Amazing Race

More than once during our ten weeks (it seems hard to believe that it's been ten weeks already) we've compared ourselves to contestants on the Amazing Race. It's one of the few "reality" shows we enjoy and one of the things that keeps us engaged is wondering how you would do in similar situations. In the comfort of your living room is easy to think that you would make better choices than the teams on screen. Having travelled through four countries including one in Africa, I don't think I'm as cocky as before.

(As an aside, it would make a fascinating season of the show if they made parents do the race with their seven year-olds -- it would add a very different dynamic to the show as teams had to stop what they were doing in order to avoid complete meltdown. I can tell you that given the choice between keeping the family peace or winning a million dollars, I would more often than not choose the family peace!)

Although we experienced much that would have made great fodder for Amazing Race situations in Ghana, the truth was that we were much more cautious during our five weeks, and were much less likely to set out to do things without planning them in advance (this, of course, did not mean that we avoided getting scammed by an unscrupulous taxi driver in Tamale -- "when I told you the price to drive you to Mole Park was 250 cedis all inclusive, I though it was clear that that was only one way; it's another 250 cedis to return -- or that Alice didn't get dangerously sick).

Our first 24 hours in Amsterdam I think shine more light on how we might fare on the show. Every time we start to feel that we've got this traveling thing down, something happens to melt a bit of the wax holding the feathers in our wings and we fall back to earth. Sometimes it's adjusting to the rhythm of others and sometimes it's underestimating the differences between countries, even in a place as supposedly unified as Europe.

We took the train yesterday from Paris and arrived in Amsterdam around 4 pm. We had been warned that it was Queen Day, which was particularly significant since Beatrix was abdicating the throne the following day to allow her son to become king (interesting trivia: Beatrix and I were born at the same hospital, though for my birth there was no need to annex my room to the Netherlands so that the future sovereign could be born on Dutch "soil"). We new we going to be entering something akin to Canada festivities, so we weren't surprised to be greeted by mildly drunken groups in the train station or to see young men and women dressed up as foot soldiers, standing on pedestals with giant orange inflatable hands and megaphones they used to yell things in Dutch at passersby (ok, the latter was a little surprising...)

We thought we had written down all the information we needed to get to our rental apartment. It's probably important to point out right about now that although we've managed to divest ourselves of some of the things we brought with us ten weeks ago (either by giving it away in Ghana or by giving it to family who stowed it in their suitcases after their visit with us) we are still a family of three on an extended vacation with clothes for multiple climates and school work for our precious charge. This translates into two large suitcases, two smaller suitcases and a medium size backpack. We don't move anywhere quickly or stealthily, but we generally get where we need to go without losing anyone or anything.

Thinking we need to get to the metro we make our way through the train station (this was after sometime spent looking for a phone -- ha -- public versions of which appear to be completely extinct in Amsterdam) we carry our luggage down stairs, through hallways, down more stairs. We wait in an enormous line to buy metro tickets, we get ourselves through the metro gates (not designed for families with a lot of luggage and a child a bit skittish in large crowds...) only to find that we had misunderstood the directions and we needed to be on a train and not in the metro (isn't the metro a kind of train?!?).

You can picture how this would be shown on the Race. Scott, Alice and Sylvie standing in the metro bewildered and increasingly frustrated surrounded by crowds of orange clad partiers. Sitting on your couch you would be shaking your head -- "they should have been more careful reading the directions. Tsk, Tsk".

So back up the stairs, across the square of partiers (all of whom have special dispensation from the powers that be to drink openly in the streets on Queen Day, and I have to say by this point a can of Heineken is looking really appealing) and into another line to buy another ticket because the trains are not the same company as the bus, tram and metro so the tickets we have won't help us. Get the new tickets and a printout of the next available trains. Run (ok hurry with our bags though the crowds) past the track that our train from Paris came in on three quarters of an hour ago, all the way to the wrong track. "You want 14b, this is 14a". Off the train heading to the airport, to the right train, just as the doors close.

We arrive at the apartment about 45 minutes later than we had said. Cut to Gordon/Hutton family dejectedly figuring out that they will be the sixth team leaving, an hour and a half after the first team gets to go at the crack of dawn. "At least it wasn't a pit stop and we're still in the game," they tell themselves.

I won't bore you with our escapades today, but our ability to figure out the Amsterdam transit system didn't seem to improve with some rest as we tried to rent bikes (we should have chosen the other detour and loaded the gooda truck and made deliveries around town. Is it too late...?) Amazing as it is we managed to fail at renting bikes in the most bike friendly town in the world (I keep telling myself it's because everybody hear already owns their own bikes, but it's somewhat cold comfort!).

What I've realized about the Amazing Race is that not only is there manipulative editing but the teams are constantly kept off balance by being put constantly in new situations; they never have a chance to find any kind of equilibrium because they're always in a rush or being rushed off to another country. Although today didn't go completely as planned, many of the things that I found frustrating yesterday because I was tired, rushed, slightly overwhelmed were a whole lot easier today once I had had a chance to get a better understating of the overall situation and inner workings.

We're in the final let, with only five more days before the final sprint for the finish line. Don't know whether we'll get the million dollars but the trip will have been worth it!