S26.E10: Fruits Of Our Labor (Peru)

[Jersey Guy 87]

The potato woman didn't pick out any one bad potato for Tyler and Laura.   She just dumped the load.

 

I wondered if she did it because they smeared their spit all over them.

 

 

No, they put at least one potato in the wrong bin.  The camera showed it.  The woman wasn't obligated to tell people what was wrong, only that it was wrong.  She did the same thing to the other teams that made a mistake.

 

I get the impression that Blair and Hayley have moved past disliking each other and are now actually having fun.  They both had applied to be on the show previously so they both actually like the show.  When Hayley manages to minimize her shrieking they race pretty competently.

[Boilergal]

I want Blair to win but not Hayley.   They are starting to be more like a brother/sister team, and I am starting to like them more, but mostly because Blair is awesome in the way he deals with her.  He just lets it all just roll off and treats her kindly no matter how obnoxious she can be.  Maybe she is a completely different person when they are at the pit stop, perhaps that helps in how he deals with her while they are in the middle of a task. With the stresses of her job, I would think that she would be able to keep her cool better.  I can't imagine that she would be able to blow up at her co-workers or doctors the way she blows up at Blair.  Maybe while they are doing tasks it's her TV persona, and Blair realizes it's just an act and laughs it off.

 

My faves are still Tyler and Laura- they just seem so comfortable with each other, like they have known each other forever, lifetime BFF's.  The way the deal with setbacks is pretty great. 

[Rosieroo]

 

Blair is the perfect man, he's hot, a cute nerd, amazing body, smart, funny, now we found out he's bilingual!

I can't agree.  Haley is a shrieky mess that can't let go of an argument even if its one sided but she's often right and Blair would test my patience too.  He just ignores her input over and over  and  doesn't listen so .....since this is a race and she wants to win she has to repeat herself and get louder and louder in an effort to get the information into his thick head.  Don't get me wrong...she takes it too far and too long after she's proved right but if he were my partner I would be sorely tempted to hasten the info into his head with a quick slap to the back of the head....HEY...I'm talking here!!  I have information that I think is valuable to our race!!

[backformore]

Maybe I am just jaded by watching so many seasons of TAR, but this read to me as a heavy-handed production influence. Usually when teams way out ahead get in, they get a clue that says something along the lines of "the stall will open at 7am"  or they have to choose a number for a morning start time. We saw nothing except a welcome that the other teams did not receive, no clue envelope till morning and then Jenny saying that their "release time" was at 7am (very suspicious wording, even for Jenny). It came across like a scramble to reduce a 12 hour deficit for the other teams to avoid a situation like S1 with Kevin & Drew/Guidos. YMMV.

It does seem like there's a lot missing this season. Information about tasks, the Times of flights, departure Times at the start of the leg. It just seems like a different show.

[fishcakes]

He just ignores her input over and over  and  doesn't listen so .....since this is a race and she wants to win she has to repeat herself and get louder and louder in an effort to get the information into his thick head.

 

I think she just enjoys yelling at him. At the beginning of this episode when they showed the flashback to Amsterdam where Blair is getting directions from the guy with the map on his phone, Hayley is standing apart from them and not paying attention. Right after that she starts in on him again, saying, "you have to let me look at the directions too! He was showing you and I couldn't get in there to see it! Blair! Blair! Blair!" She couldn't get in there!? Blair's not escorting the locals into the Cone of Silence and getting directions in secret. Just walk up to them!

 

The spit thing was not okay, in my opinion. I mean, yes, the potatoes are covered in dirt, but it's the idea of some rando's saliva on food that's the problem. I wash vegetables before cooking, but if I were in the grocery store and saw people rubbing their spit on things, I would be pretty disgusted too.

[blackwing]

The potato woman didn't pick out any one bad potato for Tyler and Laura.   She just dumped the load.

I wondered if she did it because they smeared their spit all over them.

No, they put at least one potato in the wrong bin.  The camera showed it.  The woman wasn't obligated to tell people what was wrong, only that it was wrong.  She did the same thing to the other teams that made a mistake.

That's not exactly true.  She specifically pointed out the one wrong potato to Jelani and Jenny.  She picked it up and showed it to them.  She didn't do the same for Tyler and Laura or Matt and Ashley, so that seemed a bit unfair to me.  

 

I'm not even sure if the lady was a real potato vendor.  Is there a purpose to designing a potato stall like that, where you pull a lever and ALL of the potatoes fall out all at once?  I was thinking perhaps at the end of the day it's easier to  empty the stall of the unsold potatoes, but there's no way there'd be a bag that big and strong to hold an entire cartload's worth.  I am suspecting that stall was purposely built and designed by the TAR producers for the TV friendly visuals of watching a team's entire efforts come crumbling down and for the freaking out (Matt, that's you) reactions.

 

Reminds me of a recent TAR, of course I can't remember the exact details but the teams had to make a pyramid structure out of champagne glasses?  Great entertainment watching everything literally come crashing down.

[muffkins]

I can't agree.  Haley is a shrieky mess that can't let go of an argument even if its one sided but she's often right and Blair would test my patience too.  He just ignores her input over and over  and  doesn't listen so .....since this is a race and she wants to win she has to repeat herself and get louder and louder in an effort to get the information into his thick head.  Don't get me wrong...she takes it too far and too long after she's proved right but if he were my partner I would be sorely tempted to hasten the info into his head with a quick slap to the back of the head....HEY...I'm talking here!!  I have information that I think is valuable to our race!!

 

I don't see that as ignoring her.   When she was going on about stuff at the taxi, he was answering her, replying to things she said and stating his opinion.  It just wasn't the same as hers.  Disagreeing with someone is not ignoring them.   He was at least doing something.  She was standing 5 feet away from the driver not speaking to him and yelling at Blair.  I realize she doesn't speak Spanish, but she can get Blair to translate her question.  She doesn't try to be proactive, she just asks vague questions and then gets mad when he doesn't agree with her.

[survivinmt]

I don't see the spitting as so aggregious as the wetting of potatoes. Doesn't getting potatoes wet and then storing them like that always make potatoes rot quickly. And if they were using enough water it would be making the cart wet - which is the last thing you want the wood of your potato cart to be. I was bummed because I like that team - and they seemed to be really bone-headed in this episode.

[bsur]

n Peru's dry climate I can't imagine a little water on the potatoes will cause any kind of problem.  They will literally dry in five minutes.

 

 

 

Yes. It's usually directed to the male of the team - how proud are you of this woman?
There is NO acceptable answer other than - very proud. It's a stupid question, because the answer gives no information.

 

It's a stupid question, because it plays into male patriarchy.  "How proud are you of the little woman?  She can do stuff!  She can figure things out!  She can more or less keep up with you!"  If he needs to ask it, the better question would be "How proud are you of eachother?"

[Rancide]

In Peru's dry climate I can't imagine a little water on the potatoes will cause any kind of problem.  They will literally dry in five minutes.

 

Peru has a bunch of different climates. Trujillo is super-humid all year long:

 

https://weatherspark.com/averages/33647/Trujillo-La-Libertad-Peru

[chaifan]

The potatoes are a game prop, not something that is going to stay in the vendor's stand for regular purchase by locals.  If Tyler and Laura had walked around a market, spitting on food that was actually for sale, yeah, that would be unacceptable.  But it's a game prop.  And, as others have noted, potatoes are exposed to manure (and possibly chemical fertilizer, but maybe not so much in Peru), bugs, animals, bug & animal excrement, etc.  It's not like they required curator's white gloves to handle them with.  Game props get manhandled all the time on the race - it's no big deal.  Also, to me it looked like the vendor didn't so much as "refuse" to high five Tyler, but was clueless about what he was doing.  Overall, I think this has been one of the best seasons as far as how racers have treated locals, cab drivers, fellow travelers, etc.  Are the racers perfect?  No.  But so what?

[Jersey Guy 87]

I don't see the spitting as so aggregious as the wetting of potatoes. Doesn't getting potatoes wet and then storing them like that always make potatoes rot quickly. And if they were using enough water it would be making the cart wet - which is the last thing you want the wood of your potato cart to be. I was bummed because I like that team - and they seemed to be really bone-headed in this episode.

 

Spitting on the potatoes makes them wet and gets spit on them - if your objection is wet potatoes rot more quickly than these potatoes will rot more quickly and they have spit on them.

 

That's not exactly true.  She specifically pointed out the one wrong potato to Jelani and Jenny.  She picked it up and showed it to them.  She didn't do the same for Tyler and Laura or Matt and Ashley, so that seemed a bit unfair to me.  

 

But the claim was Tyler and Laura had their potatoes dumped because they had spit on them - that wasn't the reason.  Matt and Ashley had their potatoes dumped and they didn't spit on them.  Plus, once the potatoes were dumped I don't think it was that easy for Jelani and Jenny to track which one she had pointed out (and others mixed together).  They still had to sort a mess of potatoes on the ground.

[needschocolate]

Maybe Tyler and Laura should have peed on the potatoes.  It would be a quicker and easier way to get them wet than spitting on them.

Edited May 4, 2015 by needschocolate

[Lingo]

This episode was the story of how arguably the strongest and most competent team remaining, Tyler and Laura, would have been eliminated due to their multiple mistakes in this leg -- if Matt and Ashley hadn't made all the same mistakes!  It was painful to watch, since Matt and Ashley were my favorites and every time T&L made a mistake, it gave me a glimmer of hope for a few seconds that M&A could somehow squeak by.  But it was not to be.  Not that I particularly wanted Tyler and Laura to be eliminated -- they're my favorite blind-date team because they're so calm and competent -- but it would have been quite a twist to see such a strong team eliminated like that.

 

Really, who I wanted to see eliminated were one of the two teams that made it onto the first flight, due to their propensity for argument (how I hate arguments!), but that just wasn't going to happen, so I was bummed out early into this episode. It hurt even more that Matt and Ashley had so many chances to get back into it but blew them all.

 

Interesting moments from the bonus videos:

1. It was Jenny's birthday as well! (The same day as Laura's, or maybe the previous or following day.)

2. "Chickens with their heads cut off" is such a perfect description of Matt and Ashley (God bless them).  There's an extended bonus clip of the two of them right after the Speed Bump trying to figure how how to get their next clue (Ashley keeps trying to find the Plaza they're already in, and Matt is convinced they have to find the keys to the taxi waiting for them).  They wander around for maybe 5 minutes before they figure out that the clue's at the same shoeshine where their Speed Bump clue was!

[Netfoot]

He just ignores her input over and over  and  doesn't listen so .....

 

Hard to listen when you're forced to plug your ears with cotton wool...

 

I don't see the spitting as so aggregious as the wetting of potatoes.

 

When I buy potatoes -- in a bag from Idaho -- they are all washed, and still wet in the bag.

 

Maybe Tyler and Laura should have peed on the potatoes.

 

Good idea!  Would have washed some of the pig-manure off, and made them more palatable!

[Vyas]

Re: Blair's intermediate-at-best command of the local language

If Harley and/or Jackie had made it to this point, then it's possible that their presumed advantage as native-speakers might have smoothed out the communication gaps encountered by the actual Final Five and thus gotten their teams the leg win over B. Witch Project.

[Richness]

I came out of this episode with really bad feelings toward the show. Event Phil got on my nerves by going on and on at the end about the relationships. Or maybe I'm just tired of hearing Haley's nagging shriek and seeing even more of the Bickersons Show.

 

It also combined with yet another obvious elimination to finally cause me to lose interest. Granted, the race designers can't do much if the contestants make too many mistakes. There's just been so many obvious eliminations this season. The only one that's gone against that is this season's cockroaches that refuse to die: The truckstop couple. Yay for the underdogs i guess.

 

I've never liked the Bachelor(ette) gimmick, and I think this episode just finally pushed me over the edge. Even though I'm not quitting TAR, I am wondering if I would even be sad if they were cancelled. I almost want to watch the Family Edition again instead of another Dating Game edition. Both TAR and Survivor have disappointed me this season.

[Jobiska]

That little dog on the tile housetop had better English than most of the racers had Spanish.  He was saying "Roof!  Roof!"

[etagloh]

It came across like a scramble to reduce a 12 hour deficit for the other teams to avoid a situation like S1 with Kevin & Drew/Guidos. YMMV.

Except that you can't imagine any of the leg's tasks being completed during the night, so there was going to have to be some kind of forced bunch and a morning start. There might have been a stagger if more than two teams had got on an earlier flight, but it's moot: it was an Hours of Operation bunch.

(There aren't many bonus clips for this leg, and none from the overnight in Peru, but I assume TPTB put on some kind of reception/buffet at the square for the early arrivers, as they've been doing elsewhere this season.)

It does seem like there's a lot missing this season. Information about tasks, the Times of flights, departure Times at the start of the leg. It just seems like a different show.

That, I agree with: the gimmick has eaten away at a lot of the little details that we're used to seeing. Ironically, the time's taken up by bits that show how the gimmick hasn't worked (Blair and Hayley stuff) while Date Night has been mostly shoved off into bonus clips.

[Delwyn]

Except that you can't imagine any of the leg's tasks being completed during the night, so there was going to have to be some kind of forced bunch and a morning start. There might have been a stagger if more than two teams had got on an earlier flight, but it's moot: it was an Hours of Operation bunch.

(There aren't many bonus clips for this leg, and none from the overnight in Peru, but I assume TPTB put on some kind of reception/buffet at the square for the early arrivers, as they've been doing elsewhere this season.)

Absolutely I agree that it is an HoO thing. By "it came across" I was trying to say that it was a very weird way to edit the whole thing. Why have it look like producer shenanigans when it can easily be explained away with a clue like they always do? As a regular viewer, I just found it jarring. Like backformore said, all these details cut seem like it detracts from why I watch/the show that keeps me tuning in. I want to know things like how far apart their pit stop departures are and when all the flights get in. WIthout it, it's just a bunch of hyper tasks and arguing strung together with a changing back drop.

As an aside to that, I feel like maybe a bigger (or at least more interesting) deal could have been made about the fact that (for the first time?) they took the racers from Summer in Africa, to Winter in Europe, then back to Summer in South America. Travel reality show, guys! Not "Do Math with Product Placement, then Drink Sugar Cane Show"! More adventure tasks and less costume for no reason, dancing and singing tasks next season, please!

And now concludes my segment of "You kids get off my lawn!"

Edited May 5, 2015 by Delwyn

[Rosieroo]

 

She doesn't try to be proactive, she just asks vague questions and then gets mad when he doesn't agree with her.

Yeah, she's no prize.  I just don't think he's much of a prize either.  But oddly.....I kinda like them. I like that they're able to laugh about their disagreements (well...her shrieking and his placating)  when they get to the mat.  

[chaifan]

I would be totally satisfied if Blair and Hayley were eliminated in 4th place (keeping them from the final 3) solely as the result of Blair not listening to Hayley.  I'd be happy with J&J, Laura and Tyler, and Mike & Rochelle in the final 3, and I'd be happy with any of them winning.

[needschocolate]

I would be totally satisfied if Blair and Hayley were eliminated in 4th place (keeping them from the final 3) solely as the result of Blair not listening to Hayley.  I'd be happy with J&J, Laura and Tyler, and Mike & Rochelle in the final 3, and I'd be happy with any of them winning.

 

But would it be so satisfying because Blair may finally realize that he should have been listening to Hayley all along, or would it be so satisfying because Hayley's head may actually explode?

[chaifan]

But would it be so satisfying because Blair may finally realize that he should have been listening to Hayley all along, or would it be so satisfying because Hayley's head may actually explode?

 

Does it have to be an "or"???  ;)

[kingshearte]

Put me on the side of thinking that Tyler & Laura didn't deliberately mislead Matt & Ashley. Although I can see how it could be interpreted either way, until I started reading this thread, it hadn't even occurred to me that it might be deliberate. I just figured that they assumed Matt & Ashley had stumbled across Part 2 of the potato detour while looking for Part 1 of the hooch detour. Not that I'd put it past them to steer someone else wrong, but as someone in here pointed out, we'd probably have heard them giggle a bit about it if it had been done on purpose. I think they were too busy stressing about their own potatoes in that particular moment.

 

As for the potatoes... I did point out to myself that I really have no way of knowing for sure what has or has not happened to any produce I've ever bought or eaten. For all I know, every potato I've ever eaten has been spat on. And certainly there is plenty of other unpleasantness that has undoubtedly happened to my potatoes. Nonetheless, despite knowing all that, seeing it actually happen was rather gross. I'm torn though, as to whether or not to hope those potatoes were actually for sale or not, because if they're not, that's a lot of wasted food.

 

Finally, I think the non-elimination leg has outlived whatever usefulness it might have had. I don't know what the overall stats on them are, but this season is now 3 for 3 on eliminating the "saved" team the very next leg. Even though, in this case, if Matt & Ashley had run a better leg, they totally could have made it, it just makes it feel so inevitable that the eliminations might as well have just happened the previous weeks. 

[blackwing]

Finally, I think the non-elimination leg has outlived whatever usefulness it might have had. I don't know what the overall stats on them are, but this season is now 3 for 3 on eliminating the "saved" team the very next leg. Even though, in this case, if Matt & Ashley had run a better leg, they totally could have made it, it just makes it feel so inevitable that the eliminations might as well have just happened the previous weeks. 

The main purpose of the non-elimination leg is so they can get in a requisite number of episodes to comprise a season that would satisfy the network.  Sure, they could just have more teams and make every leg an elimination leg, but that would cost more.  More costs for airline/food for the teams themselves.  Plus more crew to handle more teams.

 

I think the team that benefitted from the NEL should rightly have a very hard time catching up.  They would need to run a perfect leg and have another team screw up.

[needschocolate]

The main purpose of the non-elimination leg is so they can get in a requisite number of episodes to comprise a season that would satisfy the network.  Sure, they could just have more teams and make every leg an elimination leg, but that would cost more.  More costs for airline/food for the teams themselves.  Plus more crew to handle more teams.

 

I think the team that benefitted from the NEL should rightly have a very hard time catching up.  They would need to run a perfect leg and have another team screw up.

 

I don't want them to have more teams or fewer episodes, so I vote for having a few To Be Continued legs instead of the Non-elimination legs. At least they would be getting rid of the speed bump, which might make the losing team a little less obvious than it is now.  They could have some sort of rest period built in - long train ride or flight.

 

I would also only have u-turns and w-turns when there is some bunching early in the leg. 

 

Having there be some suspense as to who will be last makes for a more enjoyable viewing experience, IMO. 

[hincandenza]

You can get the DVDs I think, amazon might stream them too. Flo was useless but I don't remember her being ugly with the locals, Colin and Jonathan both had major disputes with cabdrivers. Spitting is yucky and the poor woman at the stall was probably thinking nasty thoughts but at least they didn't berate her when she dumped the potatoes.

 

Last I looked, while Hulu Plus doesn't have the most recent few seasons (for no reason other than whatever hell of contract law binds up the TAR franchise and CBS) it does have apparently all episodes of seasons 1-22 available for streaming.

[Eggman]

I think you can watch all the AR seasons on cbs.com, for a fee of course.

[chaifan]

I think you can watch all the AR seasons on cbs.com, for a fee of course.

 

Just my opinion here, but I think cbs.com streaming is horrible.  I can't stream anything off cbs.com on my smart tv due to buffering issues.  No such issues with Hulu or any other site.  Even when just trying to watch a missed TAR episode on cbs.com on my computer it freezes a lot.  I've got Hulu Plus, and have been making my way through the early TAR seasons, and now I totally understand all references to Flo (ugh) and other early racers. 

[Meushell]

Personally, I'd rather my potatoes have been spat on than being dumped on the ground. Still, a bit gross to spit on food, even if they are just props. I do hope those potatoes weren't just wasted. Sell the bruised things at a discount, or just give them away.

[Jersey Guy 87]

Personally, I'd rather my potatoes have been spat on than being dumped on the ground. Still, a bit gross to spit on food, even if they are just props. I do hope those potatoes weren't just wasted. Sell the bruised things at a discount, or just give them away.

 

I would be shocked of the potatoes you buy in the store haven't been dumped on the ground.  They aren't going to bruise from being dumped out like that.

[Ottis]

Don't get me wrong...she takes it too far and too long after she's proved right but if he were my partner I would be sorely tempted to hasten the info into his head with a quick slap to the back of the head....HEY...I'm talking here!!  I have information that I think is valuable to our race!!

 

 

The only way to get someone who ignores you to listen is to be right, again and again, and to handle that fact competently. Haley has not been right every time, when she turned out to be right she often wasn't very definitive at the time she was right and when she has been proven right later (after being ignored, or unheard, YMMV) she has handled it by yelling far too much and for far too long at Blair.

 

That doesn't encourage people who ignore you to start paying attention to you.

 

All that said, I like her more now than I did, maybe because she seems to recognize that she is being ridiculous as well (though it doesn't stop her from continuing to be so).

 

How much does a backpack weigh for a contestant? The backpacks seems to be getting bigger and heavier. I keep wondering when someone will turtle.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Ottis

[Vyas]

I feel like maybe a bigger (or at least more interesting) deal could have been made about the fact that (for the first time?) they took the racers from Summer in Africa, to Winter in Europe, then back to Summer in South America. Travel reality show, guys!

 

Along with Winter in Asia, both the temperate Japanese type as well as the tropical Thai counterpart. Easily the most expansive route since S23's South American Winter -> Eurasian Summer and S22's Oceanian Summer -> Asian Winter -> African Summer -> European Winter. (As great as last season was, its course is comparatively minimalist/overrated.)

[Delwyn]

Along with Winter in Asia, both the temperate Japanese type as well as the tropical Thai counterpart. Easily the most expansive route since S23's South American Winter -> Eurasian Summer and S22's Oceanian Summer -> Asian Winter -> African Summer -> European Winter. (As great as last season was, its course is comparatively minimalist/overrated.)

Hmm, true. I guess it was really striking to me this year because of the hemisphere jumps in rapid succession. After 5 or 6 legs in the NE hemisphere, they then hopped NE, SE, NE, SW (and presumably back to NW for the final leg) in just the back half of the race. My experience of travel is that it can be incredibly disorienting to do that (is the sun in the north or south today?) but maybe they are in such a bubble of adrenaline and production crew that all the fatigue feels the same for the racers at this point.

[UncleChuck]

moved to Blair/Hayley thread

Edited May 9, 2015 by UncleChuck

[ozlsn]

Maybe I am just jaded by watching so many seasons of TAR, but this read to me as a heavy-handed production influence. Usually when teams way out ahead get in, they get a clue that says something along the lines of "the stall will open at 7am"  or they have to choose a number for a morning start time. We saw nothing except a welcome that the other teams did not receive, no clue envelope till morning and then Jenny saying that their "release time" was at 7am (very suspicious wording, even for Jenny). It came across like a scramble to reduce a 12 hour deficit for the other teams to avoid a situation like S1 with Kevin & Drew/Guidos. YMMV.

 

I took it as being partly a security issue rather than a reducing the time deficit.  I think if all five teams had caught the night arriving flight then they would have done it as the HOO bunch/staggered start.

 

LOL at Hayley's "I'm not a person that yells" and "It takes a lot to make me mad." Really? Do you really want to do this?

 

I didn't really get the speed bump. Was it just using a typewriter?

 

They had calculators... why was the math taking them so long?

 

I'm wondering what Hayley's reactions to seeing herself on TAR are actually.  Because for someone who never yells she's had quite a number of montages.  Yes, the speed bump was using typewriters.  Thanks Show, now I feel old.  And I said the exact same thing about the calculators!

 

It does seem like there's a lot missing this season. Information about tasks, the Times of flights, departure Times at the start of the leg. It just seems like a different show.

 

I agree, a lot missing.  Pre-existing relationships, tasks that are a choice (let alone with pros and cons), mat time questions about something other than "so, done it yet?"

How much does a backpack weigh for a contestant? The backpacks seems to be getting bigger and heavier. I keep wondering when someone will turtle.

 

Well if they want to take it on as carry-on luggage then 7kg... seriously I wonder if some of these bags are being checked in because they look much too big for carry-on!

[zoey1996]

Well if they want to take it on as carry-on luggage then 7kg... seriously I wonder if some of these bags are being checked in because they look much too big for carry-on!

Depends on the airline - some have higher weight restrictions, and some have no weight restriction, only size restrictions. 

[AZChristian]

We travel most of the time on Southwest, and we put our heavy stuff in the carry-on because we don't want to exceed the weight limit on the checked baggage.  They've never weighed our carry-on.  If it's the right size, it goes.

[Special K]

We travel most of the time on Southwest, and we put our heavy stuff in the carry-on because we don't want to exceed the weight limit on the checked baggage.  They've never weighed our carry-on.  If it's the right size, it goes.

 

This is essentially true at US airports -- overseas they often will weigh.  I've had the experience of going to Europe and not checking my bag, not buying anything there, and being forced to check my bag on the way back on account of weight.

[AZChristian]

This is essentially true at US airports -- overseas they often will weigh.  I've had the experience of going to Europe and not checking my bag, not buying anything there, and being forced to check my bag on the way back on account of weight.

 

Thanks for the "heads up."  We're doing some international travel later this year, and it's good to be aware of this.

[ProfCrash]

Good backpacking backpacks are made to be lightweight, sturdy, and fit on your back so they should all fit into an overhead compartment. If you use stuff sacks, you can fit a ton into them. Seriously, stuff sacks are amazing and can help you compress items by about 50 percent. If you go on a show like this you should do your shopping at a back packing store like REI or North Face. You can pick up lightweight sleep sacks and air mattresses that barely weigh anything but will work great in an airport or outside on decent temperature nights. Pick up a good down jacket and you have something that is light weight and can be massively compressed so it doesn't take up a lot of space. Seriously, back packing clothes are durable, lightweight and can be used in many different temperatures when layered properly. Bring some laundry powder with you and wash away.

[Special K]

Many carriers have a carry-on weight restriction of 40 pounds.  But some have just 25 pounds or less, which is really not that much.  Hell, some bags, empty, can weigh up to 8 pounds, especially if they have wheeling mechanisms.  NOTE:  those weight restrictions appiy to ALL your carry-ons together, so if you have a purse or handbag, that will be weighed and counted as well.  I got into trouble flying Air Canada -- my 28-or-so-pound carry on was fine going to Europe, but was disallowed coming back.

 

A list of restrictions (may not be up to date, but is illustrative):

http://flyingwithfish.boardingarea.com/2009/06/28/carry-on-weight-baggage-limit-chart-for-65-world-airlines/

 

Agree with ProfCrash.  As a veteran backpacker, I have tons of light/compressible stuff!  Well worth it.

[dgpolo]

From way back in the thread:

 

They had calculators... why was the math taking them so long?

 

speaking as someone who is math phobic, even somewhat, number phobic (have had a new land line # for almost a year, still haven't memorized it, same with cell phone) even if you are given the numbers and a calculator that doesn't mean you know what to do with them. Which ones are added, subtracted, multiplied, divided, I once walked out of a math placement test, that a calculator was allowed at, because I had no idea how to use it to figure out each problem. When I try to figure out a math problem in my head the numbers go wandering. I would have expected Hayley and Blair to be the best at this because of their professions but I would have been awful.

[ozlsn]

Many carriers have a carry-on weight restriction of 40 pounds.  But some have just 25 pounds or less, which is really not that much.  Hell, some bags, empty, can weigh up to 8 pounds, especially if they have wheeling mechanisms.  NOTE:  those weight restrictions appiy to ALL your carry-ons together, so if you have a purse or handbag, that will be weighed and counted as well.  I got into trouble flying Air Canada -- my 28-or-so-pound carry on was fine going to Europe, but was disallowed coming back.

 

A list of restrictions (may not be up to date, but is illustrative):

http://flyingwithfish.boardingarea.com/2009/06/28/carry-on-weight-baggage-limit-chart-for-65-world-airlines/

 

Agree with ProfCrash.  As a veteran backpacker, I have tons of light/compressible stuff!  Well worth it.

 

Thanks for that list - I looked up every airline I've flown on and all but the US ones were 15lb, which is probably why that's stuck in my head.  Heh.  Damn, if I'd known United had unlimited carryon weight I would never have checked my backpack!  And totally agree, stuff sacks are fantastic.  I kind of want some of the recent racers to post a list of what they took and how much their packs weighed now!

[Ducky]

This is essentially true at US airports -- overseas they often will weigh.  I've had the experience of going to Europe and not checking my bag, not buying anything there, and being forced to check my bag on the way back on account of weight.

 

 

This is true.  I remember a friend of mine, her luggage was weighed before checking it when returning from the UK to the US... it wound up as...overweight (I can't remember the phrasing but that was it basically) and had to pay additional for the extra weight.  She wasn't thrilled.