Amazing Race 12, episode 8 recap

by Martha Edwards on


Hot on the heels of last week’s heart-pounding adventures in Florence, Italy, the teams are on their way to Mumbai, India! I’m currently reading a book about Bombay so I was quite excited to see some of the sights, at least vicariously.

Anyway, all the teams head to the airport super early, only to find that it’s closed. All the teams except Nick and Don, that is, and they enjoy a good night’s sleep after making a phone reservation for the first flight out. Once the doors open to the airport, it’s a war of the line-ups again, like it is in every episode. What I can’t figure out is, if there’s two line-ups within plain sight of one another, why doesn’t one team member go to one, and the other to another and just signal each other if one finds a good flight first ?!

Anyway, the first three teams find a flight that gets them into Bombay at 10:35pm. Despite being told that the next flight didn’t get in until 1am, Kynt and Vyxsin managed to find a flight that got them in at 10:50pm, and made a big production of pretending that they were really stressed out and disappointed to make TK and Rachel think they hadn’t found a flight. And since TK and Rachel are my favourite team, I was pretty annoyed by this whole thing.

BUT when the teams got to Mumbai, their first stop is a newstand that doesn’t open until 6am. So in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter when the teams arrived — they all had an equal chance. Wicked.

So once the newstand opened, they had to go through the daily paper and find a teeny tiny ad telling them where to head. Teams with good concentration and focus got ahead. Meanwhile, Jen and Nate, who started off the show by saying that they were embarrassed by how much they’ve been fighting, spent precious time–you guessed it–yapping at one another. Henceforth, they were the last ones to get to the detour.

The detour was a choice between posting a huge, multi-piece Bollywood poster on the wall of an underpass, or stringing 108 flowers for a wedding garnish. TK and Rachel used this as their chance to get ahead–Rachel is a florist in real life, so the flower task was a snap for her. Ronald and Christina had yet another nasty fight over this task, and it was pretty painful to watch.

And as for Kynt and Vyxsin and their speedbump? Their task was to do some yoga, which they did with ease, and it made them all the more calm and focused for the flower-threading task they did next. By the time they finished, they were neck-in-neck with Nate and Jen, speed bump be darned. I guess I don’t even need to tell you that Nate and Jen were bashing each other during this task too — Nate told Jen she should be better at stringing flowers because she’s a girl, and she snapped back that he should know how to row a boat, then. Meow!

The next clue had a bright, shiny U-Turn beside it — everyone avoided it, except for Kynt and Vyxsin. At the time, the only people behind them were Nate and Jen, and when I saw them stopping at the U-Turn, I did a small squee of joy because I was sure they would U-Turn the bickering couple. No such luck though — they chose to U-Turn Nick and Don, who were well ahead of them, because ‘they’re usually one of the slower teams.’ Huh? Nick and Don have kicked ass in this game if you ask me.

The next task was a roadblock (meaning only one person can complete it) and it was a physically demanding one — teams had to deliver heavy metal propane cans door-to-door and wheel them around on a bike. Which left me wondering why Ronald took on the task with his hernia and all — I think it’s probably something Christina could have handled. Anyway, Jen earned rare points in my books by insisting on doing the task instead of Nate — I like women who are willing to take on the heavy lifting. My loudest laugh-out-loud moment was during this task–Kynt had some trouble with his bike and rammed the cart into a cement wall — luckily, some villagers stopped to show him how to use the brake.

This episode was tense, with the Goth Couple and the Bickering Couple neck-in-neck for most of the duration, but in the end, a careless mistake–not getting the proper receipts on his gas can deliveries–cost Kynt and Vyxsin the game. They came in last only by a hair, and I’m sad to see them go.

As for first place? I’m happy to say it was TK and Rachel who took the top stop, and they won themselves a fancy trip to St. Maarten.

Only four teams left — we’re down to the wire now! Stay tuned.

New York City on January 1: After the party there’s still things to do

by Jamie Rhein on

There have been a few times I’ve ended up in a town or city when there’s a holiday–or on the wrong day, such as when a place I hoped was open was closed. For example, don’t go to the Solomon R. Guggenheim on Thursday. The doors are locked.

In New York City on New Year’s Day, it can feel as if no one is home. After the hoopla in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, the quietness of the streets can be even more disconcerting.

For a traveler who is hoping to find some activity somewhere, there’s nothing worse than that after the excitement feeling when there’s nothing left to do. If anyone is engaged in something fun, it’s not you. To help the traveler who has landed in Manhattan for New Year’s Eve and has the first day of 2008 to fill with things to do rather than flip through the cable channel of a hotel room TV, The New York Times has a wonderful article “The City Doesn’t Drop the Ball” on what you might do on Tuesday, the day after the ball drops.

Here’s the short list of what’s open.

The Statue of Liberty–If you don’t go inside, the trip out to Liberty Island on the ferry is enjoyable and offers a wonderful view of Manhattan. I’m not sure what the frigid air would feel like this time of year, though. I’ve only been here in the summer, but there is inside seating on the ferry and a snack bar on board. This would be a fun New Year’s outing.

The Museum of Modern Art–Oh, how I love this museum. If you do go, the various cafes throughout are worthy of a coffee pit stop. Also, if you need to pick up a 2008 calendar, this gift shop is the best for funky, interesting options.

The Museum of Natural History is also open. The last time I was here, I thought about how it was like stepping inside a science and social studies book, but all the pages are 3-D.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim may be closed on Thursday’s but it’s open on New Year’s Day. The article said that kids might be bored. Ah, not if you know how to take your kids through an art museum. One trick is to not plan to stay for hours, but have engaging your kids with the artwork be the purpose of the trip. With the circular layout of the museum, it’s visually interesting for children as well. I remember going here when I was 9 years-old and being attracted to Jackson Pollack’s art. Maybe it was because I thought his name sounded so cool.

The Poetry Project ‘s New Year’s Day Reading Marathon at St. Mark’s Church caught my attention the most since this is its 34th year and it’s in my brother’s neighborhood. This is a reading bonanza of 12 hours of poetry readings and performances. If you do head to St. Mark’s Church, there are a slew of ethnic restaurants in the neighborhood. Maybe you’ll get lucky and one will be open. Little Poland is on 2nd Avenue near 14th St. Try the potato pancakes.

The New York Times article does give other eating suggestions and a few more options.

A New Orleans New Year’s Eve

by Kelly Amabile on

Since I mentioned yesterday that I spent last New Year’s Eve down in NOLA, I thought I’d share details about some of the things we did that day. It might give you ideas for a future trip to New Orleans, at the holidays, or any time of year. You can do most of these things all year long:

We began our day watching football at Parasol’s, a landmark Irish pub, where we feasted on roast beef po-boys and too many Zapps potato chips. (Warning: These Louisiana chips are highly addictive, especially the spicy creole tomato!) To work off our lunch, we walked along the river and eventually hopped on the free ferry to Algiers Point, where we spent a few hours strolling through this quiet residential neighborhood. It’s a peaceful place, tucked perfectly into a bend of the Mississippi. (Be sure to stop and salute the statue of Louis Armstrong at the ferry landing.)

Hungry again, we wound up back at an old favorite for dinner, a wonderful place called La Peniche, that I’ve written about before. Since it was a mild evening, we then walked (again!) from Farbourg Marigny back towards the French Quarter, where we spent the final hours of 2007 taking in the party atmosphere — without having to cram into crowded bars. We simply walked the streets, sipping Abita beer (Restoration Ales all around) and listening to live music from street performers, and then later, from the free New Year’s Eve concert near Jackson Square that the city puts on each year. It was conveniently close to another mandatory stop, Cafe du Monde, where we polished off some beignets — No better way to ring in the new year than with a mouth full of powdered sugar and fried dough!

Photo of the Day (12/31/07)

by Iva Skoch on

Allow me to indulge myself by posting my own photo as the last photo of 2007. I took this picture last week in the central highlands of the Czech Republic right before I escaped to sunny Portugal to ring in the new year. It summarizes my year pretty well: sad. Goodbye, not-so-good ’07. Glad you are almost gone. Hello, 2008!

***To have your photo considered for the Gadling Photo of the Day, go over to the Gadling Flickr site and post it.***

Traveling where the dollar is strong

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’re earning a salary in US currency and are unlucky enough to spend it traveling internationally, you know the pain of the depreciating dollar.

The rest of the world has become frighteningly expensive as the dollar continues its slide. My recent trip to North Korea, for example, was $800 more expensive than it would have been two years ago for the mere fact that I had to pay for the tour in euros. Man, did this hurt! Unfortunately, such increased costs have become a factor in many travelers’ vacation plans as prohibitive prices continue to limit options.

But this isn’t the case everywhere. Certain parts of the world are still “on sale” due to local currencies that even weaker than the dollar.

Countries where dollars go the distance is a handy LA Times article that explores some of these remaining bargain locations–Vietnam, Morocco, Bolivia, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Albania–and provides a fantastic short list of wonderful places that would still be worth going to even if they weren’t “on sale.”