somewhere in Romania
Nov. 8 leg 5 get to Bucharest if not already there
leave Transylvania for Krasnojarsk
RO341 Bucharest (OTP) - Vienna (VIE)0835 0920, FV204 Vienna (VIE) - St Petersburg (LED) 1050 1530, FV573 St. Petersburg (LED) - Krasnojarsk (KJA) 1800 0240+1 OR
LO642 Bucharest (OTP) - Warsaw (WAW)1435 1520, LO677 Warsaw (WAW) - Moscow (SVO) 1600 2010, SU781 Moscow (SVO) - Krasnojarsk (KJA) 0045+1 0910+1 OR
TH1444 Bucharest (OTP) - Istanbul (IST) 1050 1215, TK1415 Istanbul (IST) - Moscow (SVO) 1335 1740, SU779 Moscow (SVO) - Krasnojarsk (KJA) 2055 0540+1
Nov. 9 do tasks and finish with TBC allowing teams to board TransSiberian Express in late afternoon
Here is the schedule from Krasnojarsk to Novosibirsk on a weekday:
Dep.Kr Arr.No Duration
00:57 14:09 13:12
02:01 17:27 15:26
04:10 16:01 11:51
05:59 20:06 14:07
06:52 18:51 11:59
07:18 22:52 15:34
08:05 21:24 13:19
10:09 23:55 13:46
10:36 23:12 12:36
11:16 00:58 13:42
12:36 01:12 12:36
13:51 02:24 12:33
14:37 04:19 13:42
15:27 04:33 13:06
18:26 06:47 12:21
23:36 12:38 13:02
My guess is that teams would be ready to leave Krasnojarsk based on a TBC on the 1351, 1437, or 1527 trains.
Nov. 10 leg 6 TransSiberian Express arrival in Novosibirsk
ride on Trans Siberian Express train trip to Novosibirsk
tasks in Novosibirsk, Siberia
pit stop
Nov. 12 leg 7 flights Novosibirsk to Moscow to Delhi, India and on to somewhere in northern India
SU810 Novosibirsk (OVB) - Moscow (SVO) 0700 0815, KC872 Moscow (SVO) - Almaty (ALA) 0920 1645, KC907 Almaty (ALA) - Delhi (DEL) 1805 2115
then connecting to unknown city in India
tasks
pit stop
Nov. 14 leg 8 leave "somewhere in northern India" to Bangkok
Nov. 15 fly Bangkok to Phuket apparently on TG203 0740 0850, then tasks in Phuket area
pit stop
Nov. 16 leg 9 possibly fly from Phuket to Bangkok
Choices for flights are: TG226 0725 0850, TG1204 0935 1100, PG272 1025 1145, TG1206 1235 1400, TG1214 1355 1520, PPG 276 1350 1510
tasks in Bangkok area
pit stop
Nov. 18 leg 10 fly probably form Bangkok to to Guilin
Shenzen Air 9669 BKK CAN 2110 2225. The viable CAN KWL flights are TG668 0950 1330 and MS958 1310 1655.
tasks in Guilin area
extended pit stop
Nov. 20 leg 11 Guilin to Beijing flight choices:
CZ3281 0900 1125
CA6312 1145 1435
CZ3287 1710 1950
CA1226 2105 0015
then tasks in Beijing and start regular pitstop
Nov. 21 leg 12 return from Beijing to U.S. for Finish Line in Hawaii via Tokyo
PEK NRT on Air China has several choices:
CA6651/NH956 0845 1305
CA925 0930 1350
CA167 1350 1750
Continuing on from Tokyo-Narita to Honolulu (NRT to HNL), there are 9 choices with departures between 645pm and 10pm. With the 6 hours 45 minute flying team and 5 hour time difference, these flights arrive HNL 0630 to 0950. The most logical choice to me would be UA880 NRT HNL 1925 0710+1. All these are same day due to crossing the International Date Line.
Finish Line on which Hawaiian island not known yet although I guess Oahu now for convenience
Note: this is a 22 day race.