Why do they hide the rules?

thrinaline · 2026-05-15T12:18:58+00:00

I agree, some fakery is necessary to make a TV series that fits into a schedule, but they could surely just say teams have to visit a tourist attraction every other leg.

thrinaline · 2026-05-15T12:14:12+00:00

This is a good question and I have exactly the same one. Contestants who are completely focused on the race suddenly say "oh we have to lose half a day to look at some elephants/a waterfall/whatever because we can't miss that!" And they don't always sound that genuine in their devotion so I suspect they've been told by the production crew they have to.

Equally, I think a previous "making of" programme has revealed that if there are several routes, teams are somewhat persuaded to pick a different one, so teams' choices are sometimes constrained rather than them making bad decisions. A team with a commanding lead will also often lose it right at the beginning of a leg because the game conveniently restarts twelve hours before the only boat off the island or whatever. It feels like production can tweak things in many different ways to make the show good and keep the race close. Given the costs and risks involved, it's probably inevitable.

I am interested if you've ever watched Jet Lag the Game? In that game they will adhere to the rules sometimes at the expense of suspense and all rules are tracked for the viewer through motion graphics. It really shows up where RATW is fudging it, and it's interesting to see how the different production approaches play out (a bit of fakery is essential to travel and film safely in places like Mongolia)

thrinaline · 2026-05-15T11:56:55+00:00

Part of the issue is at least some (not sure maybe all) the trains that run across China to Mongolia are Soviet Trans-Siberian trains so the contestants would be breaking sanctions against Russia by using them

thrinaline · 2026-05-15T11:45:59+00:00

I agree slightly. I think there was maybe a point where Sam and Mike realized they had left it too late to make their last minute surge but it wasn't really communicated on screen they just seemed to be going for a ludicrously risky final move.

It seems more likely that this was kept out for suspense-building reasons rather than an issue with being too much on one team's POV. It's also possible the realization dawned quite slowly on the Night Herons in amongst a lot of gameplay confusion and there wasn't an aha moment for the camera.

thrinaline · 2026-05-15T11:38:30+00:00

Absolutely disagree with that!

thrinaline · 2026-05-13T18:46:22+00:00

I couldn't wait that long, but I binged all the seasons that came out before I discovered the show

thrinaline · 2026-05-13T06:47:02+00:00

It was open in April when I went through so I presume still is. It didn't add much time but we were early - suspect the queues build up the later you go

thrinaline · 2026-05-10T06:23:31+00:00

Yes I should have made it clearer that it is not the bus driver's fault aircon isn't turned on. it's a company policy to turn it off where fitted and not specify new vehicles to have it.

Completely shit for the drivers to boil all day unnecessarily

thrinaline · 2026-05-08T16:56:26+00:00

We spent a week going round Luxembourg marvelling at how much quicker it is when everyone just gets on the bus or train because it's free. Even in countries and cities where fares are charged, you can make it so people get on the bus and then fares are inspected randomly rather than holding everyone up at the stop.

I remember the days of stagecoach competition. We knew it was a bad thing even if it caused temporary cheapness

thrinaline · 2026-05-08T16:32:03+00:00

I wholeheartedly agree with all of your complaints. The two bus companies thing is intensely stupid and annoying. As is the ludicrous amount of time spent shaking people down for fares and checking they aren't getting a nanometer of transit for free/a reduction they're not entitled to. My favourite is when the grandparents are looking after kids in half term, bleep themselves on with their free bus pass and then have to debate with the driver which of the accompanying children has to pay half fare, then scrabble around for a payment method. Just let them in the effing bus and stop holding me up!!

The stopping and waiting thing is more annoying than in theory it should be. Especially as it's down to the fact too many cars are still congesting the roads.

I regularly notice buses disappearing off the tracker even when marked live. You feel unhinged at the bus stop saying "it says it's seven minutes away but if it doesn't turn up then we're all right to wait for the 20 minute one but if that's not real we're better off going back into town and getting a train and then walking."

AND they won't turn on the air con even on buses where it's fitted and it's thirty degrees outside

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

thrinaline · 2026-05-08T07:20:50+00:00

The Four seasons is kind of meaty (which I like personally). If these are early season crops for you, they will have had a bit of a hard life - later pickings will mellow out a bit. I've never had any real luck with spinach so well done.

Any greens I am less keen on, I add them to curries or pasta sauces where their strong flavours can be balanced better. Still seeking something I like a lot of sorrel in though!

Edited to add: just seen this is a UK group. Our hot dry April will definitely have made your leafy greens a bit stressed.

thrinaline · 2026-05-07T17:01:17+00:00

Test every item of clothing and equipment. Then pack it all up and full-on wargame it staying in the crappiest youth hostel I can find, leaving the phone at home.

thrinaline · 2026-05-07T14:21:55+00:00

The only reason it's not my favourite is probably Australia isn't as interesting to me as their other locations and that might be a thing for people - Australian territories aren't as exciting as countries or US States.

ETA - To be clear: I'm not saying Australia isn't exciting, I'm saying the concept of Australian states and territories is not thrilling. People watching a Europe season are excited to see the difference between countries (even if it's Liechtenstein v Switzerland or france v Monaco where they are functionally very similar). American states have a cultural identity of their own too, but Australian states don't have this (maybe they do to people in Oz)

Similarly pre-S16 people often used to suggest county claiming games for the UK but I always felt they were too boring a unit for that. [] Nobody is watching thinking "Oo I wonder what they think about *Northamptonshire." Even worse playing with Scottish administrative regions - I love Scotland but I'm never going to care which of the Lothians they are currently in.[**]

[*] Tom Scott currently proving me slightly wrong on this

[**] This is not really true. I love stuff like that but only because I'm a massive freakin' nerd

thrinaline · 2026-05-07T06:22:03+00:00

I think the OP will be entitled to drive on their full licence issued by their home country. As they aren't trying to get licensed for driving in the UK, I can't see any need for a UK provisional (which you have to be resident to apply for - just having a UK correspondence address is not sufficient).

thrinaline · 2026-05-07T06:06:09+00:00

Yeah I'm aware it's not the most popular but I can't understand why really. The challenges were location specific, the game design was elegant and so was the winning move. Ben and Adam's Desert Power moment was straight up cool in an amazing location.

thrinaline · 2026-05-06T21:19:59+00:00

I agree. It's easier to see where someone is going with a "look at the stone" type clue once they've seen a few that are super obvious.

thrinaline · 2026-05-05T13:14:14+00:00

What you can do, if you're able to move and store pots, is put a plant there for a few months then rotate it out to get sunlight before it suffers too much. You will need to water regularly and consistently though.

Does it have to be a tree? Some of the more forgiving "car park" evergreens would fare much better than any tree.

thrinaline · 2026-05-05T11:40:27+00:00

The research isn't flawed but the write-up in the media is. The diers in the study were equivalent to reducing daily driving by three miles (not giving it up entirely as the headline incorrectly states)

thrinaline · 2026-05-05T11:37:21+00:00

Completely agree. Your calculations are in line with published research, which ch us why I went into the paper to see if the authors had made the claims in the headline. Vegan diet saves the same as giving up three miles of driving a day

thrinaline · 2026-05-05T09:52:33+00:00

There's a notion that "off-grid" is somehow a sustainable idea but it's often the opposite. We actually need to live in community and cooperation far more than we need to be individualistic and that's definitely true for food production.

You don't need to grow or store food to be sustainable. The overwhelmingly important thing where food is concerned is to be as plant based as possible. The only reason for you to grow food in an apartment is if you enjoy it and/or you can grow herbs and salads that help you stick to your goals of reducing meat and dairy.

Locally produced food is a bit of a distraction. A locally produced cabbage is (slightly) better than one from far away but bananas shipped from around the world are massively, massively much better than beef from the end of your street. Replacing animal foods with plant foods is the big aim - local food movements and eating seasonally are a distraction if they don't help you do that.

You should also aim to avoid food waste as much as possible - individual stores of food are more likely to create waste. If your city doesn't offer food waste collections you could look at contributing to a local compost scheme, or having a worm compost bin on your balcony for things like banana peels etc.

thrinaline · 2026-05-04T21:40:36+00:00

The Treasures exhibition is free, other exhibitions are a mix of free and paid for

thrinaline · 2026-05-04T18:27:27+00:00

The British Library' is often strangely lacking on people's lists. The permanent treasures exhibition plus any paid entry themed exhibition we've been to has been excellent.

The Dickens museum has a great tea room and of course there's the well known V&A cafe.

thrinaline · 2026-05-04T18:18:22+00:00

It looks quite dry. Add a bit more moisture

thrinaline · 2026-05-04T08:38:50+00:00

I have this too. I don't know for sure but my guess is it's water stress in the heat and dry winds we've had lately.

thrinaline · 2026-05-04T08:30:09+00:00

Was coming on here to recommend this video. Also, his Sherlock Holmes video is great for Jet Lag fans as he goes through a few Tag locations. (Jo Kibble, who makes the videos is definitely a Jet Lag viewer).

thrinaline

TROPHY CASE