[The Practical Nomad Newsletter] The Amazing Race 13, Episode 10

[Edward Hasbrouck]

My tips for holiday travel bargains:
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001582.html

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This column with links:
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001583.html


Moscow (Russia)

The travellers on "The Amazing Race 13" continued to struggle this  
week, making mistakes and showing a surprising lack of basic travel  
skills for teams that made it to the penultimate leg of the race  
around the world.

Cyrillic is both one of the easiest (along with Greek) and the most  
widely useful second alphabet for a speaker of English or any other  
language written in Latin letters. You don't have to learn what the  
words mean in Russian (or any of the other languages written in  
Cyrillic) to learn to sound out the Cyrillic letters, and it doesn't  
take most people more than a single lesson and a day of practice to be  
able to match written signs to words in written or spoken destination  
names or directions.

The racers don't know for sure where they are going to go -- the  
television producers get them a certain number of "decoy" visas in  
addition to the ones they will actually need. But they knew in  
advance, when they saw the Russian visas in their passports, that  
Russia was on the "short list" of possible destinations. And after  
three consecutive legs of the race in countries whose languages are  
written in Cyrillic, I can't imagine why the none of the racers had  
gotten someone at one of the "pit stops" to teach them the alphabet.

Three of the four teams also picked what they should have known was  
the more difficult mode of transportation for a foreigner to navigate,  
choosing to travel by Metro ("subway" in USA usage) rather than by  
trolleybus ("trackless trolley" in Bostonian usage). Sarah and  
Terence, who rode the subway, easily and quite predictably came in  
ahead of the other teams who rode the buses.

It's understandable that some of the racers didn't know what was meant  
by a "trolleybus", and confused it with a diesel bus and/or a trolley  
("light rail vehicle" or "streetcar" in the USA, "tram" in Europe).  
For those who don't know, a trolleybus is propelled by motors powered  
by electricity drawn from a pair of wires strung overhead along the  
street, but rides on rubber tires on ordinary streets and roads, not  
on steel wheels on rails. Trolleybuses are found on limited routes in  
a few North American cities, but only in San Francisco (where the  
steep streets and unusually short typical distances between bus stops  
maximize their advantages) are a large proportion of the buses and bus  
routes electrified.

Most high-traffic bus routes can benefit from electrification.  
Trolleybuses themselves cost a little more than diesel buses (although  
much less than rail vehicles), but last many times longer with much  
less maintenance because of the inherent simplicity of the electric  
drive. Electric motors produce full power almost instantly, even from  
a standing start, obviating the need for a gearbox or complicated  
transmission and making them perfect in stop-and-go traffic. Stringing  
overhead power wires costs a fraction of the price, and takes only a  
fraction of the time, of laying rails for streetcars. Unlike  
streetcars, trolleybuses can change lanes to pass other vehicles,  
making it easier for them to share lanes with other traffic. They are  
virtually silent, produce no emissions at the vehicle, and the  
electricity to power them can be generated from renewable and less  
polluting sources. As oil gets more expensive (and if concern for  
global warming begins to have any effect on transportation planning),  
one the first changes we are likely to notice is a resurgence of  
trolleybuses. Indeed, an immediate start on conversion of some of  
their idle SUV and other car and light truck production capacity to  
trolleybus production should be part of the terms of any government  
financial aid for automobile manufacturers.

But that's another story. The issue in "The Amazing Race" -- and for  
you, dear reader, as a traveller -- is how much easier it is to find  
your way on almost any rail transit system (streetcar, subway, or  
commuter train) than on most buses, particularly if you don't speak a  
locally-understood language. Bus stop signage, when bus stops are  
signed at all, is often cryptic, and even if someone tells you to  
catch a bus "at" a particular intersection, that still falls short of  
specifying exactly where at that intersection you board: On which of  
the intersecting streets? Before or after the intersection? On which  
side of the street, or at a center island? Then you have to figure out  
where to get off -- not too difficult if you can ask someone (in words  
or by pointing to a map or the written destination) to tell you where  
to get off, but hard if you can't communicate, are on your own, the  
bus is crowded so you can't see out, you don't have a sufficiently  
detailed map to tell where along the bus route you are, and/or you  
don't know where along that route, or at what intervals, the bus will  
stop.

On a subway, the platforms or stops are usually well demarcated. And  
as New Yorkers Sarah and Terence demonstrate, once you have plotted  
your route on a map (or gotten someone to show you, drawing or writing  
or counting the stations on their fingers if there is no common spoken  
language), you can navigate by counting stations or stops without the  
need to rely on station signage -- although there are more likely to  
be visible signs identifying subway stations than identifying each  
stop on a bus route.

Streetcars, where they are an option, are intermediate between buses  
and subways in ease of navigation, depending mainly on whether they  
have a dedicated right-of-way with specified and marked "stations",  
platforms, or stopping places, or whether they share the same lane on  
the street with other vehicles and stop at unmarked and uncounted  
spots along the route.

Of the teams that took the trolleybus, mother and son Toni and Dallas  
fell further behind and lost the race by losing their passports. They  
blamed only themselves for leaving the waist-pouch with their  
passports in a taxi. But unless it was a categorical imperative of the  
race rules, they should never have put their passports someplace where  
it was possible for them to be separated from their bodies. Any item  
of luggage, bag, or purse can be lost or stolen, especially a  
waist-pouch worn outside your clothes that fairly shouts that it  
contains your valuables. It can be snatched in an instant by someone  
who slashes the strap, even from behind or the side (or while  
confederates hem you in), and a waist-pouch will be the second thing  
(after your cell phone) that a thief demands that you hand over.

Take a lesson from this week's eliminated racers: Don't put your  
passport at risk of loss or theft. Carry it somewhere secure inside  
your clothes, such as in a "secret" inside pocket or a pouch worn  
inside your clothes.You or a tailor can add a passport-sized pocket in  
also sorts of places in different garments (including undergarments).  
After you clear customs and immigration, stop and put your passport  
away before you go out into the scrum of people meeting arriving  
passengers. Don't get it out again until you are inside your hotel, at  
the front desk, and need it to check in.

There will inevitably be discussion about whether, had they not been  
eliminated, Toni and Dallas would have been able to leave Russia and  
return to the USA without passports. It's an interesting question: The  
law is clear, but what would actually happen is not.

Under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political  
Rights (ICCPR), "Everyone has the right to leave any country,  
including his own, and to return to his country." That right is  
near-absolute, and not dependant on possession of a passport or other  
documentation. But the USA has begun trying to enforce a requirement  
for citizens to have a passport in order to return home to the USA

Both Russia and the USA have ratified and are legally obligated to  
comply with the ICCPR, and under the Constitution it is "the highest  
law of the land". But in the USA, Congress has created no mechanism to  
enforce the rights guaranteed by the ICCPR. What's needed is a simple  
law to create a Federal cause of action for violations of the ICCPR,  
and to give the Federal courts jurisdiction over such cases. This  
would be a meaningful demonstration of commitment by the USA to honor  
its international obligations, without the need to submit to any sort  
of international jurisdiction -- such cases would be heard within the  
existing Federal courts. This is part of the Identity Project Agenda  
for the Obama Administration on the Right to Travel that I'll be  
discussing with Congressional staffers in meetings this week in  
Washington.

The finish line for this week's leg of the race was at "VDNK Park".  
Formerly the home of a permanent Exhibition of Soviet Economic  
Achievements, it now hosts temporary exhibitions of capitalist  
economic achievements, also known as trade fairs. But the "VDNK"  
acronym remains as the name of the Metro station, as does the  
upward-sweeping tapered titanium pillar, visible in the background of  
several scenes in the race, that honors the (quite genuine)  
achievements of the cosmonauts and other participants in the Soviet  
manned space program.


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Edward Hasbrouck
<edward at hasbrouck.org>
<http://hasbrouck.org>
+1-415-824-0214