I don't think we'll get into South America this season - they generally like filming their summer seasons in the Northern Hemisphere unless there's some sort of convenient infrastructure and/or a financial or Emmy-related benefit to filming down there coughMalawicough. That being said, I think we'll see Central America, be it through legs on the continent such as
Costa Rica or Guatemala (red bean Switchback, Mayan temple running, take your pic) or else
the Caribbean.
Regarding Asia, I think the cancelled
Laos leg might be appropriated for this season. I've learned to always assume
China will be visited in some capacity, but I think they'll also visit
Sri Lanka given the number of foreign seasons that have recently visited it, as well as maybe
Japan again. (I'd say Philippines in the winter so they can abuse the warm weather). Probably nothing in the Middle East either.
Concerning Africa, I think a leg or two in
Morocco or, if they're feeling particularly generous, a leg or two in West Africa. Of the countries not previously visited,
Sierra Leone is probably the best mix of safe, interesting, and reasonable with regard to infrastructure, though I wouldn't rule out a trip to
Senegal or
Ethiopia.
Onto Europe! The past two seasons have tapped out basically all of Western Europe safe Portugal and Ireland so I think we're due for some Eastern Europe. I think they might have planned for legs in the Balkans, but even if not, the region has been relatively untouched by TAR. I'd imagine a leg or two in
Serbia and/or Montenegro would not be out of the question. They could easily re-visit other one shot countries like
Hungary or Romania or Poland for multiple legs. Perhaps one extra leg in a transport hub (
Vienna, Rome, maybe even Madrid to facilitate travel to or from North America.
US! I wonder where the start line will be!
As far as finishes go, we've had two East Coast finales in a row so I'd imagine we're either going to get a finale in the middle three-fourths of the country or (more likely) a west coast final.
Texas has only been used once, much like
Chicago but I'm thinking for some strange reason the final will be in
Seattle. *shrugs*
Projected route:
Leg 1: LA to China
Leg 2: China to Laos
Leg 3: Laos
Leg 4: Laos to Sri Lanka
Leg 5: Sri Lanka to Hungary
Leg 6: Hungary to Serbia
Leg 7: Serbia to Montenegro
Leg 8: Montenegro to Morocco
Leg 9: Morocco
Leg 10: Morocco to Spain
Leg 11: Spain to Puerto Rico
Leg 12: Puerto Rico to Seattle
I'm excited to see how wrong I'll be