FlyerTalk Teams Start "The Amazing Race for Regular People"
You might have read about the new opportunity for travelers to test their savvy ways and face off against other travelers in the inaugural travel competition called -- Competitours.
And now they are ready to travel. With five fully sponsored teams and two more co-sponsored for FlyerTalk, I'm sure we'll all have fun learning more about these fellow members of FlyerTalk that are representing us and just what type of traveler they are. Similar in the spirit of the popular The Amazing Race, our teams will be blogging on our partner Web site BoardingArea.com. BoardingArea.com allows us to have members easily post their comments, pictures and even videos during the competition and tell their stories for many days to come.
To learn more about this competition: Competitours
All I know -- there's been an awful lot of bragging going on, so let's all watch who actually will bring home the bragging rights as the best travelers of FlyerTalk.
Two things:
- Competition Starts on Sunday, March 15
- I will be sponsoring a team in the next competition which is June 8-15. So if you like what you see, stay in touch as I'll certainly start the team recruiting all over again likely in late April, early May.
Last edited by Randy Petersen; Mar 11, 09 at 6:07 pm..
Programs: AF/KLM Plat For Life/UA Million Miler-PremEx For Life/SPG Gold
Posts: 5,049
Our inaugural trip launched March 15-22, featuring 11 diverse teams (from Toronto to Dallas, Washington DC to Seattle; from ages 19 to 68; from grizzled veteran travelers to first time overseas rookies).
22 travelers can provide you FIRSTHAND experience about the excitement and uniqueness of a team travel competition. You are welcome to contact the teams to solicit their feedback.
Our secret itinerary covered 5 main cities and 20 intermediate city/town/rural village options:
* Dusseldorf (Bonn, Duisberg, Koblenz)
* Cologne (St. Goar, Nuess, Konigsberg)
* Amsterdam (Aalsmar, Den Haag, Haarlem)
* Brussels (Brugges, Antwerp, Ghent, Namur)
* Paris (Chartres, Eperney, Reims, Blois/Loire Valley)
Our surprise daily challenges covered 95 different options that varied by:
* site/attraction- mainstream, niche, off the radar
* skill set- creative, resourceful, investigative, ability to engage locals for information, ability to convince fellow tourists to participate, ability to shoot short, but interesting and compelling videos documenting team accomplishing challenges, navigate public transport systems
Our challenges covered the gamut of scenarios:
* Go to the world's only French Fries Museum in Brugges. After the tour, provide a 30-45 second
description without using the word 'potato' or any other potato-related word.
* Go to Europe's only indoor ski resort near Dusseldorf. While skiing, pick two runs and give them new names
and explain your reasoning.
* Go to a miniature version of the Netherlands outside of The Hague where you tower over the landscape. Come up
with your best Japanese monster movie impression and plot line.
* Visit an African immigrant market while in Brussels and ask the locals to help you find:
- a gazellle meat lunch
- a church that conducts services in Swahili
- a bakan batik to model on the street
Competitours did the time-consuming and difficult research to offer teams 95 challenge options that they have the luxury of simply and efficiently CHERRYPICKING their own customized daily itinerary. Plus the thrill and excitement of transforming sightseeing into sightDOING with all of the challenge tasks that await teams at each touring locale they chose.
Congrats to all the teams for a fun and somewhat hard fought competition!!
Thanks to Randy for sponsoring 5 teams and co-sponsoring 2 teams. Randy's sponsorship was greatly appreciated and FlyerTalk was well in evidence as we travelled through Europe! Randy went above and beyond and it was great fun to meet the various Flyertalkers!
Thanks to Steve for organizing a great trip! We really enjoyed ourselves and saw many things we never would have, even in Paris itself. The trip will be a fond memory for Alex and I. It was a great way to travel and experience things we normally wouldn't! Plus you get to meet other crazy travellers!
If anyone wants to know more about the trip or our experience, we'd be happy to talk!
Programs: UA MM 1K; Fairmont & Starwood platinum; Hyatt diamond; Kimpton IC Elite
Posts: 15,769
Quote:
Originally Posted by frogman
Thanks to Randy for sponsoring 5 teams and co-sponsoring 2 teams.
Absolutely!
Thanks much for the opportunity Randy ...and to Steve for sending me to places I otherwise wouldn't have gone ...and to the other competitors - some really interesting people on that trip who I won't forget anytime soon.
The trip of a life-time! Meeting terrific, creative people, seeing fascinating sites AND having the opportunity to win super prizes! This mode of travel is definitely cutting edge and will appeal to fun folks of all ages. On my agenda~taking one of my kids~what a terrific bonding experience.
Thanks Steve for your incredibly unique endeavor. Looking forward to many future Competitour's Tours!
Linda and I had a great time participating in Competitours. The 'events' chosen made for some great memories. There's just no way we would have seen so much on our own.
I tried to write about each of the five days while we were competing, but after the second day, I just couldn't keep up. I've posted the last day, Friday, on my blog. Read about the whole week (if you haven't already) here:
I'm seriously considering another run at this. Coming in 2nd just makes you more eager to try it again! Maybe next year.
I was impressed with Steve's ability to listen to the inaugural participants and quickly make changes that improved the game right away. I have no doubt that the next Competitours will run smoothly with his direction.
The participants have bonded in just that short week. Mike started a facebook group for us to keep tabs on each other and I've subscribed to the twitter feeds of a few competitours.
So this was a 'vacation' that left us with a bunch of memories, a ton of video, and a few friends. That's what travel should be all about, right?
I nearly forgot to thank all the wonderful, strong-as-bull competitours and chief cook and bottlewasher (Steve) who took out precious competing (and planning) time to drag my bags as I hobbled on the cobblestones through Europe.
Special thanks to David in Paris--one of our challenges with no points attached~ find the Best Western carrying two backpacks!
Also, thanks to my dedicated partner--who lost her luggage because she was carrying mine!
Here's a snippit of the "jewels" work; a fairy tale in a mysterious castle...
I really enjoyed your posts as you made them. I particularly enjoyed you on the ground looking at Madurodam. When the camera drew back, it showed the true scale of your body to the tiny figures. Awesome!
Way to Go
