DISTANT LANDS

Some photos of Paris to help get you through the day :)

(photos by hayley burgess)

The Amazing Race 22 on CBS

Meno A Kwena Safari Camp. Botswana - Royal Tree Lodge, Botswana

Botswana is a unique African destination: an unusual combination of desert and delta that draws an immense concentration of wildlife to its complex of wetland. The jewel of Botswana, the Okavango Delta, is the home of the big five: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhinoceros, and is the pit stop for our globetrotting vagabonds. If they weren’t busy racing around the world for a million dollars they might stop and take in this very special slice of the world. Unfortunately, our racers get a mere 12 hours in the pit stop to nourish their souls, bodies and minds before the race clock strikes: 5:39 AM. First up: Bates and Anthony.

Bates and Anthony have a 32 minute lead in front of the second team. With that, they head down a dirt road where they encounter the day’s first detour and the surprise of an express pass. If they choose to do it, and successfully complete the task, the pass will allow them to by-pass all challenges and go straight to the next pit stop. The challenge: to water ski for over a mile through crocodile-infested waters. If they are able to stay up on skis for the entire mile, they will win the express pass. Despite their reservations, the two hockey players make this look ridiculously easy (that happens when you get hit in the head repeatedly) and for a few minutes it actually seemed like something I might consider if I were signing up for an African safari…then I reminded myself of the crocodiles and reconsidered. But Bates and Anthony were able to do the task and are now headed  to the next pit stop: Royal Tree Lodge in the Royal Tree Game Preserve. With this first-place finish, Bates and Anthony should have a comfortable lead going into the next leg of the race, or at least be thoroughly rested physically, as well as mentally.  

For the others, the race is much closer, with teams leaving at 6:11, 6:17, 6:25, 6:28, 6:37 and 6:49. Being so close together the challenge for rest of the teams is to keep their calm and not make stupid mistakes…but what’s the fun in that!? Right off the bat two teams get caught in speed traps. (If you read the Lonely Planet guide to Botswana and Namibia, you would know this is common.) Driving in Botswana is relatively easy. All you need is to have a current driver’s license (make sure it’s in English, or get an international drivers license); drive on the left; remember that sitting on the roof of a vehicle is illegal (as it should be); wearing seat belts in the front seats is the law; and finally, obey all posted speed limits. Highway police use radar and love to fine motorists for speeding (about 100 pula, plus additional charges according to the rate at which you were exceeding the the limit).  If you do get pulled over you will need to pay the fine the same day at the local police station. The first team to get caught are the country singers Caroline and Jennifer, who at first try to flirt their way out of the ticket. Of course this doesn’t work, and eventually they are forced to pay their fine just like everyone else. Max and Katie, who are the last team to leave the pit stop and are forced to do a speed bump on this leg, are the second team caught in the Botswana dragnet. For poor Max, the speeding ticket is only 1/3rd of a trifecta of car problems. First, they  have trouble finding the car to leave the pit stop, followed by the speed trap, and finally…backing into a pole when leaving the police station, causing a nice dent in the car. Poor guy. 

Back on the race course, the day starts with a roadblock. Teams are forced to transport baby goats upstream in small dugout boats called morkoro. The task seems straightforward, except that these boats are very tippy and they need to pole the boats upriver. (After this task, Max and Katie have to perform a ceremonial seduction dance for the speed bump.) Everyone else will head downriver via water taxi to the Royal Tree Game Reserve. Once there, the teams are forced to choose between two tasks: Brains or Brawn. The “brains” task is to ride horseback through the bush and identify 10 animal silhouettes, then correctly place tiles with the silhouettes on them in the order they appeared along the trail. When they correctly place the tiles in order, the racers can head to the pit stop; if they do not correctly place the tiles in order, they need to repeat the horseback ride. The “brawn” task is to hitch a sand sleigh (like a snow sleigh but it travels across the dirt) filled with wood, to a team of four donkeys. The racers have to maneuver the sleigh over a 1/2-mile track and then unload the wood. Again, it’s straightforward, but if you have ever worked with donkeys then you know they can be stubborn. Most teams pick one of the two tasks and stick with it, but Pam & Winnie moved back and forth between the two tasks like a ping pong ball. In the end this would be their undoing and force them from the Amazing Race.  

THIS WEEKS’ GAME CHANGER: The ability to read a map and understand directions. Joey and Meghan ended up in 5th place largely because of their inability to understand directions or follow a simple map. They could have ended up in 3rd or 4th place, but as they said, they are lost without a GPS to tell them where to go. Learn to read a map, and buy one. Technology can be a terrific aid, but if you don’t know how to get along without it, you can find yourself helpless and stuck when it lets you down…or it’s simply not there. 

The Amazing Race 22 on CBS

Hanoi, Vietnam - Maun, Botswana

Seven teams remain—who will be eliminated next? Our road tested racers are all ensconced in the old French consulate, now the National History Museum of Vietnam.  The first team to arrive at the pit stop are Pam and Winnie, so they are the first to leave at 10:40 p.m. The only clue they are presented is that they must make their way to the city of Maun in the Kalahari desert. To get their tickets, the teams will have to check in at a travel agency in Hanoi. The catch: the security guard at the travel agency will not let a team in unless they know what country the city of Maun is in. (Should have listened in geography class? Oh, I forgot they no longer teach geography in school.)  Good thing “the internets” is around. The majority of the teams hopped on the internet to figure out that Maun is in Botswana; some visited a hotel and used their computer, while others waved down passersby and asked to use a smart phone.  

But Chuck and Wynona took another approach.  When a team is selected to be on the Amazing Race the producers collect everyone’s passport and get the correct visa…but in order to keep the race a surprise the producers get extra visas for countries that the race is not going to. So when Chuck and Wynona appear in front to the travel agency and have no clue where the city of Maun is, the two grab their passports and start reading off countries that they have visas for. And it worked! Once teams discover that Maun is in Botswana (and for some teams that Botswana is in Africa and that Africa is not in Asia), the teams will fly 6,000 miles, leaving this nation of 90 million behind.  

In Amazing Race tradition all the teams end up on the same flight to Botswana. Of course, it’s not direct; the teams fly from Vietnam to Hong Kong, then to Johannesburg, South Africa, and eventually to Maun, Botswana. Once the teams arrive in Maun, which is the jumping off point for the Okavango Delta, the teams need to find Mack Air and board one of three flights that will take them to Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. Finding Mack Air is relatively easy because Maun, Botswana, is really the jumping off point for most tourists in Botswana wanting to go on safari. Mack Air is one several bush airlines that cater to the tourist market, ferrying passengers to safari camps in the Delta. Once the teams land in the national park (a dirt landing strip in Xhumga) they pick up their clues, which lead them down a dirt road to a group of Kalahari Bush men who will take the racers through a series of traditional Bush man duties: digging up a scorpion; lighting a fire using two sticks and zebra dung; and of course, setting a trap to catch guinea fowl.

What is great about the Amazing Race is that teams who are strong in one country with one set of skills can suddenly flip and find themselves lacking the needed skills of another country.  Teams from less urban parts of the U.S. find themselves at home in Botswana. The hockey players Bates & Anthony make quick work of their tasks and come in first, allowing them to indulge at the pit stop, Meno a Kwena Safari Camp. Pam & Winnie come in second, and—surprise, surprise, surprise—Chuck and Wynona come from dead last to a respectable third place. At the other end of the spectrum, Max & Katie (big hair with the PhD) end up last. (I’ve known my share of PhD’s and it doesn’t mean you know everything!) Luckily for Max & Katie, this pit stop was a non-elimination round.

THIS WEEKS’ GAME CHANGER: The game changer this week would have to come down to knowing what you are good at. No one is good at making fire by rubbing two sticks together except Bushmen and apparently, hockey players. If Max and Katie had not gone for making fire, and chosen to make the trap, they probably would have ended up near the top versus last.

If you think safari camps are about roughing it, think again. In the Okavango Delta one can find a safari camp for almost any taste and budget. If you want to do it on your own, get yourself to Maun and once there you can shop around the different travel agencies and pick the camp that is just right for you. Pick up the Lonely Planet guide for Botswana & Namibia to lead you to your version of paradise. 

The Amazing Race 22 on CBS

Bali, Indonesia - Hanoi, Vietnam

Leg 5 and the race is on. At this point, our teams have been skipping their way across the world map, much like a stone skipping across the water, never knowing when the stone will disappear, when will the race be over, where will the racers go next?  The first team, Dave & Conner, will depart at 5:01AM from the cliffs of Bali and head north over 2000 miles to the country of Vietnam and the ancient city of Hanoi. Once in Hanoi they will need to head into the heart of the city to Rap Cong Nhan Theater, inside Gallery 42,  where they will receive their next clue.

For Dave & Conner this will be their last leg; because of Dave’s ruptured achilles tendon, it was recommended that Dave have surgery and drop out of the race. Most travelers do not have a television crew following their every move, nor a medical team to examine every ache and pain. No one ever pictures themselves getting hurt on vacation, but it does happen. Before anyone takes off on vacation one should check with their health insurance to see what is covered and what is not. 

Back on Bali, Chuck and Wynona are in last place, leaving at 9:23AM, a good 4 hours behind the first team.  As so often happens, the racers end up on two different flights to Vietnam landing several hours apart, so it seems like those on the first flight will have a big advantage. But the first plane lands at 6:00 pm, the same time their destination Gallery 42 closes. So, as it also often happens, the teams end up even once again. If you are one of the first teams you may become disheartened, giving up a lead, but you do get to rest physically as well as mentally. There’s an extra bit of anxiety, too, since this leg (teams found out in Bali) includes a double u-turn! 

At the road block the teams must watch a patriotic Vietnamese stage show and match a political quote that is seen in the show to a quote on a political poster. It seems easy but it is not (unless you read Vietnamese). No note taking of any manner is allowed. Only teams that are detail oriented will master this task. (I just want to know who thinks this stuff up.)  

Once this task is complete the  teams must participate in a bamboo dance at Công Viên Thanh Nhàn park. It doesn’t seem physically demanding, but a couple of teams don’t notice that they’re supposed to hold hands, and it takes longer than it should!

Next up is a detour: Either go to the Temple of Literature and play a Chinese chess game (positioning real people in the right places on a life-size game board) or make the national dish of Vietnam, pho, from scratch. The chess task is actually fairly simple, once teams figure out what they’re supposed to do (not very clear, apparently). The task of making pho, on the other hand, means finding the right market, buying the proper quantities of all the ingredients, and — oh, yes, bringing along the live chickens for the soup! Only two teams choose to make pho…but one other has to make it as well, after being u-turned.

After completing the detour task, teams are sent to the B-52 Memorial, the site of a B-52 bomber shot down during the Vietnam War—and the site of the U-Turn board. Joey & Meghan were u-turned, and they u-turned Chuck & Wynona. Meanwhile, Pam & Winnie are the first to arrive at the pit stop, the Vietnam National Museum of History. 

THIS WEEK’S GAME CHANGER: If there’s a lesson to be learned from this leg, it’s to be meticulous about reading directions, especially when you’re in an unfamiliar place. Chuck & Wynona were unlucky to be u-turned, but they took much more time than they needed to on the pho task. First, they didn’t bring the chickens, and then got horribly lost looking for the market, which turned out to be quite close to the temple. They survived to race another day because of Dave & Conner’s withdrawal from the race…and perhaps learned that sometimes it’s best to slow down and do things right the first time!

What does France look like at 30,000 feet? Italy. Because you can only truly experience the wonders of a local culture by surrounding yourself in it. That’s what the France Rail Pass lets you do, with unlimited train travel throughout France to keep you from worrying about airline schedules, gas prices or poor road signage. 

And for a limited time, you can see France in comfort and style, for less! Now through April 30, you’ll save 20% off the regular cost of a First Class France Rail Pass or First Class France Day Pass. Choose from 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 days of rail travel within a one month period; valid on Saver Passes and Child Passes, too. 

Here’s what you get: 

• Unlimited travel on the national rail network of France for the number of days for which the pass is valid.
• Travel days may be used consecutively or non-consecutively
• The Easy Access passholder reservation fare is available only to travelers using the France Rail Pass (as opposed to the Eurail pass). This fare has strict rules and may only be used with the France Rail Pass (fines will be issued on the train to non-France Rail Pass holders using this fare).

Ready to experience the real France? Call or email Distant Lands to make an appointment with Susan…and embrace la joie de vivre!

The Amazing Race 22 on CBS

Christchurch, New Zealand - Bali, Indonesia

At last check our fearless racers were slogging their way through the green valleys of the south island of New Zealand, looking forward to a restful pit-stop.  Look ahead—there’s Phil and the check-in mat. But no—the  teams fresh off the plane from Tahiti are now headed north and east to the isle of Bali. 

Heading off to the airport, some teams first stop at local travel agencies to get tickets for Bali. Others arrive at the airport hoping to get tickets only to find that they needed to stop at a travel agency to get tickets. (In many parts of the world you need to use a travel agency to buy plane tickets and make other travel arrangements.) Eventually, though, all the teams head off over 4,000 miles to Bali.

For many Bali is the quintessential paradise on earth. Upon arrival the teams need to head off to the Monkey Forest on the outskirts of Ubud, and feed the monkeys coconuts   to retrieve a clue hidden inside. (When you go to the Monkey Forest, very prominent signs ask you to feed the monkeys carefully; they also recommend, “If a monkey jumps on you, stand still and walk away slowly.”) Fortunately, monkey experts were on hand to help retrieve the clues when thoughtless monkeys wandered away with the coconuts; otherwise, the most challenging aspect—for one team, at least—was finding the forest.

From the Monkey Forest the teams come to the detour: either recreate an offering made of local fruits and flowers, or carry sand from a river up a hill to a brick maker. The first task is perfect for detail oriented teams while the second task is perfect for the physically strong teams. One thing you find in Bali is that everywhere you go, someone is making an offering of some sort. One team—John & Jessica—even ended up in someone’s backyard recreating the offering of the man who lived in the house…oops!  As the teams battled back and forth, John and Jessica are in great position, since they hold an express pass. With the pass they can skip any one task and go to the next one.

Unfortunately for J&J, the pass has given them a false sense of security…or something.  As the race progressed it quickly became evident that they were struggling and behind most of the other teams. To make sure they stayed in the race, they needed to use their pass. For some inscrutable reason, they decided not to use the pass and paid the price with elimination. Once again, the team that won the first leg bows out relatively early. And this one will have race watchers scratching their heads for a while. Any psychologists care to speculate on what happened??

This week’s Game Changer: Know when to cash in and seize the day. Our amateur psychoanalysis of one of the most mind-boggling game strategies ever? John didn’t want to use the Express Pass just in case they needed it more at some hypothetical later time. Travelers sometimes fall prey to the same mentality with frequent flyer miles, points, etc., and find their carefully hoarded “trip of a lifetime” melting away.  Oh…invest in a guidebook and map. If they hadn’t detoured into someone’s backyard instead of a temple, perhaps they wouldn’t have been so far behind at the end (and the temple they had to go to is in EVERY guidebook to Bali!) 

The Amazing Race 22 on CBS

Bora Bora, Tahiti - Christchurch, New Zealand

Two teams eliminated and nine teams still on the run—or should I say, eight teams running and one team limping. For father and son, Dave and Conner, Dave ruptured his achilles tendon running to the mat at the last pit stop. With such a formidable obstacle—not being able to walk without crutches—what will the father and son team do?

From the aqua blues of the South Pacific, the teams now head to the South Island of New Zealand with its glacier fed rivers and snow capped mountains. New Zealand is a playground for adventure junkies. This is the place that made bungee jumping routine, so it comes as no surprise that our teams experience a little adrenaline rush of their own. First a jet boat ride up one of New Zealand’s scenic rivers, the Rakaia River, where teams camped for the night. The next morning began with a Detour: Rev It Up or Reel It In. Teams had to choose between fly fishing (the Rakaia River is one of New Zealand’s best salmon rivers) or driving a souped-up junker. Dave, who is now on crutches and should be out, is in the front of the pack with his son. They do have a silver bullet: an express pass that will allow them to bypass any challenge they wish to avoid. (Dave and Conner recieved the express pass from John and Jessica, who won two express passes on the first leg of the Race.)  What works for Dave and Conner is that they know they can not physically outplay any of the other teams, but they can outsmart them by understanding their strengths and limitations.  

The father and son team first pick the driving detour but quickly change their minds when they find out the driving challenge requires using a clutch. They settle on the fishing challenge. When the fish seem not to be biting, the father and son decide to use their express pass, allowing them to be comfortably in the lead and move on to the last challenge: a Shemozzle Race, an obstacle course at Mount Hutt Station involving molasses, feathers, eggs and mud, which Conner completed easily. (The Amazing Race version seemed to be a “shemozzle lite,” compared with the annual Shepherds’ Shemozzle held at the Hunterville Huntaway Festival). With this, the father and son outplayed and outsmarted the competition, and ended up getting to the mat before the other teams. The twist is…the mat was not the pit stop, but rather the halfway point for the teams…next stop Bali, Indonesia.

The game changer: Persistence, determination and a great medical kit (since you probably won’t have a show medic to rely on!). If you’re heading off the beaten path, or going on an active vacation, make sure you have a medical kit equipped for many possibilities, like sprains, gashes, blisters, bites and more. For example, if you really need to immobilize a limb, a SAM splint is an excellent, lightweight, versatile device to add to your kit.

The Amazing Race 22 on CBS

Bora Bora, Tahiti - Motu Tapu, Tahiti

Not your average day in paradise.  The teams are in Bora Bora, a place that for many is a place for honeymoons and special anniversaries, a place that for many is the epitome of luxury vacations. Sand, surf and hammocks combined with a drink with an umbrella is your average day in these parts of the world. But here comes the Amazing Race, with Roadblocks and Detours…not your average day in paradise.

If you watched last season, you know the show spent some time in places like Bangladesh and East Java, showing the world some of the harder places to get by in, places that were eye opening and definitely not on the tourist trail. This season we are in Bora Bora, the complete opposite.  Is this season going to be the Conde Nast season of the Amazing Race? 

With our teams in Bora Bora they head off to the Hilton Hotel’s private island of Motu Toopua Nui. (If you plan on spending a night at this wonderful resort it will put you back around $500 a night. For that price you can sleep over the water in the South Pacific. The closest thing we have to that in Southern California is the Crystal Prier in Pacific Beach, San Diego…not quite the same thing.) Back in the blue lagoons of Bora Bora, the teams battled back and forth, pulling oysters from the sea, or setting up a proper table setting under the ocean and then racing jet skis across the open water. Most teams did well; the only team that had trouble was the one that had a fear of swimming and the open water. Now, if you have watched the show, you know there will almost certainly be some sort of water-related task. 70% of the earth surface is water, so you must expect something involving water. Unfortunately for the two doctors, Idries and Jamil, they were not water people and they were eliminated.

The real story, though, is with the father and son team of Dave & Connor. When they were approching the pit stop Dave tore his achilles tendon.  What will they do?  

This week’s game changer: Learn to be water confident. You never know when you will need to swim, whether in an emergency situation, or just to join in at your kid’s pool party. You are only limiting yourself by not knowing how to swim and missing out on activities that you can participate in. The one item that I would recommend packing is a good sunscreen that is waterproof. 

We’re back with our weekly blog chronicling The Amazing Race and the places the race visits, as well as some background information on travel tidbits shown in the race. 

Tonight, eleven new teams started a new season of the Amazing Race. This marks the 22nd season of this highly popular game show that pits eleven teams of two in a race around the globe—the first team to the final pit stop wins. 

Last season, we learned a few things about what to pack for such an endeavor.  The main thing is to pack light and be portable. If you have ever watched the show, then you know that 98% of the racers pack in a travel pack. You want to avoid wheels and be able to throw things on your back. With a travel pack you can easily store your bag—it’s pliable so you can stuff it into any small compartment, like a trunk, an overhead bin or even on the back of a yak. With wheels you are limited because of the rigidity of handles and wheels. Axles do not bend and when they do, they break. And last season, racers kept losing things like money and passports. If they were only wearing a money belt, much heartbreak and anxiety could have been avoided. 

Tonight, the first things to pack that would have helped teams a great deal? Sunscreen and/or a lightweight sun hat. In every season, there are some places the race visits that are just extravagantly hot, which takes a big physical (and mental) toll on the teams. Tonight’s race leg took teams from L.A.’s Griffith Observatory to the tropical paradise of Bora Bora. The first task — helicopter skydiving — was a breeze. The Achilles heel for many teams was literally child’s play—find one of 11 clues hidden under 400 sand castles on idyllic Eden Beach. The catch was that if the player knocked over a castle without a clue, the castle had to be rebuilt before moving on. It seems like a task where skill and preparation wouldn’t come into play. Endurance, yes. Speed and focus, yes. But perhaps a sun hat would have made a difference for some teams who were really beaten by the heat and relentless sun.

While the unhappy sand castle builders cursed the beach, in reality Eden Beach is home to a small bungalow resort hotel—and with one of their signature cocktails in hand, the beach is sure to be a lovely place to relax. 

(A bonus tip/observation: If you want to be on the Amazing Race, make sure you know how to swim! It’s made the difference between joy and grief for more than one team. Tonight was no different, with the precarious va’a canoes tipping more than one team into the lagoon.) 

Every season introduces at least one new wrinkle in the race. This time, it was an Express Pass for the first-place team…plus an extra to bestow on another team of their choice. Will this change the game for two teams, or will it fizzle like last season’s double-the-prize-money hook? Time will tell….