Author: Eric
This year we are following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 7 left me wondering, how many years has it been since I used a card catalog? Read on for the full story.

 
The Amazing Racers added an additional country, Russia to their visited countries list. They flew from Istanbul, Turkey to Moscow, Russia. Six teams remain on this "to be continued episode" in which two teams had travel difficulties (flight delayed and missed their connecting flight in Poland) and they fell behind 10 hours.

First, the teams did some navigating via taxi making their way to the Zurab Tsereteli Sculpture Park to get a clue. Zurab Tsereteli is a Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect who holds the office of President of the Russian Academy of Arts. Next, they made their way to the Moskvoretsky bridge to get another clue from "Ivan the Terrible" guard in period costume. The teams then had to choose between the detours, Synchronize or Alphabetize.

► In Synchronize, teams had to learn a choreographed routine from the gold medal winning Russian Synchronized Swimming Team. Not a surprise but the Chippendale dancer team, James and Jaymes finished quickly while the sister team Natalie & Nadia finished after several attempts. James and Abba took much longer but finished after 10 attempts. The two teams that were 10 hours behind, goat farmers Josh and Brent and dating divorees, Abbie and Ryan decided to complete the tasks together and because the library closed at 4pm, had no option but to swim.

► In Alphabetize, teams had to find four library books at the enormous Russian State Library.  The library is the third largest in the world with over 17 million books! This task was difficult because the books they were trying to find were in Russian and because they had to find them the old fashion way, using a card catalog! This task proved difficult for rocker/brother team James and Abba. They gave up and went to the swimming task. However, Trey & Lexi "mastered" the Russian language and completed the task quickly.

► Finally, teams had to go to the Luzhkov bridge where they had to find the correct keys that unlocked a ribbon holding their next clue. The clue was on the back of a ruble, a picture of the Bolshoi Theater, the pit stop for this leg of the race. During this task, James and Abba realized they left their bags in the taxi along with passports. There was nothing they could do as the taxi was nowhere in sight so they decided to finish the task and go to the pit stop.

Lexi and Trey finished first, winning a trip to Maui. Second to arrive were Jaymes and James, a result of finishing the swimming task quickly.  Also finishing the swimming task quickly were Natalie and Nadia who finished third. Although they would have finished fourth, James and Abba did not have their passports and they could not be checked in.  The show ended with Josh and Brent struggling to finish the swimming task, Abbie and Ryan watching them struggle with the swimming task (having completed it and agreeing to wait for them to finish), and James and Abba wondering what in the world they would do in a city of millions to find their taxi holding their bags hostage.

I found this episode entertaining and the tasks more challenging to complete. Also, the decision for two of the teams to complete tasks together was compelling. I wonder what would happen if the two teams step on the pit-stop check-in mat at the exact same time? Would they both be last and eliminated together? I'll keep watching.

Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

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Author: Eric
This year we will be following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences.  One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21,  Episode 6 left me asking, has Amazing Race gone soft? Read on for the full story!

The Amazing Racers added an additional country, Turkey to their visited countries list. They also added an additional continent being that Turkey is actually in two continents, Europe and Asia.

First, I was blow away by the audacity of the sister team, Natalie and Nadia, when they took money from the brother team, James and Abba.  Apparently, the brothers had left the money unattended at the travel agent office that the teams were at when booking flights for the next leg of the race.  The sisters really took the low road and left James and Abba asking for money from local Bangladeshi. Thanks to a very generous local woman, they were able to come up with enough money to catch a taxi to the airport and the other teams were shocked to see them.  In an effort to split the guilt of taking the money, the sisters split the money with another team that had knowledge of the incident.  Wow!

The teams had to decide between the tasks "Stack It" or "Scrub It".

► For "Stack It" the teams had to transport Turkish bagels called Simits to 3 different addresses by figuring out to stack them on a tray balanced on top of a team members head.  Most teams handled this task well and few, if any, bagels were dropped.

► For "Scrub It" teams had to pick up bathing items at a local shop then make way their way to a bath house, choose a bath attendant, and get a rub down!  This was me first indication this episode that the Amazing Race challenges are overall easier this season.  Thus, my assessment that the Amazing Race has gone soft!

► Josh and Brent who arrived at the pit stop last on a non-elimination leg had to complete an extra task called a "Speed Bump".  So what was their additional task, meant to penalize them for coming in last?  They had to eat Turkish ice cream! Sign me up! Turkish ice cream isn't some weird food - it is actually ice cream served with a quick, albeit it frustrating when tempted with ice cream, performance of trickery. They actually went to the incorrect unmarked ice cream stand so they had to eat two servings!  Talk about the easiest speed bump in the history of the show!  Although the task was easy, it did take some additional time for Josh and Brent to get to the pit stop - their bellies were full of ice cream!

► Lastly, teams had to serve Turkish sherbet which, according to the show, is regarded as the world's first soft drink. They served 40 glasses of it in costume to paying customers at a busy market.

Overall, this episode was entertaining and I learned a few things about Turkey. Despite the "softness" of episode 6, I'll keep watching!  To watch clips, please watch Amazing Race on CBS.

Do you have travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next awesome adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

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Author: Eric
With the seemingly endless election nearly behind us, now may be a great time to really focus on your travel goals for 2013 and a bucket-list boogie just might be the shake-up you need to say on track. Let's face it, broad goals are much more difficult to achieve than specific goals. That's why it is advantageous to break down your (seemingly endless!) bucket-list into smaller goal sets. For example, why not create an edible bucket-list, drinkable bucket-list, museum bucket-list, monuments bucket-list, adrenaline bucket-list, animal encounter bucket-list and so on. When planning your next trip, review goals from each of the specific bucket-lists you made, find the goals that fit, and create a specialized list to accomplish on that trip. Before you know it, you'll be more organized with your bucket-list and be well on your way to checking off your goals when you travel. Create multiple bucket-lists and assign multiple goals to each bucket-list using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App. The bucket-list feature of the app (called "My Experiences") can be used as a flexible travel planning, tracking, and organizational tool. Shake it up! Your goals will thank you! Of course if you don't like the term "bucket-list" call it what you want - just as long as it keeps you motivated to accomplish your goals!

Do you have travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next awesome adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, 6 of the 7 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

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Author: Eric
This year we will be following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences.  One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21,  Episode 4 left us thankful we don't have a rodent problem!  Read on for the full story!

The amazing racers left Bangil, Indonesia for Dhaka, Bangladesh, adding one more country to their travel map.

► The teams first had repair one of the 15,000 buses that transport people throughout the country each day.  They filled gaps with putty, smoothed and sanded their patchwork.  Most teams did not have a difficult time with this and it was fitting that the monster truck racing team (handy with vehicle body work) breezed through this task.  After the teams finished the repair, they had to remove three sets of seats from a bus.

► The long haired rocker and lawyer brother team decided to go for the fast forward which allowed them to skip the bus task and complete a different task to go directly to the pit stop.  Based on the episode preview, I was under the impression that the team would have to catch live rats.  Instead, they had to collect dead rats which oddly enough seemed "better".  This is when I thought to myself, "I sure am glad I do not have a rodent problem!".  The team collected the rats, a following of onlookers, and went directly to the pit stop as the first team to check-in.

► While the fast forward was being completed, the other teams had to choose between their second task of pounding metal or pounding cotton.  In pounding metal, the teams heated a metal rod and pounded it into a stake.  Not a brain tasker but definitely a muscle builder.  The other task, pound cotton, involved a bit more thinking.  The teams hit the cotton to separate it more and then stuffed the cotton into fabric, creating a mattress.  They sewed up the open end of the mattress and the task was completed.  I really thought the teams would struggle with this task more but apparently they paid more attention in home economics than I!

To catch up on past episodes, please watch Amazing Race on CBS.

Do you have AMAZING travel goals?  Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app.  See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive primer to help you achieve travel goals.   Looking for great articles to plan your next awesome adventure?  See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world.  Have you traveled to all 50 states, all 7 continents, or at least 15 countries?  Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, 7 Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift!  Happy Travels!

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Author: Eric
The social and political controversies of Madonna aside, I can't begin to imagine the travel logistics and complexities that go into producing and organizing a world concert tour.  I counted at least 25 semi-trucks and at least 15 top of the line motor-coaches at her recent show in Denver, Colorado.  Take a look at the Madonna MDNA World Tour 2012 Travel Map below to see where the tour has been (green) and where the tour has yet to go (grey).  The map was created using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App.  Here's one way to put some stamps in your passport:  Go on tour!  Have you ever made seeing a music act the sole purpose of traveling to a new country?

Do you have worldly travel goals?  Check out a simple tool to help track travel goals and travel accomplishments - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences on your own map of the world.  See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive primer to help you achieve travel goals.   Looking for great articles to plan your next awesome adventure?  See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world.  Have you traveled to all 50 states, all 7 continents, or at least 15 countries?  Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, 7 Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift!  Happy Travels!

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Author: Eric
This year we will be following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences.  One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 1 got off to a great start on Sunday even though at one point of the show I had to look away from the TV asking - what are they eating?  Read on for the full story!

Episode 1 had the contestants starting from Los Angeles and flying to China to start their 9 country adventure.

Here is a summary of the activities/experiences that the teams had to accomplish before moving on:
► In Los Angeles, they rappelled off a 10 story bridge
► In Shanghai, China they had to score one point against a Jr. ping pong Champion - harder than it sounds!
► In Shanghai, China they had to eat frog fallopian tubes served in hollowed out papaya!  What?  This was definitely a head turner!  For fear of making myself sick again, please watch Amazing Race on CBS repeat to see how some teams struggled and some teams easily tackled this dish.  Needless to say, this food will never make my bucket-list!

Do you have AMAZING travel goals?  Check out a simple tool to help track travel goals and travel accomplishments - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences on your own travel goal iPad app.  See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive primer to help you achieve travel goals.   Looking for great articles to plan your next awesome adventure?  See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world.  Have you traveled to all 50 states, all 7 continents, or at least 15 countries?  Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, 7 Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift!  Happy Travels!

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Author: Eric
We have the Best Travel Goal Getter iPad App Users in the World!  Thank you for your great response to the release of the Travel Goal Getter iPad App!  We've been on the App Store for a couple of weeks now and we appreciate our new users in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia.  Thank you!  Happy Travels!

For your own states visited and countries visited iPad App, please visit Travel Goal Getter in the App Store or search Travel Goal Getter in the App Store.  The Travel Goal Getter iPad App is a map of the world that enables travelers to mark places visited and places one wants to visit and the bucket-list feature helps users keep track of things to-do.  We've recently posted a video on the Travel Goal Getter YouTube Channel which is a brief introduction to marking your own map.

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