Race Across The World 2026

[LindorDoubleChoc]

Hooray!

This is back for another series, starting Thursday.

I just googled very quickly and they set off from Sicily and end the race in northern Mongolia - sounds interesting.

I don't know anything else about it at this point, but thought that we should have a thread ready and waiting.

They did one of those ‘behind the scenes at the hotel’ programs about Cappadocia. I don’t remember what it’s called. It has the woman from Masterchef presenting.

Here it is.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0021zd9

This is from Alfie (RATW the Detour) facebook page:

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DO A HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE IN CAPPADOCIA?
Now, you may have seen Cappadocia featured on the last episode of #RaceAcrossTheWorld, but how much does it actually cost to fly in one of the prized balloons?
The first thing I’d advise is check the site of your booking! Cheaper rides often take you further away which gives you less chance of the golden shot of hundreds of balloons in the sky.
Travel agencies all over the city will sell you balloon rides up until the day before departure so definitely ask around on the ground and pickup from your hotel will what be included. They’re generally between 90-120€
All balloons depart at around an hour before scheduled sunrise to give you the best views and the rides last approximately 45 minutes
I must admit - they’re terrifying. I’m not keen on heights and hate gondolas and it was objectively one of the scariest hours of my life but if you like them - the views are great!
I got a medal for not falling out (i assume) which was a nice bonus!
So tell me, would you ride a hot air balloon in Cappadocia?

Yes, absolutely. In a heartbeat 💓

No but I'd like to watch wrapped up in blankets on a roof terrace like they did.

I'd be terrified to go up in a hot air balloon but would love to watch them.

Sad the cousins were eliminated but their decision to go to Izmir was strange. I have a lot of Turkish friends and only a couple, call it Türkiye in English, the rest call it Turkey. I’m going to be concentrating on who calls it what, going forward.

It is a little strange, isn't it? I mean who, when speaking English, says they're going to Deutschland or Hrvatska on holiday?

It's literally been renamed. Most people now say Cote Ivoire not Ivory Coast. It's its UN name. To give other examples I bet you now say Beijing , not Peking.

It's an Erdogan decision because he felt the name was too synonymous with the bird and things being rubbish.

It is not the same as Deutschland. Its UN name for English speakers is Germany.

Lots of countries or cities have been renamed and you seen adapt.
Myanmar
Sri Lanka
Mumbai
Just to name 3 off top of my head.

I suppose some of my reluctance to call it Turkiye is down to my lack of enthusiasm for Erdoğan and everything he stands for.

A lot of my (uk) Turkish friends loath Erdogan. However, a fair few, are Turkish Cypriots (I’m Greek Cypriot), rather than mainlanders. Maybe that’s why they still call Türkiye, Turkey. But they go quite a bit to Turkey so who knows! I’ve been a fair few times to Istanbul and absolutely love it every time I go. So much to see and do.

Yes, I imagine some in the country may be resisting the label for political reasons. But it is nonetheless the UN name now so I am trying hard to comply!

A LOT of Indians think eg Mumbai is ridiculous and call the city Bombay ... these things are never universally popular. I'm going to carry on calling Turkey Turkey because I'm old, one day the new name may sink in.

Don't you mean Constantinople? 😉

a lady i work with who is from Burma and calls it Burma

I was very tempted
my dad (& all his friends) called it Constantinople till he died! Tbf if I’m speaking to Greeks, about visiting the Patriarch, then I’ll say Constantinople, but Istanbul to others.

I'm not disliking any of the contestants like I did the mother from the last series but there's nobody I really want to win above the others. It seemed an odd decision for the cousins to backtrack when they were in such a big city anyway. Sorry but I find Mark and bit boring. I think Margo was glad when he was discussing architecture with the Irish dad and she could escape from it a bit. My BiL is really boring and I'd have nothing in common with him.
I'm a bit like Harrison. I was thinking "Why are you wasting time going to Cappadocia especially when it was the elimination round. I think the lads could come unstuck money wise later on after that expensive taxi ride although the countries are going to be less expensive from now on.

Part of the deal, though producers don't make it explicit, is contestants have to stop every now and then to do touristy things. Otherwise, everyone would just sit on buses the entire time and it woudl be boring viewing. So Harrison didn't have much choice, plus they were miles ahead anyway AND Capadoccia was on the way.

I've been to Ivory Coast since the "official" name change. The locals I spoke to there called it Côte d'Ivoire when speaking in French and Ivory Coast when speaking in English.

I think I remember reading that they have to do an activity and a job in each place.

Hope everyone who doesn't get the new name of Türkiye, understand the new names for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, former Russian Soviet countries.

myanmar / Burma was on another show recently and (think it was Simon Reeves) and he was surprised that a lot of locals still said Burma not Myanmar

I think it is about what people learn to call their country in a different language. If England decided that we were going to the called England everywhere I bet many of us would still call it Angleterre if speaking French.

That's not quite the same thing.

It's more if England decided not to be England any more and said its name was Angleland, and that became its official name.

So sports would be the Anglish football or rugby and so on, Wimbledon would be home to Angleland Lawn Tennis Association (or whatever it is!). And so on.

It would still be Angleterre in French (weirdly closer than current name!).