The Amazing Race – Travel Lovers’ Porn
Yep, I said porn. Because that’s essentially what the Amazing Race is – Travel Porn. It’s exciting. It temporarily allows you to live vicariously through someone else, doing things so out there you might not have even fantasized about them. It teaches you new tricks to try in real life. And it satisfies that travel craving, while leaving you wanting more. The best part is that, instead of having to go back into the special part of the video store, you can get it for free Sunday nights on CBS.
For you uninitiated (shame on you), the premise is simple: race around the world with no advance knowledge of where you’re going next and very limited funds, completing various tasks as fast as possible, and if you finish first you get a cool million dollars. If you finish last at certain checkpoints (called pit stops) you’re eliminated. That’s it. This is proof positive that the journey is the attraction more than the final destination, as the ending is usually one of the most anticlimactic parts of the whole race. But on the way you got to see just how cool the world is.
I’m insanely jealous of the challenges they’ve gotten to do over the years. I won’t lie, I would totally blow off my job/friends/whatever to be able to do what the racers get to do. After seeing it on the race, I tried ziplining and, as you’ve probably noticed from my past posts, I’m hooked. Now I just want to push my boundaries farther. Over the years they have rappelled down Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janiero, climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris, navigated the chaotic train system in Mumbai, herded llamas in Peru, made noodles in Macau and shopped at street markets in South Africa. According to the previews, next week they’re climbing the Singapore Flyer giant ferris wheel in Singapore. It’s nuts. The general public may not have access to all of the incredible things that the racers get to do, but for the most part the places are acessable, and with a little bit of research you too can enact your own Amazing Race. They show some off the beaten path locations/attractions that you might have missed otherwise and I have to admit that occasionally at work when someone will ask me what there is to see in Coober Pedy, Australia (amongst other random destinations that I don’t know anything about and have definately never been to) I draw on what I’ve seen on TAR and answer that there are opal mines and houses built underground to escape the heat. It’s helped me finalize more than one sale, let me tell you.
Despite the fact that it’s essentially a game show on a global stage, The Amazing Race is at it’s heart a travelogue, and, just like Globe Trekker or Rick Steve’s Europe, it gives you a glimpse at the conditions, attractions, and people of places all over the world. India is always a good example, as so many of the racers go there expecting nothing but poverty and crowds, but leave surprised at the resilliance of the people and the beauty of the countryside. Through their eyes we see it, too, and gain a greater appreciation. I had never heard of Wat Po, the temple of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok until I saw it on Season 1, but it blew my mind and that one episode gave birth to a fascination with Thailand that I still have to this day. You can bet your ass I made sure to go to that temple and take craploads of pictures when I finally made it to Bangkok.
The racers might be doing everything at warp speed, they’re still traveling and facing the same trials and tribulations that we all do on our vacations. They have to fight with the same flight cancellations and lost cabbies we all do, and watching them deal with these we can learn – both from their mistakes and their successes. Case in point: never be rude to an airport ticket agent. They have your vacation in their hands, and with one little keystroke they can sentence you to a fifteen hour flight in the middle seat in the back that doesn’t recline and is right beside the squirming kid. In season 2 when everyone was jockeying for flights from Iguassu Falls, Brazil to Cape Town, South Africa, team after irate team was told there was no space on the earliest and most convenient one-connection flight via Frankfurt. That is, until Danny and Oswald, the fabulous, suave and super polite guys from Miami asked. Suddenly seats miraculously appeared and they cruised to a happy first place, all because they were the lone rational team.
Finding a local guide is another great tip that teams commonly use. Granted, on the race teams, particularly Mirna and Charla, will do everything short of kidnapping locals to get their insider information. Please don’t do this. Ask nicely. Leave a tip. But this is still an awesome idea. Locals know more about the destination than anyone, and they’re usually just as excited to learn about your hometown as you are to learn the ins and outs of theirs. This can get you from point A to point B much faster and tip you off to new, out of the way places that you would not have otherwise ever known about.
During all of this, the teams are navigating all these stressful challenges with their friend/partner/relative. I always say the test of any relationship is a vacation, because your communication skills tend to shut down when you’re stressed and fatigued. The “villans” in each season are not usually the teams that are horrible to other teams, but the teams that are horrible to one another. The classic example is Jonathan and Victoria in season 5, where he not only screamed at her the whole way, but actually physically shoved her in anger. Just watching the way these teams melt down serves as a reminder not to act like that to your friend/family member/anyone, no matter how jetlagged you might be.
And my personal favorite tip the I’ve learned from TAR: “Rapido” does not mean fast in every language. It’s not that teams haven’t tried, but when you’re in Windhoek, Namibia, the cabbies are just going to give you a “stupid tourist” laugh and continue moving along at whatever speed they want to. That being said, it’s always a good idea to learn a few words in the local language. I’m not suggesting taking the Berlitz course or anything, God knows the teams usually can only learn what they get from the other passengers on their inbound flight and they get around pretty well, but a simple ”yes”, “no”, “thank you”, “how much?” and “where’s the bathroom?” can get you a long way. Particularly the bathroom one.
I could go on, but really, you just have to watch it yourself. Even if you don’t glean anything more from the show than some pretty destinations and a whole lot of fun, it’s worth it.
