MALAYSIA -

At the check-in point for the China scavengers, we were told that we were heading to KL in Malaysia. We again hit the road running (and I mean literally running - in order to gain time advantages, you have to run through the cities because walking would put you behind time wise - thank good for all that half-marathon training). In Malaysia, we went out to an elephant conservatory in the hills and had to feed, ride on and bathe the elephants. Rainey rode one of the elephants into the river and swam and bathed them. To try and get extra points, we left the hotel late the second night and took a night train to a coastal town (Melaka) so we could get up at 5 AM and do some scavengers there before we headed on to Singapore.

CHINA

We landed in Beijing after 19 hours on planes - and were handed scavenger booklets. So off we went again - to Tiannemen square where we had to buy a kite and find a chinese kid to fly the kite with. Once we left the US there are now eating scavengers in each place - to make us try the local food. Some have been great - and some just AWFUL. The next day we went to the Great Wall of China and walked all over it (so cool). And then we raced around Beijing for the next day and a half doing dozens of scavengers. We had to find hidden places in the city and unravel clues. We even got into an accident on a moped rickshaw (our driver ran over an old man - no serious injuries but lots of yelling in chinese). We went on a scavenger to a restaurant where no-one spoke english and the menu was in chinese... we ordered what we thought was soup (after full-scale charades) and got a bowl of cold orange liquid with jello-like lumps in it (no idea what that was). We also had to go to a Lama Temple where we watched the monks praying in their temple. At another temple, we had to buy these little metal disks and throw them at a bell that is under a bridge - if you hit the bell and make it ring you get good luck (Rainey hit it twice - I am without any luck). What a great scam - sell people disks that they then throw at our bell - then they leave and you collect up the disks and sell them to the next person. Beijing is SOOO polluted that by day 2 my eyes were inflamed and my sinus felt on fire.

THE FIRST WEEK

WHAT a week it has been. We left Las Vegas just over a week ago from the Mass Torts Made Perfect Convention and headed for San Francisco. It was great to see everyone in Vegas so we were sad to leave early. Check-in time was 3 PM at the hotel - and at that meeting we were given a briefing on the rules and regs, walkie talkies were handed out - and we were given our first scavenger booklet. Each booklet has dozens and dozens of challenges, riddles and competitions and you have a specific amount of time to complete as many of the challenges as you can. Each challenge has a different point system so there is strategy involved as to how you organize the challenges. SAN FRANSCISCO - Rainey and I took off at a run to start the challenges and quickly realized that running in San Francisco involves one hill after another - quite a feat. We finished up quite a few in Chinatown - including one that made us find this dead-end alley and "find what is cooking there and eat it". After asking like 10 people, we found the alley - but could only find an acupuncture shop, a florist - and then we found - a fortune cookie making store where they were cooking up fresh fortune cookies. We ate 2 each. That scavenger rally ended at 7 PM at a restaurant. During dinner we were told to go and get packed up ... we were leaving for China. We took a 1 AM flight to Hong Kong and from there on to Beijing.

What Rainey and Zoe have been up to

the chinese government blocks blogs and Zainey have been much to busy securing their 2nd place standing to get online since leaving China but here is what they have been up to (the below are a few emails Zoe managed to get out). You can also keep up with what they have been doing, where they are and who's winning the competition at the actual Great Escape website http://globalscavengerhunt.com/blog/. They seem like they are having a great time all while supporting some great charities (i'm so jealous).
- April

From Zoe 4/12/08
We got to San Francisco yesterday from Las Vegas and were immediately put into doing a 3 hour scavenger hunt around San Franscisco. It was SOOO awesome. There were all sorts of riddles, puzzles, clues etc. that we had to figure out in order to do various challenges. It took us to all parts of the city that you would never see normally. Just one example of a challenge: "Where George and Bess met, a man walks with the grain". We figured out it was referring to George WASHINGTON and Bess ROSS - and at the corner of Washington and Ross we found a series of murals - in one of them was a man carrying a bag of rice - so we had to take our photo in front of that part of the mural. After the scavenger hunt, we all had to show up at dinner at 7 PM. Right as they served the main course, the leader of the competition stood up and said - you have 3 hours to be at the airport - we leave for China tonight. So we got to the airport - and found out that we were flying to Hong Kong. Fifteen hours later we just landed in Hong Kong and as we came off the plane, they handed us new boarding passes for Beijing - so we are going straight on to Beinjing. I will try and blog more later... lots to tell.. this is GREAT.

From Zoe 4/14/08
Still in Beijing. We cannot use our blog site here as all blogs and most of the internet is blocked or censored by the chinese government. I am SOOO tired - we have been going basically 24 hours per day doing challenges. we got up at 5:30 AM today to get started again as we end the Beijing challenges tonight at 10 PM - which is the first time that we will know what points each team has. I will try and upload photos when we leave China. We saw the Great Wall yesterday - amazing. This has been the best trip so far - so fun, SOOOOOO hard, so amazing. We leave tomorrow morning for another country but we have no idea where yet.

More news coverage...

Around the world in 25 days

Pensacola attorney Rainey C. Booth is about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime. He and partner Zoe Littlepage won a spot in GreatEscape2008, a fund-raising project that pits teams against each other on a global scavenger hunt that will take them around the world in 25 days.
The Booth-Littlepage team is scheduled to depart this week for San Francisco, where the competition will begin on Friday.

Booth recently answered questions about his upcoming adventure and the fund-raising efforts undertaken to benefit such charities as Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF.

Q: How did you hear about this GreatEscape2008 fund-raising project, and when did you first become involved with it?
A: My partner Zoe Littlepage and I read about the GreatEscape2008 global adventure in USA Today in November 2007. We filled out an application and went through the interview process in late November and December. We found out that we were selected in December 2007.

Q: You won a spot to compete in the Global Scavenger Hunt. What was the competition like and what did it take on you and your partner's part to win?
A: The selection process is secret, so we have no real insight as to why we were chosen.

Q: You'll be going literally around the world during this competition — from San Francisco west and back to Toronto. It starts Friday; How many days will the competition last?
A: A total of 25 days from beginning to end.

Q: The goal of this adventure is to raise money for various charities, including Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and other non-profit groups that aid developing countries. How will you actually raise the money and who will distribute it to these charities?
A: There are corporate sponsors such as High Sierra (a company specializing in gear for outdoor sports) who contribute money to the charity and help generally fund the competition. In addition, each team had to raise $40,000 for the charity. We reached out to friends, family and colleagues for donations. Indeed, many Pensacola law firms supported us with generous contributions, including Levin, Papantonio; Aylstock, Witkin and Sasser; and Jim Corrigan. In fact, lawyers from both sides of the Bar (plaintiffs and defense lawyers) sent us money for the charity. We have raised and submitted to GreatEscapes Foundation more than $43,000. The goal is for the charity to raise $1 million this year through this event.

Q: Is this event actually a "race," and will you be competing against other teams or just yourselves?
A: The event is not a race; it is better described as a global scavenger hunt. There are 20 teams that compete against each other for points. Each day, at a joint briefing session, the teams are provided a list of scavenges, puzzles, riddles and competitions to complete that day in a specific allotted time. Each scavenge or puzzle is assigned a number of points. Completing the scavenge gains that team the allocated amount of points.
There are more possible challenges on each day's list than could actually be completed by any team. So part of the event's strategy is deciding which challenges to undertake for that day — with the goal of achieving maximum points for the team. At the end of the entire GreatEscapes2008 event, the team with the most points will receive the "World's Greatest Travelers" award as well as some prizes.

Q: How do you pack for something like this, not knowing whether you're going to be in a hot climate or cold, in the mountains or on the seashore?
A: I am packing as little as possible since we will be on the move so much. Most of the clothes that I am taking with me can be hand-washed and will dry easily. We have been advised to pack shirts, sweatshirts and rain jackets so that we can put on extra layers for the colder places.

Q: You must love to travel. What are some of your favorite places and countries you've visited?
A: I have to travel a lot for my work so I am very used to living out of a suitcase. But business travel is not nearly as fun as travel for pleasure. My favorite places are Greece and the Caribbean. I especially love the Greek islands.
The great thing about this trip is that it will most likely take me to places in the world that I would not have chosen to visit on my own. GreatEscapes2008 promises to take the competitors to remote and rarely visited locations. We have also been told that we will likely visit some of the villages where GreatEscapes charity is doing some of its micro-financing work so that we can meet the people who will be most benefited by the money raised.

AND EVEN MORE NEWS COVERAGE...

Strangers in a Strange Land

How adventurous are you? Could you find the Khan al-Kahlili in Cairo, Egypt, buy a traditional Arab headdress and then talk someone into letting you ride a camel around the Great Pyramid? How about sneaking into a private showing at the Cannes Film Festival and getting a photo with one of the celebrities? Or saying a prayer in one of the sacred Hiranya Varna Mahabihar houses in Kathmandu that is guarded by holy rodents?

Local attorney Rainey Booth and his partner Zoe Littlepage are about to find out how adventurous they are as they compete in the Great Escape 2008 Global Scavenger Hunt for the "The World's Greatest Travelers" crown.

For 23 days, Booth and Littlepage will travel to 13 countries and four continents as they complete against teams from around the world. They will not only become immersed in the cultures of all the places they visit, but also will help raise $1 million for such charities as Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and non-profits that provide micro-financing opportunities to some of the poorest villages in the world.

"We read about this event in USA Today and were surprised that we were picked," Booth says in an interview on "IN Your Head Radio," on 1620 AM. "It's a great, great cause, and I think it will be exciting to go around the world." The Great Escape 2008 Global Scavenger Hunt starts April 11 in San Francisco, circumvents the globe and ends on May 3, nearly 40,000 miles away, in Toronto, Canada. "That's about all we know. They have told us very little, but just enough," Booth says. "We know we start in San Francisco. We know we will go to China at one point because we had to get visas to travel to China. Shy of that, we know little else. They gave us a list of 60 countries where we might travel."

This global scavenger hunt is the brainchild of world traveler and author Bill Chalmers. In April 2002, National Geographic Traveler magazine named Chalmers the "World's Greatest Traveler." He is the author the best-selling travel book "A Blind Date With The World."
"In 1989, I competed in a race around the world using only public transportation," Chalmers says in a phone interview from cold, snowy British Columbia. "I was lucky enough to win that race in 16 days. I really enjoyed it and always wanted to do something like it again. "Ten years later, I was trekking through Nepal with friends and was struck by some enlightenment. I realized that if I couldn't compete in such an event again, then the next best thing was to live vicariously through others racing around the world. We held our first global scavenger hunt that next year."

This year will be the fourth global scavenger hunt. There are 18 teams participating from Great Britain, Canada and the United States. They were chosen from hundreds of applicants.
"I do have to say, No,' to a lot of people," Chalmer says. "It hurts me to do so but, unless you've been around the block a few times, I feel I would be creating travel malpractice if I took someone on this trip who was a snowbird and only traveled to Florida every year and then dropped them off in India for three days. I may never see them again." There are more than 500 total scavenger tasks for this year's event. Contestants will be given a list at each stop and given three or four days to complete them. Points are assigned for each task. At the end of the 23-day competition, the team with the most points is declared "The World's Greatest Travelers."

"There is safety net for the teams," Chalmers says. "We do have a hotel for them. When we give them the list of scavenges, the first thing I tell them is that they can't do all the things on the list. It's up to the teams to figure out which ones they can do. We give them three or four days to work on the list."

The scavenger hunts are varied and require the teams to become immersed in the cultures of the communities that they are in. "I don't ask them to do bungee jumping, stunts or things like that," Chalmers says. "Instead, we ask them to taste unique foods, find unique cultures and get involved in local festivals."

When asked about what are some of the possible scavenges, Chalmers is evasive, not wanting to give away his secrets. He does offer a few hypothetical tasks. "If we were in Japan, I might ask the men to dress like one of the old emperors and have the girls made up as geisha girls," he says. "We might have them find a specific item. There are several temples that have a tooth of Buddha hanging in them. We could have them find one in a specific temple in Sri Lanka. The trick would be that they have to ride a four-legged beast to find it. The tasks are really unique because we want people to participant in the local cultures and really trust strangers in strange lands."

It is that element of the event that attracts Booth the most. "Their concept is that you will go to places you wouldn't have chosen to go on your own," Booth says. "You learn by having to do it, so you're forced to interact with the world, which is something I haven't always done when I've traveled."

Not every task involves fun. Chalmers shares that one of the most memorable and meaningful tasks was having all the teams donate half a day to work in a refugee center. "All the teams spent four hours working in a refugee center during our stay in that country," he recalls. "For some folks it changed their lives. It was life altering for them and was unique and heartfelt because they got to get to know the missionaries and those they help."

The Great Escape 2008 Global Scavenger Hunt is more than just an adventure. The goal for this year's event is to raise $1 million for international charities. "This event is designed to be a travel-thon, a sort of travel version of a walkathon," Chalmer explains. "Teams are asked to recruit sponsors. Some sponsors pay a set amount per country visited. One team has a pledge for $1 for every mile traveled which will raise close to $40,000 by the time we finish the event."

Several local law firms are sponsoring Booth and Littlepage. "The Pensacola legal community has an excellent record of giving back to the community," Booth says. "The Levin & Papantonio Family Foundation is one of our big supporters. We have a wonderful legal community that not only tries to give back locally, but also thinks more globally."

"The Great Escape 2008 Global Scavenger Hunt is a fun event," Chalmers promises. "Maybe in five or 10 years we will have the ultimate travel competition, sort of like the Paris to Dakar race. But this event is really about helping people."

"The concept of micro-financing really excited me," Booth admits. "One example we were given was $1,000 was used to buy a poor village a jeep and its fuel. That doesn't seem like much, but it let the village sell its products to towns 50 miles away. "It's those types of contributions that can have a tremendous impact on people's lives and truly make this event worthwhile."

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Post Oak School

Thanks to all of the Post Oak Montessori students who will be following us around the world. It was great to meet you all today. Rainey and I really appreciate your support.

And yes, I agree.... all of the challenges that involve eating yucky food...are really better suited for Rainey. I will keep you posted.