Amazing Race Canada 2 - Week 3: YVR, HKG

Welcome to Hong Kong!! The Amazing Race Canada teams landed here in Week 3.

Week 3 of The Amazing Race Canada was beyond amazing.... Do you want to go where the teams did, and do what the teams did? Here's how:

The Pit Stop for Week 2 was the at the crab dock in Tofino... but we bet they didn't sleep in there...	Tofino Crab Dock: What's in a name?
By some mysterious means, the teams mysteriously left Tofino, and mysteriously made their way to an international airport. Why so secret? ... (we jest, but it's fun!)	How did they leave Vancouver Island? Tofino Airport (YAZ) ? Nanaimo Airport (YCD) ? BC Ferries from Departure Bay?
In the kick-off for Week 3 of The Amazing Race Canada, the teams flew to Hong Kong on Air Canada... We're guessing they flew from Vancouver International Airport (YVR)... do you agree?	Arrival at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) was the first trip outside Canada for #RaceCDA!
Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the teams were told to make their way up to Lantau Peak. One team even knew which colour taxi to take! Once at the base, the teams took the Ngong Ping Cable Car up to Ngong Ping Village.	Ngong Ping / Tung Chung Cable Car Review
Next stop was the Po Lin Monastery, where each team received a blessing from a monk.	Say om.
From calm into the rush of the race it was, as the teams made the gruelling walk up to the Tian Tan Buddha.	Hong Kong Travel Pass Combo: MTR Pass, Ngong Ping Cable Car and Big Buddha Tour
Back down in the city, it was time to cook up some trouble with Master Chef judge Alvin Leung at his Bo Innovation restaurant. Nicknamed The Demon Chef, it was no surprise that Leung handed the teams a rather strange list of ingredients to shop for at the wet market.	Cooking Class and Wet Market Private Tour
Wrapping up with a little lesson from Kung Fu master Lee... ... and striking some compelling poses for a movie director... ... then it was off to the pitstop for Week 3.	Kowloon Culture and Life Tour Hong Kong Private Full-Day Living Culture Tour

Created with the HTML Table Generator

Now, to the airports...

The Amazing Race Canada visited Vancouver International Airport (YVR) three times in Season 1. If you missed it, we shared some interesting information on YVR in our Season 1/Week 3 blog post.

Of course, this was the first visit Hong Kong International Airport for the Amazing Race Canada. Here are some things you may not know about HKG Airport:

• There is a 24 hour Plaza Premium Airport Lounge (with showers!) located in the Arrivals Hall, beneath Airport Express platform - RESERVE NOW
• Have a layover? See the city with the Private Hong Kong Layover Tour with Round-Trip Airport Transport

Getting to/from Hong Kong Airport:

• The easiest way to get into the city is by train: the trip takes just 24 minutes, and trains run every 10-12 minutes (more info)
• The Airport Express train station is between terminals 1 and 2 and is well sign posted
• You can buy your MTR metro and Airport Express Tickets before you travel with the Hong Kong Travel Pass
• You can buy the pass bundled with a Ngong Ping Cable Car and Big Buddha Tour before you travel with the Hong Kong Travel Pass Combo
• Prefer a limo? A Hong Kong Airport private car, with meet and greet service, will get you to the city, the port or anywhere else
• There are also good Hong Kong Airport bus services available
• There is a shared airport shuttle to Chek Lap Kok available
• You can find full details on all options (including how to connect to the Disneyland Resort) in our Hong Kong Airport transportation guide

We hope you found our information of value! We welcome your feedback and will see you next week. Go teams, go!

Related resources:

• Amazing Race Canada Season 2: Week 1 (YYC, YYJ), Week 2 (YYJ, YAZ)
• Amazing Race Canada Season 1 airports recap
• Taxis in Hong Kong - advice from IHateTaxis
• Layover City: Hong Kong - advice and options from our sister brand
• Layover ideas and things to do in Hong Kong

Amazing Race Canada - Season 1 airports recap

With Season 2 upon us, we thought we would recap the airports that the Amazing Race Canada teams visited in Season 1.

We started with our Amazing Race Canada - Season 1 Airport Quiz. Did you try it out? How did you do? If not, take the quiz now and check your memory!.

In Season 1, The Amazing Race Canada's visited 12 Canadian airports (the links below go to our transportation guides for each):

Air Canada is The Amazing Race Canada's lead sponsor

• Calgary International Airport (YYC)
• Edmonton International Airport (YEG)
• Halifax International Airport (YHZ)
• Iqaluit Airport (YFB)
• Kelowna International Airport (YLW)
• Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)
• Quebec City Jean Lasage International Airport (YQB)
• Regina Airport (YQR)
• Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)
• Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
• Whitehorse International Airport (YXY)
• Yellowknife Airport (YZF)

As Season 1 unfolded, we blogged about the visits, and a bit more about the airports themselves. If you'd like to read up, here's a link to all our Amazing Race Canada Season 1 blog posts.

We also did a little feature on Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre Airport (YTZ) as, while the teams didn't visit the airport, they did visit the Toronto Islands, in the city centre, where YTZ is located (read it here).

We hope you will follow along as we blog about the airports visited on Season 2 of The Amazing Race Canada. We'll even tell you about the best ways to get to/from each, in case you are inspired to visit!

Related resources:

• 5 Busiest Airports in Canada 
• Canada's Story - Airport Councils International
• End of Days - YYZ to discontinue bus service 
• Do we really hate taxis?

Amazing Race Canada - Week 5: YXY, YVR, YEG, YYC, YQR

Air Canada was one of The Amazing Race Canada's sponsors

Lots of airports touched on the way to the destination for this week's installment of The Amazing Race Canada:

The Douglas DC-3 (CF-CPY) that now serves as a
weather vane at Whitehorse International Airport (YXY).

Whitehorse International Airport (YXY) in the Yukon - we didn't get to say a lot about Whitehorse last week, and the teams left this important Klondike Gold Rush town so quickly this week, but we'd like to recognize Whitehorse Airport as being one of the most interesting northern airports in Canada. Did you know that you can fly here from Frankfurt? Or, better yet, people fly to Whitehorse from Frankfurt?!? Kind of exciting stuff for an otherwise pretty small airport. Oh, yes, btw, the airport's official name is Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport.

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) - from Whitehorse, on their way to Regina, teams flew through Vancouver, yet again, this time with two possible itineraries:

A few teams flew via Edmonton International Airport (YEG)

Edmonton International Airport (YEG) - as the race spent so little time here, we thought we'd pause to talk about this airport a bit... This is now Edmonton's only airport: the previous Edmonton City Centre Airport (YXD) has pretty well ceased operations, and will be a museum site only. So, if you fly to Edmonton, leave time for the 25 kilometre trek into the city. The good news is that there is now a 747 Airport Bus that runs to YEG - if you take it, you'll be helping the locals, who are at risk of losing the service if there aren't more users.

Calgary International Airport (YYC) - the teams have been here before...

Regina Airport (YQR) - Regina, Saskatchewan was the destination for Week 5, and eventually everyone turned up here to begin the challenges.

A vintage RCMP Crown Victoria restored and on display at the
RCMP Heritage Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Fortunately, the teams had vehicles waiting for them, as Regina Airport has a severe taxi shortage (take heed, if you plan to travel here!). After racing off from the airport, here's a bit of what the teams had in store:

• Digging for Sgt. Bull Moose stuffed toys in rail cars at Saskcan's lentil splitting facility
• Laying out a Mountie's "kit" at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)'s Heritage Centre and training facility
• Training as cheerleaders and football players at Taylor Field at Mosaic Stadium, home to the Saskatchewan Roughriders!
• Then it was a race to the Week 5 Pit Stop.

Taylor Field at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan
- home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders!

It was an exciting week, with all sorts of surprises in store. We won't even attempt to summarize what happened with the teams (so many others are doing an amazing job at that) - our emphasis on the race is really the airports and the destinations.

Are you as excited as we are about Week 6 and the visit to beautiful Quebec City?

Amazing Race Canada - Week 3: YVR, YYC

The Amazing Race Canada is ticking along, and just gets more exciting (click this link to watch past episodes, if you missed any).

In Week 3, the teams began at the Vancouver Convention Centre (with the amazing living roof, which we wrote about last week), made their way to an internet cafe on Robson Street, used aircanada.com to book their flights.

Then it was off to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) again.

Welcome to Cow Town!


View of Calgary from the airport

Just a short while later they landed at Calgary International Airport (YYC), Canada's 4th busiest airport. Welcome to Cow Town!

Bronc Twister statue, by Rich Roenisch
Calgary Tower in background

After they landed, the teams hit the ground running. After finding Outlaw, and visiting a cookhouse, the teams learned just how tricky line-dancing could be (aka the dance of death)! It was an exciting segment, as the leaders dropped back, and teams that were behind danced their way into the lead. Fun stuff.

Who do?

Hoodoos in Drumheller Alberta

Then it was off to the Hoodoos outside Drumheller in Dinosaur Valley, Alberta.

Despite it's legendary status as the dinosaur capital of Canada, only one team spent any time with the ancient beasts ("bone by bone") - the doctors assembled a skeleton at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Canada’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the science of palaeontology (this is a seriously cool website, check it out!)

All the other teams chose to ride Linda to the old Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site, in nearby East Coulee, to get a back-breaking workout ("lump by lump") - and to get all sooty!

If you watched the show, you already know that they made their way to Horse Thief Canyon (how's that for a name!?!?) and the Week 3 Pitstop.

T-Rex flew Air Canada?

Want to visit Drumheller? If you want to visit Drumheller, there is no airport (what, you think T-Rex took a plane?!). So here are your options:

• You can do it as the teams did, by flying into Calgary International Airport (YYC), then driving 135 kilometres (85 miles) northeast.
• You can fly into Saskatoon Airport (YXE) and drive west.
• It's a bit far from Edmonton International Airport (YEG), but if you were headed that way anyways, you could drive south from Edmonton, through Red Deer, then southeast.

Final thoughts on Week 3

A few notes as we wrap up this post:

• The race buzz on Twitter is pretty interesting. The busiest hashtags are: #AmazingRaceCanada and #RaceCDA
• If you find yourself with time to kill before a flight from YVR, escape to Chester Johnson Park between the International terminal and the parkade, no more than a minute's walk outside. Or, explore the outstanding First Nations art collection, including the famous The Spirit of Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe by Bill Reid.
• On an human note, as the episode was recorded before the Alberta floods that hit the region  recently, the show finished with a segment on what happened, and what people could do to help. We were hoping they'd do that.
• If you find yourself at Calgary Airport on a layover one day, here are some things you can do, depending on how much time you have: Calgary Airport Layover Ideas
• There are also good resources on the Travel Alberta website.

All images: wiki commons

Amazing Race Canada - Week 2: YLW, YVR

Another exciting episode of The Amazing Race Canada last night!

We're pleased a few people found our "clues" to Week 2 and tried our poll. Once again, here are the clues, along with the % of guesses for each, and the correct answer highlighted:

• A pair of sticks. An enormous tail. A dull edge. (0%)
• A green hat. An enormous head. A sharp edge. (20%) - CORRECT
• A pointy head. An enormous elastic. An uneven edge. (0%)
• A head on a stick. An enormous song. A jagged edge. (0%)
• A fishy stick. An enormous rope. A smooth edge. (0%)
• A pair of dimes. An enormous bone. A bumpy edge. (0%)
• A red jacket. An enormous beast. A razor edge. (80%)

A green hat:

The green roof atop the Vancouver Convention Centre West

Building, The Amazing Race Canada Week 2 pitstop 

(source: BierDoctor on flickr, creative commons licence)

This green "living roof" atop the new West building of the Vancouver Convention Centre. Wasn't that a marvelous pit stop for the end of Week 2? So glorious, so green, and with vistas of Vancouver's core all around! The glimpses of the roof in the Week 2 previews caused us to call it a green hat. Even to Vancouverites, this was special, as we are not aware of an event "up top" on the green space being televised before. The West building, sporting the living roof, was built for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games as the media centre, prior to its legacy purpose as an expansion of the Vancouver Convention Centre. The roof is not open to the public.
What is a Living Roof?
What is the Vancouver Convention Centre?
Vancouver Convention Centre Official Website
West Building Image and Video Gallery
West Building Public Tours
Living Roof Video and Bees Video
Living Roof Specifications on Greenroofs.com

An enormous head:

Dragon dance costume similar to those in The Amazing Race Canada

(source: rumpleteaser on flickr, creative commons licence)

We thought this was an obvious clue, as one of the glorious - and huge - dragon heads was shown in the Week 2 preview. We wish more teams had chosen to do the dragon dance during their visit to Chinatown, if only to see the ceremonial chomp of the lettuce repeated!
What is the dragon dance?
Vancouver Chinatown Photo Gallery

A sharp edge:

The Richmond Olympic Oval when The Amazing Race Canada teams
went long track "speed' skating (source: Wikimedia commons)

Ah, yes, the slip, sliding and falling at the Richmond Oval - ouch! While Twitter was alive last night with people joking about skating being used as a challenge for Canadians, we did see lots of non-skaters giving it a go. And suspect there was plenty of black and blue appearing in the days that followed! It was also nice to see the magnificent long track speed skating facility from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics transformed into it's legacy purpose.
What is the Richmond Olympic Oval?
Richmond Olympic Oval Official Website

On the aviation side of things, both airports featured in Week 2 were return visits that we wrote about in Amazing Race Canada - Week 1 - Niagara Falls, YYZ, YVR, YLW.

• Kelowna International Airport (YLW)
• Vancouver International Airport (YVR)

BTW, we are resisting the temptation to comment on the two taxi drivers who dropped teams off in the wrong spots...

If you missed the episode, you can watch it on the official website above.

Amazing Race Canada - Week 1 - Niagara Falls, YYZ, YVR, YLW

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (source: Wikicommons)

We're a Canadian company, so we are understandably excited to watch The Amazing Race Canada unfold on our televisions, hosted by our very own Canadian Olympian, Jon Montgomery (he won gold in 2010 in skeleton... to call that race amazing would be an understatement!).

Being airport geeks (after all, we are the best people-powered world-wide airport ground transportation information service), we are especially interested in the airports the teams on The Amazing Race Canada will visit during the race.

Needless to say, we loved the Week 1 kick-off show, featuring Niagara Falls, Ontario (aka "the Canadian side") - along with its sister city over the border in Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.A. is the self-proclaimed "Honeymoon Capital of the World." The grandeur of the Falls of the Niagara River attracts millions of tourists every year, there to enjoy everything from the mist of the falls and the sometimes cheesy attractions, to the all natural beauty and hiking opportunities. We certainly saw the beauty last night!

Toronto Pearson International Airport (source: Wikicommons)

Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) - serving just under 35 million passengers a year, Pearson was the world's 35th busiest airport in 2012 (how's that for a numerical co-incidence?), and Canada's busiest. By the way, for those that know the airport, if you haven't heard the good news, construction is underway on a rail connection to downtown Toronto, due to open in 2015.

Vancouver International Airport (source: double_feature on flickr)

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) - Canada's 2nd busiest airport served 17.6 million passengers in 2012, the same year it earned the Skytrax award of Best Airport in North America - for the 4th time in a row! Since the lead-up to the 2010 Olympics, YVR has been connected to downtown Vancouver via the Canada Line Skytrain. Next week's race preview showed the teams back here...

Kelowna International Airport (YLW) - serving under 2 million passengers a year, Kelowna's airport is growing by leaps and bounds with numerous innovations. It earned its "international" status when flights to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and several holiday destinations in Mexico were added to it's flight roster. The innovations? YLW's duty free shop features Okanagan wines, ski hosts meet winter flights to help skiers get to the right mountain shuttles, and, in 2013, hosted Canada's first Elections Canada Polling Place in an airport. And, oh, what a gateway to all the Okanagan has to offer, as we saw last night.

We've included links to our transportation guides for these destinations, in case you were so dazzled by the show that you want to visit!!

PS - if you missed the episode, you can watch it online at the official website above.