Topic: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation on Spoilers

[puddin]

Any nonsense will be deleted such as route wish lists etc or dream teams.

[Mrs Shrek]

We have our first independent blog sighting of what could be TAR14 underway!!!

Hopefully we can find out more details to confirm.

Saturday, November 1, 2008
From Flip-Flops to Snow Shoes
 

Matty left last night. We all went to the airport to see him off. He had two bags packed solid, and a carry-on with 10 hours worth of books and music. His seat assignment: 38E--the absolute center of the plane in a center seat for t-e-n hours. He left in jeans and a t-shirt, and tied to his bag, was a snow jacket and zip-up fleece. This California boy is trading in his flip-flops for the snowy slopes of Switzerland. Davos, Switzerland to be exact. He will be blogging about his journey, so check it out when you can. He already has a few stories, including running into the Amazing Race contestants at the Frankfurt airport!

[Mrs Shrek]

And the link to Matty's own blog from his sisters blog posted above (sharing the credit with puddin for this) 

Saturday, November 1, 2008
Day One- Sorry it is so long!
Wow, I am finally here and it is freezing! What a day God gave me today. It started with a wonderful send off in Portland with my family and Kirsten; incredibly blessed to have them in my life. I had a direct flight from Portland to Frankfurt, Germany and sat next to a sweet elderly lady that literally talked to me every moment I was either awake or had my headphones off. She and her husband are on the tail end of their 20 year traveling time or experience or however you'd like to word it. And yes, I said 20 years, they have basically spent my entire life traveling! She proceeded to tell me stories from Africa, Australia, China...Fiji, Argentina, Peru...you get the picture. I was able to sleep for the first two hours of the flight, then I watched the new Indiana Jones movie (not all that good) and Leatherheads (also not very good); so I talked with my new friend most of each movie.
Once I hit Frankfurt, I realized two things that I immediately regretted not bringing. A watch would have come in quite handy walking through an airport where there are virtually no clocks. Plus, my phone couldn't find service so I couldn't use it as a source of time. So I sat down on my computer thinking I could check my email and Skype some people and 10 minutes into using my computer it dies. Where's my power cord? In my checked luggage...fantastic. I was able to reach my lovely mother, however. I decided just to walk to my gate and hang out there and read until my flight boarded, but to my surprise I had the Amazing Race in my waiting room and on my flight. There were 7 teams of two hanging around being interviewed by the crew with their huge cameras and all. Lucky me I was the only one in the whole crowd they decided to interview! So I had two teams come up to me with their camera crew and talk to me about who I am, where I'm from, and a ton of other random questions. I had to fill out a release form so they could put me on TV and everything! Pretty crazy, right?

[puddin]

My apologies to gonzalochileno 

Hi Guys, I Read It In The Amazing Race Wiki: I live in Ticino, the southern part of Switzerland. Today I saw two separate groups of two people with backpacks running around town, followed by a cameraman and a 4th person. I noticed they were speaking American English.

This was especially strange because I normally hear American-accented English perhaps once or twice a month, even though this place is pretty touristy. Additionally, I saw these Americans talking to a PRIEST outside of church and being filmed doing so. Seriously, what tourists talk to a priest (on camera)? 

So... One Of The Destinations Is Locarno, Switzerland. 

 Is the Amazing Race in Locarno, Ticino? (date posted Nov 1 2008, )

SwissMiss08
Is the Amazing Race in Locarno, Ticino?
Yesterday, 4:48 PM EDT

I live in Ticino, the southern part of Switzerland. Today I saw two separate groups of two people with backpacks running around town, followed by a cameraman and a 4th person. I noticed they were speaking American English.

This was especially strange because I normally hear American-accented English perhaps once or twice a month, even though this place is pretty touristy. Additionally, I saw these Americans talking to a PRIEST outside of church and being filmed doing so. Seriously, what tourists talk to a priest (on camera)?

Short of waiting for season 14 to air, is there any way to find out if this was, in fact, the Amazing Race.       

venzin77 RE: Is the Amazing Race in Locarno, Ticino?
Today, 3:52 PM EST

Yes the amazing race is in Switzerland y help one couple, y make police man job.

Mornig in Locarno, train Station, y help the couple Dustin & Kandice to go in Verzasca Valley. You see the the show and you see my .....

Wiki/Wetpaint  

[puddin]

Awesome find Mrs Shrek! And don't listen to her, I deserve no credit it was all Mrs Shreks doing!!

 

[michael]

Awesome find Mrs Shrek! And don't listen to her, I deserve no credit it was all Mrs Shreks doing!!

 

Mornig in Locarno, train Station, y help the couple Dustin & Kandice to go in Verzasca Valley. You see the the show and you see my .....   

what?!

[Mrs Shrek]

And don't listen to her, I deserve no credit it was all Mrs Shreks doing!!

  La la la. I'm not listening....I've given credit where credit is due - the second blog was def a team effort

so what you gonna do? Ban me? LOL

 

[puddin]

Mornig in Locarno, train Station, y help the couple Dustin & Kandice to go in Verzasca Valley. You see the the show and you see my .....  

what?!

Sounds like hes a fan of the show Michael and perhaps helped 2 girls? He says hes a cop and heres his profile pic

so what you gonna do? Ban me? LOL

 

You know that can never happen Mrs Shrek

[Mrs Shrek]

I'm not even going to pretend that I can do the flight wizardry that some of the other detectives do, but I was just working out what we already know from the blog details.
The sister's blog posted on Nov 1 at 4:25pm says that Matt left 'last night'. In the family photo on her blog the bro-in-law is wearing a watch that someone might be able to read - it looks like 1:50 to me, which suggests Matty departed early evening, which may help work out approx what time he arrived in Frankfurt on the Saturday.
Matty had a had a direct flight from Portland (Oregon I think) to Frankfurt, Germany which took 10 hours. On arrival in Frankfurt it is assumed he went pretty directly to his next gate to 'hang out there and read until his flight boarded', after his laptop ran out of battery power (about 10 mins). The 7 AR teams were already at the gate, and were on his next flight to Zurich. While there are a number of different airlines that fly to Zurich from Frankfurt, only the Lufthansa/SwissAir codeshare flights seem to be non stop, and as they fly regularly thru the day, and as the flight only takes about 55 mins, I can't imagine the teams choosing one of the other airlines with their longer layovers unless they had to, but someone else may come up with a viable alternative....
Matty's blog was posted after he had arrived in Zurich and met the rest of the team at 11am  (I assume that would have to be PST, which equates to about 8pm Weston European Time?) which should help narrow the window for pinpointing what flight the teams could have been on (assuming I've interpreted the data correctly)

[Neobie]

The first spoiler of a season is always what gets me jumpy and breathless! You guys are great!

Hmm, a 7/4 split for the first flight?

The Portland > Frankfurt plane is simply the reverse of TAR 13's final flight, isn't it? That's LH469, departing at 1.35pm to 9.05am the next day, a flight duration of 10h 30min. Portland, Maine doesn't have a direct flight to Frankfurt - and it'd take a much shorter time too if it did!

Only Lufthansa and Swiss Air for the Frankfurt > Zurich leg, and it looks like they're running codeshare. Here're the possible options:
LH5052/LX1071, 1015-1120
LH3726/LX3605, 1200-1255
LH3728/LX3607, 1305-1400

And... There're plenty of trains (departure times differ by less than an hour) from Zurich Airport to Locarno, taking a little over 3 hours with a couple of connections. They'd be able to make it there the same day, albeit in the afternoon. First one gets them in at 1606, provided they can hop on by 1147.


Frankfurt is the airport serving the most destinations worldwide. Not much hope of finding where they start, eh? But if we assume it's straight from the US to Frankfurt, we have the following 21 cities as candidates, with all flights getting in before noon:

The good news? Looks like the LA flight gets in too late for the racers to be lounging around before Matty gets to Frankfurt!

Lufthansa: Atlanta (1810-0900), Boston (1635-0525), Chicago (1433-0545, 1545-0710, 1848-1015), Dallas (1620-0905), Denver (1715-1100), Detroit (1810-0755), Houston (1630-0905), Los Angeles (1435-1025), Miami (1605-0650), New York (1550-0525, 2145-1110), Newark (1810-0750), Orlando (2030-1125), Philadelphia (1635-0615, 1805-0805), Portland (1335-0905), San Francisco (1348-0945, 1430-1020), Seattle (1455-1005), Washington DC (1722-0710, 1750-0730, 1914-0915, 2155-1140)

*deep breath*

United: Chicago (1433-0545, 1545-0710, 1848-1015), San Francisco (1348-0945, 1430-1020), Washington DC (1722-0710, 1750-0730, 1914-0915, 2155-1140)
American: Chicago (1930-1105), Dallas (1445-0705)
Delta: Atlanta (1635-0740), Cincinnati (1925-0955), New York (1910-0930)
Northwest: Detroit (1710-0720)
Continental: Newark (1915-0915)
US Airways: Charlotte (2015-1050), Philadelphia (1635-0615)
Singapore: New York (2100-1050)

[puddin]

More from SwissMiss08 in reply to my questions.

From: SwissMiss08

I first approached the plaza piazza sant'antonio around 6pm (it gets dark here around 5:30pm now).  It is a little plaza in the old city (citta vecchia) which has some parking spots.  I tried to park my car and was waved away.  And there was a priest standing in front of the church, outside.  They did not appear to have been standing there for long.  It looked like they were just getting set up.

I drove past, parked, and walked back past around 6:15.  I saw a team, a short woman and a tall man with backpacks, frantically talking to the priest (or perhaps frantically talking to each other near the priest).  The woman was the one talking.  They may have been middle aged, not sure, I was never very close.

The restaurant I was heading to was closed until 7pm, so I turned around and walked past the church/plaza again, this time only the priest and a few others were standing around.  I went down to the Piazza Grande and sat in a bar waiting for the restaurant to open.

Around 7, I was again heading up towards the plaza AGAIN when we were passed by a team heading down the street, towards the vicinity of the Piazza Grande or the castle, we thought.  This team was two younger people (early to mid 20s).  I think the woman I saw was blond, but not sure.  She was definitely pretty and tall - guessing 5'9 or more.  The "producer" (ie 4th person in group, not carrying a backpack or camera) stopped her to adjust her shirt or necklace as they walked down the street.

After this second encounter we figured out it was the amazing race, so we walked back to the plaza, yet AGAIN after dinner around 8:45.  The plaza was empty, no priest.  But all the parking spots were cordoned off.  This was not the case previously.  So we wondered if more teams were coming, and the "priest" had just gone inside to get warm.

We then walked down to the Piazza Grande and the Castle, but neither of those locations was in use.

[puddin]

From this article

Van Munster, who is currently scouting locations in Asia for the 14th season, ...

[puddin]

Found by Slowhatch, I think its cool stuff

Any underground news?

Nope; if anybody knows, he does.

Craig ForrestWorld Savvy Film/TV/Media Producer-Director
Greater Los Angeles Area

Craig Forrest’s Experience
Travel Coordinator
World Race Productions
(Broadcast Media industry)

July 2008 — Present (5 months)

• "The Amazing Race 14" (Jerry Bruckheimer Television/Touchstone Television/CBS Network).

and Craigs resume  

[Slowhatch]

And his wishlist fwiw:

Countries on Hit List: Nepal, Laos, Brunei, Tahiti, Fiji, Jamaica, Bermuda, Uruguay, Paraguay, Belize

[georgiapeach]

So is his "hit List " places he wants/likes to Hit--or places that are "shoot me" before I go there again??

I like this guy--he seems to have a great sense of humor...

AND he owns a kilt! 

[patlini]

they could do England on Guy Fawkes night - Nov 5th

[Chateau d If]

The first spoiler of a season is always what gets me jumpy and breathless! You guys are great!

Hmm, a 7/4 split for the first flight?

The Portland > Frankfurt plane is simply the reverse of TAR 13's final flight, isn't it? That's LH469, departing at 1.35pm to 9.05am the next day, a flight duration of 10h 30min. Portland, Maine doesn't have a direct flight to Frankfurt - and it'd take a much shorter time too if it did!

Only Lufthansa and Swiss Air for the Frankfurt > Zurich leg, and it looks like they're running codeshare. Here're the possible options:
LH5052/LX1071, 1015-1120
LH3726/LX3605, 1200-1255
LH3728/LX3607, 1305-1400

And... There're plenty of trains (departure times differ by less than an hour) from Zurich Airport to Locarno, taking a little over 3 hours with a couple of connections. They'd be able to make it there the same day, albeit in the afternoon. First one gets them in at 1606, provided they can hop on by 1147.


Frankfurt is the airport serving the most destinations worldwide. Not much hope of finding where they start, eh? But if we assume it's straight from the US to Frankfurt, we have the following 21 cities as candidates, with all flights getting in before noon:

The good news? Looks like the LA flight gets in too late for the racers to be lounging around before Matty gets to Frankfurt!

Lufthansa: Atlanta (1810-0900), Boston (1635-0525), Chicago (1433-0545, 1545-0710, 1848-1015), Dallas (1620-0905), Denver (1715-1100), Detroit (1810-0755), Houston (1630-0905), Los Angeles (1435-1025), Miami (1605-0650), New York (1550-0525, 2145-1110), Newark (1810-0750), Orlando (2030-1125), Philadelphia (1635-0615, 1805-0805), Portland (1335-0905), San Francisco (1348-0945, 1430-1020), Seattle (1455-1005), Washington DC (1722-0710, 1750-0730, 1914-0915, 2155-1140)

*deep breath*

United: Chicago (1433-0545, 1545-0710, 1848-1015), San Francisco (1348-0945, 1430-1020), Washington DC (1722-0710, 1750-0730, 1914-0915, 2155-1140)
American: Chicago (1930-1105), Dallas (1445-0705)
Delta: Atlanta (1635-0740), Cincinnati (1925-0955), New York (1910-0930)
Northwest: Detroit (1710-0720)
Continental: Newark (1915-0915)
US Airways: Charlotte (2015-1050), Philadelphia (1635-0615)
Singapore: New York (2100-1050)

It looks to me  like the Teams would have arrived on either

1) UA 945 from ORD Chicago, arriving at 8:10 am
2) SQ 26 from JFK New York, arriving at 8:20 am

I'm looking at these early arrival times because Matty's flight from Portland was shown to have arrived quite early at 8:16 am (versus its 9:05 am scheduled arrival time)

Opps!     I was looking at Frankfurt Departures   

I'll re-post the proper analysis in the 'flights' thread.

[Mrs Shrek]

The Portland > Frankfurt plane is simply the reverse of TAR 13's final flight, isn't it? That's LH469, departing at 1.35pm to 9.05am the next day, a flight duration of 10h 30min. Portland, Maine doesn't have a direct flight to Frankfurt - and it'd take a much shorter time too if it did!

Are there no other possible non stop flights with other airlines? The reason I ask is that it doesn't seem to fit with the evidence in the blog: The sister said "Matty left last night. We all went to the airport to see him off."
It would be a real stretch to describe a 1:35pm departure as 'night', especially as he would probably have had to say goodbye to them before heading thru customs, probably 1 hour before departure at least, so I would have expected her to use the words 'lunchtime', or similar. And from the photo of the family, the watch really does look like 1:50pm.

Also Matty mentions in his own blog that he was only "able to sleep for the first two hours of the flight". Even seasoned travellers would find it hard to dose off at midday in their own timezone at the beginning of their first flight.

The only reason it is impt either way is because it changes the window of time for when the racers would have been seen at Frankfurt.

[georgiapeach]

Wait a second guys...

Are we totally confident in thinking that Frankfurt is the arrival from US city?

Since we aren't 100% sure of the departure date, don't we have to at least consider that it could be a second leg? 

I agree that it probably isn't, but just want to throw this out there.

We saw Phil on TES on 10/29...so we have that tiny window of 10/30 onwards...

If they went somewhere like London first, they could be still be seen in Frankfurt on 11/1...

Just a thought.

Oh and it is definitely Portland, Oregon.....no doubts.

[georgiapeach]

all good ideas topaz, but way premature....

Cape Town is in no way confirmed yet...

[puddin]

So now this has become the speculation thread, I'll make a spoiler thread when we get something solid that this is indeed our race . Nothing is confirmed as of now.

[apskip]

Peach, I do not understand your comment "Oh and it is definitely Portland, Oregon.....no doubts." unless this comment is limited to the departure of the blogger's relative from Portland to Frankfurt. Is there something else about AR14 that has been connected to Portland OR?

[apskip]

The Portland > Frankfurt plane is simply the reverse of TAR 13's final flight, isn't it? That's LH469, departing at 1.35pm to 9.05am the next day, a flight duration of 10h 30min. Portland, Maine doesn't have a direct flight to Frankfurt - and it'd take a much shorter time too if it did!

Are there no other possible non stop flights with other airlines? The reason I ask is that it doesn't seem to fit with the evidence in the blog: The sister said "Matty left last night. We all went to the airport to see him off."
It would be a real stretch to describe a 1:35pm departure as 'night', especially as he would probably have had to say goodbye to them before heading thru customs, probably 1 hour before departure at least, so I would have expected her to use the words 'lunchtime', or similar. And from the photo of the family, the watch really does look like 1:50pm.

Also Matty mentions in his own blog that he was only "able to sleep for the first two hours of the flight". Even seasoned travellers would find it hard to dose off at midday in their own timezone at the beginning of their first flight.

The only reason it is impt either way is because it changes the window of time for when the racers would have been seen at Frankfurt.

Mrs. Shrek, the last flight connection leaving Portland that can connect in to Frankfurt are a Northwest/KLM flight PDX AMS 1555 1100+1 connecting with Northwest/KLM AMS FRA 1335+1 1450+1 or a Lufthansa flight that is 5 mintues earlier. This means nothing can be leaving Portland after 355pm until the next morning. Soon after such a flight was in the air to fly east across the Atlantic, it would be after dark.

[georgiapeach]

Peach, I do not understand your comment "Oh and it is definitely Portland, Oregon.....no doubts." unless this comment is limited to the departure of the blogger's relative from Portland to Frankfurt. Is there something else about AR14 that has been connected to Portland OR?

The original blogger is from Portland Oregon, not Portland Maine.

[patlini]

Peach you get all the best tidbits