Topic: TAR 19 Locations/Destinations **Spoilers**

[Neobie]

Not sure if Elimination Station would be in Phuket or Koh Samui, but a team being transported to Koh Samui will not be flying towards Phuket.

That said, I'm surprised there're no sightings in Phuket?

[mds1978]

Not sure if Elimination Station would be in Phuket or Koh Samui, but a team being transported to Koh Samui will not be flying towards Phuket.

That said, I'm surprised there're no sightings in Phuket?

You're wrong. To get to Ko Samui, you fly through Bangkok or Phuket. There are several cheap non-stop flights that go from Phuket to Ko    Samui. Just do a kayak search and see for yourself.

And again, there are no sightings in Phuket because the race isn't going to Phuket. This is an eliminated team going to ES in Ko Samui.

[georgiapeach]

We THINK. ^^ Not yet 100% confirmed either way...

[Chateau d If]

I think Neobie's point is that why would you fly from Bangkok to Phuket and then continue to Koh Samui when you could have just got straight from BKK to Koh Samui?

[mds1978]

I think Neobie's point is that why would you fly from Bangkok to Phuket and then continue to Koh Samui when you could have just got straight from BKK to Koh Samui?

For the same reasons I have to fly through Chicago or Denver to get to New York, even though I could go straight from LAX to NYC on a nonstop flight.

-availability
-price
-convenience/departure times

Of course we'd all love to fly nonstop whenever it's an option, but often times we don't for any or all of the above reasons. Production doesn't have an unlimited budget and the nonstop flights from Phuket to Ko Samui are very cheap ($89).

ETA:
Here's an example to illustrate my point. Flight search for a one way ticket from Jakarta to Ko Samui departing later this week:

$664 is cheapest option, and all flights with this price are via Phuket
$995 is the price to fly to Ko Samui on a direct flight from Bangkok (!!) and this itinerary would be ~6.5 hours, only around two hours shorter than the cheaper option through Phuket (~8.5 hours)

I think if WRP could save $1000 by having a team and one production person take the first option, it makes perfect sense.

[Prophet]

They had already made a lot of stops on this journey. WRP rarely plans that many stopovers.

Jogja > Jakarta > Bangkok > Phuket > Koh Samui seems unlikely. BTW where did the Koh Samui spec come from anyway?

[theschnauzers]

Koh Samui spec come from anyway?

As I understand it, there's a belief that because that was where last season's ES was, that TPTB would be using it again because of the location of the first five or so eliminations. It is also speculation.

I'm not persuaded that Phuket is or isn't a TAR location this time around; we'll have to wait and see what solid information emerges, and when.

[mds1978]

They had already made a lot of stops on this journey. WRP rarely plans that many stopovers.

Jogja > Jakarta > Bangkok > Phuket > Koh Samui seems unlikely.

Do a flight search yourself and see what you come up with. Nearly every flight out of Jogya is to Jakarta or another city in Indonesia. There's one to Kuala Lumpor, but even that one would still go through Phuket. Any flight from Jakarta will involve stops, and the ones that go through Phuket are hundreds of dollars cheaper than those that go directly from Bangkok to Ko Samui. See my post above for an example.

[Chateau d If]

I think Neobie's point is that why would you fly from Bangkok to Phuket and then continue to Koh Samui when you could have just got straight from BKK to Koh Samui?

For the same reasons I have to fly through Chicago or Denver to get to New York, even though I could go straight from LAX to NYC on a nonstop flight.

-availability
-price
-convenience/departure times

Of course we'd all love to fly nonstop whenever it's an option, but often times we don't for any or all of the above reasons. Production doesn't have an unlimited budget and the nonstop flights from Phuket to Ko Samui are very cheap ($89).

ETA:
Here's an example to illustrate my point. Flight search for a one way ticket from Jakarta to Ko Samui departing later this week:

$664 is cheapest option, and all flights with this price are via Phuket
$995 is the price to fly through Bangkok (!!) and this itinerary would be ~6.5 hours, only around two hours shorter than the cheaper option through Phuket (~8.5 hours)

I think if WRP could save $1000 by having a team and one production person take the first option, it makes perfect sense.

That's odd ?

I get a routing from Jakarta to BKK to Koh Sumui for $974 that looks like this

Thai Airways – Flight 434    3h 30m
     Take-off    Fri 12:35p    CGK    Jakarta, Indonesia
     Landing    Fri 4:05p    BKK    Bangkok, Thailand
     Coach  |  Airbus A330-300 (Wide-body Jet)  | 3h 30m  | 1444 miles
     Connection    BKK    Bangkok, Thailand    4h 55m
   Bangkok Airways – Flight 199    1h 00m
     Take-off    Fri 9:00p    BKK    Bangkok, Thailand
     Landing    Fri 10:00p    USM    Ko Samui, Thailand
     Coach  |  Airbus A319 (Narrow-body Jet)  | 1h 00m

And the only routes that do include Phuket also happen to go through KUL and those are coming in at $664.  They look like this:

Malaysia Airlines – Flight 710    2h 00m
     Take-off    Fri 11:10a    CGK    Jakarta, Indonesia
     Landing    Fri 2:10p    KUL    Sepang, Malaysia
     Coach  |  Boeing 737-800 (Narrow-body Jet)  | 2h 00m
     Connection    KUL    Sepang, Malaysia    
3h 00m
   Malaysia Airlines – Flight 790    1h 15m
     Take-off    Fri 5:10p    KUL    Sepang, Malaysia
     Landing    Fri 5:25p    HKT    Phuket, Thailand
     Coach  |  Boeing 737-400 (Narrow-body Jet)  | 1h 15m
     Connection    HKT    Phuket, Thailand    
1h 40m
   Bangkok Airways – Flight 258    0h 55m
     Take-off    Fri 7:05p    HKT    Phuket, Thailand
     Landing    Fri 8:00p    USM    Ko Samui, Thailand
     Coach  |  Aerospatiale/Alenia ATR 72 (Turbo-prop Plane)  | 0h 55m

But since we know the racers were spotted on a flight from BKK and not from KUL we can conlude that they were not continuing to Koh Sumui.

[LoveRocked]

Amazing Race
Amazing Race "Yogyakarta" is a reflection of The Amazing Race which is one of the most prestigious programs in the world games. Amazing Race "Yogyakarta" is an event for participants GMAD 2011 for travel as well as run games with the route on Jalan Malioboro. Jalan Malioboro is a famous icon in Yogyakarta. This road to Sultan Palace so that participants can simultaneously travel around the Jalan Malioboro and Sultan Palace.
Amazing Race "Yogyakarta" have games involving every aspect related to Yogyakarta. It aims to introduce the culture of Yogyakarta in a much more enjoyable. Games are related to social and environmental concerns. This is done as a form of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). It should be an event not only celebration, but also must be balanced by activities in the form of CSR.

http://feb.ugm.ac.id/en/agenda/205-gadjah-mada-accounting-days-2011.html
I found it and I have no idea..

[Plaidmoon]

Amazing Race
Amazing Race "Yogyakarta" is a reflection of The Amazing Race which is one of the most prestigious programs in the world games. Amazing Race "Yogyakarta" is an event for participants GMAD 2011 for travel as well as run games with the route on Jalan Malioboro. Jalan Malioboro is a famous icon in Yogyakarta. This road to Sultan Palace so that participants can simultaneously travel around the Jalan Malioboro and Sultan Palace.
Amazing Race "Yogyakarta" have games involving every aspect related to Yogyakarta. It aims to introduce the culture of Yogyakarta in a much more enjoyable. Games are related to social and environmental concerns. This is done as a form of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). It should be an event not only celebration, but also must be balanced by activities in the form of CSR.

http://feb.ugm.ac.id/en/agenda/205-gadjah-mada-accounting-days-2011.html
I found it and I have no idea..

That press release (or whatever it is) was dated March 23, 2011 and talks about some kind of seminar in May 2011 for accounting students in Yogyakarta. The Amazing Race portion appears to be some kind of fun activity for the accounting students at the seminar to learn about the local culture of Yogyakarta. Local Amazing Race versions for students are very popular in Indonesia and other parts of Asia. I see them frequently when hunting for real TAR information.

[georgiapeach]

YAY!!

Thanks to zacz, we can look forward to a MALAWI leg 6!!

This fits perfectly...some of us have been tracking rumors of a Kenyan leg.

So (without any sightings sadly) Kenya would still fit beautifully between Phuket and Malawi!!


And since Kenya is my special place of my heart, I am ecstatic at the thought!! I have been grieving for that "lost" Tanzanian leg for years!

Phuket=leg 4
Kenya (unconfirmed) =leg 5
Malawi =leg 6

Now...if they will only go on and redo the leg 1 bungy at Victoria Falls for leg 7 my joy would be complete!!

[georgiapeach]

Possibilities from the safari website:

http://www.landlake.net/index.php/general-info/malawi

WORTH A LOOK!

[zacz]

After looking at the 'land and lake safaris' website I've noticed that they do alot of tours in Zambia as well - So it is possible that they are talking about the Zambia side of Lake Malawi

[Prophet]

Updating the timeline!


It's extremely fortunate that zacz found this leak on FB because Malawi is among the world's least developed countries and I highly doubt we would have gotten any sightings there.

[theschnauzers]

Before Facebook, that safari place probably would have had a webpage; we've found wuite a few locations that way before FB and Twitter.

I'm glad to know that they are headed to Africa, although I admit I wouldn't have thought of Malawi. But it borders several Africa countries the Race has visited, and I agree with Peach that a leg in another east or south African country would be highly probable from a planning perspective. (Among other things, after the fiasco with airline flights during TARAS, TPTB must have a leg planned after Malawi (or provided transportation) so the teams can get out of the region. Could that be where Johannesburg comes in?)

One other thought. Michele Obama and the First Daughters are in southern Africa taking in a safari (which is why nothing has been in the news since after the day they spent with Nelson Mandela)

[Prophet]

I did look into the opportunities over on the transport thread. They can pretty easily get to J-burg if that is the next leg destination. Also they could go back to NBO and get to Europe if that is where they are headed.

[georgiapeach]

I believe during the All stars season or Season 5 not sure which one a leg in Malawi was planned and axed in the last minute.

All Stars, but it was Tanzania.

[selkie]

The All Stars flight fiasco was in Mozambique- accordign to the Guidos, production didn't check the local calendars and what should have normally been fairly uncrowded flights were slammed with every affluent Mozambiquan family trying to get out of the country for either school holidays or the Hadj pilgrimmage. (large Muslim population there.) Eventually everyone ended up in Zanzibar, Tanzania after the most blatant hours of operation bunch in TAR history- Charla and Mirna with the 'conditions too hazardous for the boat ride' delay, even though the water at the time was utterly flat and was actually rougher the following day when the Chas caught up with them.

As long as production knows their school and religious holidays, I can't see a repeat of that chain of events.

[apskip]

I believe during the All stars season or Season 5 not sure which one a leg in Malawi was planned and axed in the last minute.

All Stars, but it was Tanzania.

Didn't they do a leg in Tanzania in All stars?

Last I looked Dar-Es-Salaam and Zanizbar Island were both in Tanzania. What got axed was a planned pit stop only in the Arusha area so teams could have flown out of Kilimanjaro International Airport there. That was relocated back to Stone Town after the fiasco with Hajj pilgrims tying up all the flights out of Maputo.

I recall that 2 teams did connect through Malawi in AR11, Ian and Teri and Joe and Bill.

[georgiapeach]

Heee...all of Nairobi seems to be freezing!!


Temp? 57!

Lilongwe: 74

[Dom]

A trip down the Luangwa would be fantastic to see! I've trekked down it myself, albeit on the Zambia side and can safely say there will be no shortage of fantastic scenery, though there isn't exactly a lot of practical things to do for tasks along the way!

[Lucy980906]

Frankfurt-Copenhagen False

China Airlines - Photo Confirmation - True

since i am chinese, i am excited once again.  it bugs me when i watch and teams struggle with the language barrier when in china.  i just want to jump thru the tv and translate!!

……yes……
especially when Kisha&Jen doing Chinese waiter （S14）……

[Lucy980906]

But they didn't have to think too much because this gives it all away!   

Driving back and forth about 19 times   






edited to embed photo

emmy award……

[theschnauzers]

As far as possible European destinations go, I think we can safely rule out Greece. The protexts over the EU austerity plan have become sufficiently chaotic that I wouldn't deem it safe for the teams or production.