Regarding Phil's possible travel, Shanghai to Bangkalan.......
1st leg's over.
The above was posted @ 2:38 am CDT May 28, which converts to 3:38 pm May 28 Shanghai time. At that point, Phil is done for the day. Given the distance from the pit stop to the airport......it seems reasonable that he could be at PuDong Airport by 5:30-6:00 pm to fly out.
Looking for flights out of Shanghai on the evening of May 28th.....there is not enough time to arrive in Surabaya before midnight. There is only one daily non stop flight, Shanghai to Jakarta.....the same flight the teams take on May 29. It just doesn't make much sense to keep Phil in Shanghai to fly with those teams.....better to get him to Surabaya earlier and let him rest there. So pretty improbable that he would hang around Shanghai and fly with teams on GA895.
From a production standpoint, it is really not necessary for Phil to even fly to Jakarta. Surabaya has an international airport and receives flights from Taipei, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Not all of these cities have daily flights to Surabaya. On the particular days this takes place, only KL and Singapore will fit a Shanghai to Surabaya route. Phil can actually arrive in Surabaya, BEFORE teams even leave Shanghai.
Shanghi via Kuala Lumpor to Surabaya, Indonesia May 28/29
MU 539 8:00pm - 12:50 am
AK 1392 6:45 am - 8:25 am
Shanghai via Singapore to Surabaya, Indonesia May 28/29
SQ 835 7:10 pm - 12:30 am
MI 222 7:50 am - 9:10 am
I did make some assumptons.......1) only a two leg/one connection flight. Phil could have done a 3 flight/two connection flight via Jakarta. That just doesn't make much sense to me.
2) both possible routes involve somewhat lengthy layovers in KL and Singapore. We also know that Phil flies Biz Class, so he has a bed to sleep in, on long flights. If production decides to get Phil a hotel room, both airports have very nice hotels in the airport teminal bldgs and he could take the 2nd flights out of each to Surabaya. He would still arrive in Surabaya before noon (via KL) or @ 1:30 pm (via Singapore) and still have plenty of sun to film his standups.
Phil then would have a very nice long time to rest up before having to be at the Pit Stop at the end of Leg 2 on May 30th around Bangkalan, somewhere close to probably 18 hours. In all likelihood, Phil may already finished doing his standup as I post this or very close to finishing them.
I think that the long train ride is a given for several reasons:
1) makes teams arrive in Bangkalan in daylight for HD filming. I just don't see them filming an episode in beautiful Indonesia in the dark. So I look at the train ride as a moving HoO.
2) keeps teams uncomfortable.....no beds on train. Plus, easier security for Production.
3) Gives Phil time to catch up on sleep in a non-moving bed for first time since leaving LAX.
According to Peach in the Live Sightings Thread........there is no train ride this time.