Big Mother, I think you will find that this will enhance your enjoyment of the episodes. Yes, it's a world-wide network now, but it had to build up, over time, especially in the last decade as live blogging, social media and cumulative experiences led to this.
In the early days we had none of this. We had to reconstruct the legs from the episodes as aired, and paid very close attention to every detail. That led to the development of techniques (such as flight schedules) that were easily transferable once it became possible to track the filming in real time. We don't catch every leg or every task or every team, but there have been a few occasions where that has happened. It also helps that TAR is well franchised around the world, and fans of those regional editions join in and contribute when the mothership calls on their country,
As to the instance that almost happened this morning with Phil, Bert and Elise, normally after the first leg, production (including Bert and Elise) take turns going ahead to the next country or the next leg. It has often been the case that teams have raced Phil to the pit stop, forcing Phil to film any missing standups after teams have checked in. It can be a very close call.
