la2jax

Randy,

I am the perfect participant for your team. I have plenty of travel experience, been to Asia, South America, Europe many times. I'm an accomplished public transit rider, and typically use four or more modes of transit each trip. I've bicycled cross-country (USA), and hiked into the wild for many overnights. I've slept in Amtrak Pullman cars and spent many nights in airports. I work out daily, even while on the road.

I am a trial attorney in Chicago, retired from Air Traffic Control at ORD, and a registered Professional Engineer. I'm a pilot, and have been uploading video since the IEEE 1394 interface came out in the mid-90's. I can navigate using methods popular in the 1970's as well as the 2000's. I've eaten pigeon in Hong Kong and guinea pig in Ecuador, and never back away from a culinary challenge.

The diversity of my background is my strength. Each of my careers has enabled me to be quick on my feet, to evaluate changes immediately, and to react accordingly.

I typically travel with only a 1,700 cu inch backpack, and haven't checked any luggage in years, despite UA 1K-level travel. I�m light on my feet and can scramble during irrops with the best of them. I'm up to date on some of the latest stuff like Jott and Twitter, and started blogging in 2003 way before it was stylish.

I'm fit (6'1", 235), funny, ballsy and bald as a cue ball (low maintenance!).

thaliajen

Hey Randy,
Saw your challenge and had to rise to the occasion. I've been traveling one week a month for about 3 years. I'm a writer, self-employed, and well supported by my hubby, so taking time away is no big deal. I've been traveling to keep busy since the death of our son, and while waiting to adopt. I have a passport, a laptop, blackberry and comfortable shoes.

My cousin and I almost made Amazing Race but she went and got pregnant. If the baby hadn't turned out to be the most adored child alive, I'd still be pissed off at her. Since then she's popped out 2 more kids, so I doubt we'll ever parasail over the Great Wall while wearing bikinis on CBS. Not that anyone would want to see that.

Any passenger on CO can tell you I'm friendly and easy to get along with. I have been just about everywhere with the exception of the 4 A's- Australia, Antarctica, Asia and Africa. My dream trip would be to Greece- a trip I missed when I broke a foot in Rome and had to fly home. Of course, I was 19 then, young and stupid.

If you can't tell, I'm a woman. I get along with either gender, sexual orientation and race. I would love to do this for myself, to accomplish something truly "amazing". Besides, we haven't been chosen by any birthmother in 3 years and our adoption worker said we need to spice up our profile. A trip like this would definitely do that.

Thanks for reading this- I was planning a trip to Aruba in March but that can be changed. Oh, I live in the Detroit suburbs so getting to NY takes only an hour via plane.

Good Luck!
Jen Nelson

jmd001

Since I can't talk ms. jmd001 into partnering with me on this great adventure, I'd put my money on that intrepid duo of

Elizabethh & L'Etoile!

for "Team FlyerTalk"

Showbizguru

Oh no,oh definitely no,absolutely positively no I do not think I would be suitable at all for this challenge.
Especially after reading all the other applications.
They've made me realise what an under-achieving non-entity I am.
I only speak one language which is the Queen's English although I can raise the tone of it when faced with a foreigner who doesn't understand me.
I'm not on Facebook, Bebo, Twitter or any other networking site you'd care to mention and my wife is under strict instructions to attack me from behind with a shovel if I even mention the thought of joining one.
I'm definitely not a team player - in fact I can think of nothing worse than bonding in that high-5 , bum-slapping sort of way that seems popular these days.
To be honest my wife says I can be a bit of a cranky git at times and only really come alive at the sight of alcohol which is frequently.
I've never owned a Blackberry ( whatever that is ) or a lap-top although I did once have a Jack Russell which was a sort of lap-dog.
I've done a bit of travel over the years but, to be frank, once I'm away I'd much rather be at home because the food is nicer and I have a cellar-full of drink ( see above )
Having reviewed everything and considered all the options I realise I tick very few boxes.
So please Randy, consider all those other fine, upstanding examples of FlyerTalk before me - I'll be sat on the substitute's bench smoking a crafty cigarette and looking miserable.

Scott6067

I have been an avid fan and watcher of Amazing Race over the years and I think that this is a great opportunity for members of FT to experience a week of travel and excitement.

Back in 2005 shortly after joining FT I went on my own version of the Amazing Race. I had bought a ticket to GRG the year before but the plans feel through and I had a $1400 ticket that would earn me 14000 miles if flown as originally booked. I took that ticket and transformed it into a seven day cross country adventure in the US involving many activities. This trip took me from OKC-IAH-LAS-IAH-CLE-WAS-IAH-SEA-ANC-SEA-IAH-OKC from 6 am on a Saturday morning through 4 pm the following Friday. I went to a retirement party, a Chef's Ball, spent time with Mom on Mother's Day, to aviation Museums, to the Needle in SEA, to the Glaciers in Alaska. This whole time I flew solo but meet up with people in many of these cities for the activities listed and had a great time.

This opportunity would allow me to have a European Amazing Race! In addition to my past skills, I have traveled a lot within the states and moved alot as well which contributes to my easy ability to adopt to new places and people. While I may not have the language skills or the full stamped passport like some on here, I have a desire and a goal to see and learn more about other places in the world.

I recently left my job and have all the time needed to dedicate to this Race and have a passport waiting for country stamps. I have a Flight Memory that cris-crosses the states but does nothing to cris-cross the history and places of the world. This trip will allow me the opportunity to explore and do things that I never thought possible. I also have the means to document my travels and report back on the experience.

While I may not be the most skilled traveler or visited the most countries or have the most stamps in my passport, I do have a since of mission and purpose dating back to my years as an Eagle Scout to get the job done!

If you want to give the adventure that FT represents to an individual then please pick me!

Sincerely,
Scott6067

PS - Will we earn miles on these flights?

Duckouttahere

Randy,

I would love to be a part of FlyerTalk's team for Amazing Race. I love to travel like the rest of us on FlyerTalk. What I bring to the table is a respect for others and the ability to listen to others while not letting anything get too personal. Everybody deserves respect. Even if you they don't agree with you. Travel is often stressful for most people but I thrive on making every trip more efficient than the last.

This Feb, March, and April is always a slow time for me at work anyway...

Rob

Good luck to the FlyerTalk team!

davewill

I would love to be considered for this opportunity. However, I just noticed that they are skipping out the parts of Europe I really enjoy the most. I consider myself an all-around expert on Eastern Europe. I currently live in New York and keep myself busy as a PhD student specializing in Russian literature and culture. I am fluent in English, Russian and Polish, can get by in Macedonian and German and have somehow managed to bounce around just about every country east of the Berlin Wall from Moldova to Macedonia. My favorite country is Russia, as you might well have guessed, though Poland is a close second. The country on the list that most intrigues me is Slovakia.

I'm adventurous in my plans, but cool and collected in my execution of them. I don't collect traditional souvenirs; I collect maps and phrasebooks. Utility is my souvenir.

I consider myself wholly competent with all forms of travel. That I've never gotten stuck anywhere is a testament to my resourcefulness. As far as my qualifications I've negotiated taxi rides from Bishkek to Almaty, been searched by the police in Minsk, hitchhicked the Russian countryside, convinced the Uzbek Embassy that I wasn't a journalist on the day before their presidential elections, rambled a mountain in Poland and taken an 84-hour train ride with instant noodles for food and a Russian Maxim magazine for entertainment. Despite having SIM cards in 4 different countries, I've asked strangers in two others to borrow their phones.

I do have some weaknesses, however. I lose umbrellas at an alarming rate, wear out shoes every 4-6 months (walking is my favorite form of travel), have never owned a rolling suitcase, and will go significantly out of my way for a photograph of the local library and/or post office. My time in Russia and Poland has also given me a wine connoisseur's appreciation for vodka. If chosen, you can expect me to sample the local varieties in just every city we visit.

Conveniently, March 15-21 is my spring break.

Peetyrd

Randy,

First of all, I would like to thank you; and for the relatively short time I have been a member of the FT community, I am amazed by all the opportunities and generosity within the community.
So here�s what I have for you.

As far as travelling is concerned, I�ve basically almost done it all. From the Solo same day turn around MR, backpacking through Europe with a buddy, Spur of the moment weekend vacation, travelling to international conferences, and family vacations planned well in advanced. I�ve experienced the whole spectrum of travel from staying at a $5/night hostel in Rome to staying at the Swissotel in Singapore. I enjoy not being in my niche. Visiting new places and interacting with new people that one meets is what I find most enjoyable about travelling.

Here�s a little bit about myself and what I can bring to team flyertalk,:

I�m a recent college grad whose studies included music performance and neuroscience. I�m definitely left brained and creativity is not an issue and when things don�t go to plan, improvisation is what I do best. Since western music began in ancient Greece and flourished in Western Europe, music history is taught synonymously with European history. Doing research in the lab is all about teamwork, coordination, and dedication. And was my lab full of a zany bunch! During my summers, I worked as a subcontractor providing IT, MIS, networking, data analysis, and infrastructure solutions to companies including Burger King. So technology is not an issue. During school, I gigged around with symphony orchestras, big bands, pit orchestras for musicals, and small chamber groups and I�m always ready to work with others and attack the task at hand. I read, write, and speak Spanish without accent, can communicate with Italians with ease, and thanks to podcasts and rosetta stone, I�m currently learning French. Although I don�t think I�ll be having any conversations by march. As far as my physique, I�m athletic and have played sports all my life; I head to the gym 4-5X/week. My goal is to do an Everest expedition sometime in my 30�s.

My Pitch:

I may not be the most well travelled, experienced, creative, tech savvy, multilingual, knowledgeable and intellectual, and physically fit individual; but I can most likely put myself in the top 10% of each category. Having a good time is never an issue and I think team FT needs a young goofy individual to keep the energy going. I believe I would be an ideal candidate for Team FT as I am strongly diversified in a multitude of areas that would most likely lead team FT to victory!

This sounds like a fantastic opportunity that will lead to great experiences for whomever participates. It will hopefully give FT�s and the FT community the recognition it deserves.

l etoile

Where do I send your check to again?

anonplz

Very nice of Randy. ^ (I wish I could, but unfortunately, can't. )

Go, Team Flyertalk!

MyXa

Since I found out that www.competitours.com offers Amazing Race - style travel I really wanted to go. Unfortunately for me the money is an issue. I trying to finish my master's degree so I didn't have enough money to participate.

My travel skills:
I speak Bulgarian, Russian and German. I do speak a little Spanish. I was born in Europe and been to most of the west Europe countries.
I usually book and organize my own trips to anywhere in the world. Last year I took my parents on two trips. 1st: Nice, France - Monaco - Genova, Italy (in 1 day) and the other two days in towns around Nice.
2nd - Spain in 5 days we visited : Madrid - Valencia - Cartagena - La Manga del Mar - Granada - Malaga - Cordoba - Madrid.
Last year I visited France, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain. This year I have planed trips to Honduras, Belgium, Nicaragua, Bulgaria and the Grenadines.
I usually like extreme vacations where the adrenaline is pumping and what drives me is to see new places and meet new people. I don't like to stay on the beaten path but to research (I work in research and it's a habit) places where a few people go and to see the beauty of the country as the locals see it.
I do participate in Google puzzle challenge every year because puzzles are one of my hobbies. The other hobbies include books, ballet and scuba diving.

I think I can bring my language expertise, my planning skills and my knowledge on European culture to the FlyerTalk team. I also get along very easily with new people and I'm hardly scared of anything (oh well, middle sized hairy spiders scare me )

Thank you, Randy, for this opportunity!

prefer_2_fly

I am a female engineer who has been blessed with a job which allows her to have unique international travels. I typically travel alone and try to interact with CEO's and local factory workers to have the broadest in travel experiences. Love to wake up before dawn to see the first morning light and go for a walk.

So...what the heck. I went to the website and viewed the first challenges which reminds me of a recent trip to Vietnam where I purchased a bottle of snake wine. (It makes a great conversation piece and I'm well versed in its benefits!) Slam dunk.

I only speak english but have a phD in friendly smile and hand signals.

Light travel requirements: lip gloss, sense of adventure, good humor, eat only local food, cc with proper mileage program & loaded up smartphone.

Partner: diplomat brother, peace corp experience in Romania, and lived in Africia; we'd be awesome.

Heck I may just sponsor myself. If I get laid off.....it would be a great networking trip!

Cheers

VibeGuy

I would love to do this for a number these Top Ten mildly compelling reasons:

1) Nothing fazes me. Through six-continent travel, tropical disease, airliner incidents, destroyed luggage, visa "misunderstandings" and the general indignities of modern travel, I accept, adapt and accelerate to reach my travel goal.

2) I am impervious to jetlag. Not just "I sleep great on planes", but "I am ready to negotiate bilateral arms reduction treatments when I hit the ground".

3) About that negotiating thing; I see the world as a giant marketplace full of win-win situations, and work in a charming but dogged manner to make sure encounters end with everyone feeling good about the outcome.

4) I successfully navigate in Western Europe with the best of them; I make no claims to Japan (who does?). I do it by augmenting an innate ability for dead reckoning with the gift of rapidly laying down new mental maps of a neighborhood, city or region.

5) I'm an omnivore. Picky eaters are death to spontaneous travel.

6) My gig prepares me for tasks like this; our job is to look at the flow of information, resources and people and find ways to get stuff done. This is how we bring benefit to our clients. The same methodologies can be applied to this adventure; we have a finite set of resources, a given knowledge level and two people with comfortable shoes. Success can be defined as creating a sum of solutions that results in the least total time impact (ie, finish fast, finish first).

7) Between high school German and college Latin, I can pick my way through the cognates of most Western languages. This has served me stunningly, enabling me to avoid jellied eels, among other potential disappointments. We will not speak of what happened in Catalonia, faced with all those Xs and Zs.

8) I've got the right technology for the job; small, powerful, battery-sparing and globally connected.

9) I really *need* this kind of vacation; my 2008 flying (enough to make elite on segments in two different programs) has been almost exclusively to deal with a stressful family/family business situation that is now in a stable state. There's a window here, and I could use a voluntary defenestration.

10) If you told any of my friends that I was being considered for this, they'd say, to a person, "Eric is the guy you want in a situation like this." I've turned non-travelers into travel junkies, infrequent fliers into 1Ks/MVP Gold, and homebodies into sofa-surfers across four continents. I love to help people warp their perceptions of space and time through making "big" travel routine and as essential as work and sleep. This is an excellent opportunity to pass on the love in a much, much larger way.

Eric

pinniped

I should be available that week and I'd *love* to do it. I won't attempt to write a book here... I've traveled the continent a bunch and know how to do it a various different "levels of luxury". (In other words, I've slept on trains, camped, and stayed in everything from tiny hostels to the top-end hotels in our popular frequent-stay programs.)

I'm a bit of a hybrid, not married to one airline or hotel. I hold a bunch of elite statuses, but don't we all? Somehow I suspect the contest will be set up in a way that diverse knowledge will be rewarded over, say, max status in one program.

I've run marathons on the continent, so no trouble moving about cities on foot - quickly if need be.

Anyway, I'd be honored to participate and would wear the FT badge with pride.

Alphaguy

Randy,

Thanks for such a fantastic opportunity!
Good Luck to everyone and may we all bring home the trophy to the Flyertalk Family!

Having read many of the posts already, it looks like there are some fine candidates. My wife, Mrs. Alphaguy, or my well-traveled and currently unemployed cousin would be a willing partner on the race, but given such a unique opportunity, I�d love to team up with another Flyertalker as well!

Reasons to Pick Me
1. I would be honored to represent Flyertalk, my family and country as a contestant and travel ambassador on this version of the Amazing Race! Travel is not only a gift we have because of our freedom, but also a tool for learning and I hope the trip and associated videos will encourage others who may not have left the country to do so. The world might just be a better place for it.
2. I actually put together an Amazing Race wedding proposal for my (now) wife three years ago. We had the opportunity to �race� through Italy and Germany, where I proposed at the Brandenburg Gate (where the wall fell). Unfortunately, I knew all the clues ahead of time, so I�m hoping to get selected for this one!
3. I got the European travel bug a decade ago. I wanted to see my favorite 80�s band (Alphaville) and just decided to ship myself out and see them in Copenhagen, DK. I�ve done the same at least a dozen times or so and had some incredible experiences, while making some great friends. (Alphaville--> alphaguy, get it?)
4. An opportunity like this (for financial, family reasons, etc) may come around only once in a lifetime, so I�ve already cleared my calendar and told my boss! Tell me where to go and what to do!
5. �Go Bills!� (The Tim Russert Rule) Never forget where you came from and what you represent. If you grew up in Buffalo or read his books, this will make sense! While I may not be the underdog in this one, I�m going to play like it and win!

Travel Skills
1. I work for a �fruit flavored electronics company�, so know my way around computers and quad band GSM phones as if they were an extension of me.
2. I know how to get my way from point A to point B in the shortest, most efficient method possible. I�ve even helped the airline staff reroute me to Cape Verde, when the computer couldn�t find a way! Note, I can also do the opposite if I need the miles! ;o)
3. I�m a master of the map, train schedule and navigating the airport. While English is my native language, I�m also pretty fluent in German and able to put together enough French and Spanish to get me by.
4. I�m not a picky eater (Eisbein, anyone?) and can sleep just about anywhere (hostel, train, even a coach seat on US!) to the dismay of my wife and friends.
5. Family, friends and coworkers contact me for travel advice all the time and I�ll often play the airport code and the �which airline are they taking game� by knowing the hub cities in my head. (Scary except for other Flyertalkers!)

Thanks for the Opportunity to Apply! ^
Alphaguy (aka Mike)