Announcing the 2021 PBT Challenges!

[Nicole R]

Fly the PBT Skies

We have had many questions and concerns about getting “home” next December at the end of your travels. I am very flexible with this! Let me walk you through some options…

I will be living in Boston next December. I am lucky in that Boston is a tag that is used very often and I have no problems finding a book with that tag. Perfect! I am going to use that “location tag.”

However, I know some of you living in something less than a big city (really, truly large metropolises are the only cities with a lot of tags) and finding a book tagged even once is impossible! From there you have a couple option:

1) you can select the closest city in your home state (unless I gave you permission to come home to a different state, and the only one I have done that for so far is to one person for DC) and read for that. Perhaps you live in Australia, but Sydney is just a few hours away. Go for returning to Sydney if you want!

2) you can return to your home state in general. So, you could fly home to “Mississippi.” I know for our Canadian friends, some books are tagged with provinces, that works too!

3) you can also return to your home country in general. I know many of our international friends may not have book options with lots of tags for cities and there may not be smaller geographic breakdowns like states or provinces (or, if they are, they are nonexistent as tags on GR). You can fly back to, for example, “Norway” (or “Norge”!) or “South Africa.”

4) Don’t forget you also have the monument/attraction option as well! Again, probably only useful for truly popular places to visit, but keep it in mind.

Bottom line: the spirit of the game would be to pick the most specific return destination you can find, but we are open to lots and lots of options. And, if you are struggling with finding a book that fits your home country, then please send me a PM! We will work it out. I will 100% not leave you high and dry. And, I promise I am not scary to talk to privately ;)

Does our starting destination in January have to match our return destination in December exactly?

No, it does not. Please start from literally your hometown (the distance calculator should not have a problem with it, but if it does then start from the nearest larger city). This is just to get a nice starting place for everyone that is consistent -- it is where you actually live!

When you return home in December, then you can return to any of the options listed above – which may or may not match your departing location exactly!

Assuming that everything works out covid-wise, I'll be doing a cross-country move this summer. For the challenge, should I plan to "fly out" from where I'm currently living, but if I move, "fly home" to my new location?

Ooo, good question! I think you should fly home to wherever you are physically living in December -- you have to get home! :)

So leave from where you are living now, and you can return to your new hometown after a year full of exciting travels!

It seems like an unfair advantage to travel back to my home state instead of my actual home town as it will give me several hundred extra miles because the distance calculator goes to the middle of the state. Even if I read a book tagged with my home state to get back home, should I calculate the distance to my hometown?

No, you should calculate the distance to the location tag you are claiming. This is how we are calculating all of our distances this year, so we are keeping it the same for consistency.

Plus, there will be people who read about a specific city all year, but they only have the option of “travelling” to the larger country because of the tag requirement. This will result in more or less miles than the person truly has the intention to claim for that read, but if we keep the same rule for everyone throughout, then Anita and I feel it will likely all even out in the end.

If we decide to change this before December of next year, we will make an announcement about it.

Can we visit the same country 2 times a year?

You can visit the same country more than once, but you cannot visit the same "location" more than once.

Let me give you an example.

In February, I leave my January destination (probably someplace warm!) and travel to Paris (Valentine's in Paris, right?!?).

I have a great time and then head to Ireland for March.

But, I realize there is so much more in France to see! I can go back to France, but I cannot use the tag "Paris" again for my destination. BUT, I can use France or Eiffel Tower or another city name in France.

- OR -

Perhaps I want to set up my whole year as a driving tour of the US! No problem! But I'll have to read books with city/state/attraction names to bounce around as I can't visit the same tag "location" of "United States" over and over.

And, I can hear the question already...."United States" and "U.S." -- even though technically different literal words -- are the same location as they convey the exact same thing. So I couldn't travel to the "United States" then bounce around a bit then come back to the "U.S."

That leads me to the question and I think it is answered above but want to confirm... I could feasibly read different books for the challenge for Rainier, Puget Sound, Pacific Northwest, or Seattle?

i.e. I could read a book in February for Rainier, a book in June for Puget Sound, a book in Sept for Pacific Northwest and in December for Seattle?

You are on the right track! The only thing is that the distance calculator doesn't like geographic regions like "Pacific Northwest." So type that in there and give it a test before committing, but I am going to guess that, like "New England," it stumps the calculator.

But, so long as the distance calculator recognizes "Seattle" (it will), "Rainier" (likely, especially if you modify it when you enter it to be Mount Rainier), and "Puget Sound" (unsure on this one) then your plan would work!

Do we have to fly logically or is flying back and forth okay? For example, can I fly from Johannesburg to Canada and then to Cape Town and then to Pennsylvania; or would I have to be more logical and fly Johannesburg to Cape Town and then to Pennsylvania and then Canada. Just wondering how much I need to plan ahead.

You absolutely do not have to be logical! You can fly wherever you want when the fancy strikes. No advanced planning needed if you do not want!

You can fly to the same country more than once as well, but keep in mind the guidelines I set out above in the Can we visit the same county 2 times a year? question.

Should it be the tag only or the events in the book should take place in the chosen destination? (I was doing some researches, and the book may have tag "Australia" because an Australian author wrote it but the events are set in the UK).

Only the tag matters. As always, we encourage people to stick with the spirit of the game, but, in all honesty, we just can’t monitor every single little detail. Nor do we want to. So, as long as your book is tagged with the location you are claiming—regardless of the reason for that tag—then it works!

Is Australia considered a continent for this game?

For sure! It is a counry too.

I know we don't have to read a book set in our home town for January, but I take it we still have to fly somewhere?!

Yep! You always read for your destination each month. So, if I want to travel to Italy first, then I may read Under the Tuscan Sun. But, I am starting my travels from my home, so I calculate the miles from Boston.

Then, in February, wherever I go, I calculate my miles from Italy.

Will we get the 500 extra miles that each monthly tag our destination matches, or is this a one-time thing? Eg. one month the tag is Curry and I visit India, the next month is Geisha and I go to Japan - would this be 500 extra points or 1000?

The bonus can be earned each month! If you are super dedicated and get it each month, you could earn an extra 6,000 miles for the year!

One of the books I want to read is a rather unknown book and has 1 rating on GR, which means it doesn't have the 5 required tags. Can I still use it or is it no-go?

It is a no go, unfortunately. The 5 tag minimum is a solid rule. There are lots of books out there so hopefully you can find something else set in that country that interests you!

For books where the people are travelling do you use the starting point going forward next month, or their end destination (if it is tagged)?

You must use your exact destination location for Month A as your starting location for Month B.

Say I want to read a book set in Valparaiso Chile .... And there is no tag for Valparaiso ... but the book IS tagged CHILE 5+ times. Do I calculate the miles from Milwaukee to Valparaiso or Milwaukee to Chile?

You travel to the exact location of the tag you are using for your destination location. So, if the book is tagged "Chile" then you travel to "Chile."

The distance calculator picks a central location when you enter a country.

If you want to travel specifically to Valparasio, then the book must be tagged "Valparasio."

Miles or kilometers?!?

Hahaha! While I recognize the world uses kilometers, I am doing the scoring and I use miles. Please report your distance travelled in miles. The distance calculator will do this for you. If you want to state them both just because you find it interesting, that is fine too!

I'm assuming we're consistently using "strait line distance", never "driving distance" - even if we are traveling from point to point within the same country.

Yes, we will use straight line distance for everything, even if there is a driving path you could take.

Anita and I considered different options and combinations, and decided that was the easiest and fairest option.

Location tags are not something I typically use for my own shelf. Can I go back and add location tags to books that I have previously read in order to perhaps provide more options for some people?

I am saying okay to this with one big caveat: please stick to the spirit of the game.

If you want to go back and accurately tag your previous books with the city and/or state and/or country in which they took place, then I think that is fine.

But, please do not just add random location tags to books to try to game the system. No matter how much your PBT friend wants to read Harry Potter to travel to Antarctica, that is not an appropriate tag.

Also, I think a good rule of thumb would be to only add retrospective tags to books you have actually read, as opposed to every book on your massive TBRs! Lol.

But, again, we run totally on the honor system. The 5 tag minimum is intended to make it so that the admins to not have to check who the users are the tagged the book (and we will NOT be checking that), so it is fine if it is other PBT members who have tagged it as such and I am not policing this aspect.

[Nicole R]

Assuming fictional towns in a real country do not count?

Fictional towns do not count. BUT, if you are reading a book set in a fictional town, but that book is still tagged with the real state or country, then you can use it!

This is a totally hypothetical example and I have not checked the tags or anything, but take my favorite book of all time Oryx and Crake for example. It is a dystopian book, and to the extent it took place in a city I think it was made up (it has been a while since I read it!) BUT, I can see it being tagged “Canada” because of Margaret Atwood. Because it is tagged “Canada” I can use it to go there!

Does that make sense? But, it does have to have some kind of real place tag so the distance calculator knows where to do.

please be aware that some US (and New Zealand, probably other countries as well) share place names with the UK so you may need to add the country as well as the state. For example, Birmingham in the UK and Birmingham, Alabama.

And there's a Georgia in Europe as well as the US state!

This is an excellent point! Again, honor system here, and it would be sticking with spirit of the game to use the “location” of where the book actually takes place even if there is more than one locations with that name in the world.

Does the bonus points for meeting the monthly tag in Fly the PBT skies also have to meet the 5 tag rule? Example, if Mental Health wins next month, does my Fly book have to have Sweden tagged 5 times and Mental Health tagged 5 times?

Yes, to claim the bonus 500 miles then it has to be tagged with the monthly tag by at least 5 users.

But, if it is not tagged by at least 5, you can at least still report it in the monthly tag folder for 2 participation points! There is no minimum for the regular monthly tag.

[Nicole R]

Someone asked about using "Madison" as a location even if it pertains to a book about James Madison and not Madison, Wisconsin. Even though that player said they would not do it, my answer was not as clear as it could be so let me try again.

To be very very clear, using a James Madison book in this way would NOT be in the spirit of the game, and we would discourage members from doing that. I think I was a bit flippant in my response, especially when I made a comment about Charles Darwin and Darwin, Australia.

However, having said that, the admins are not monitoring that game to that level of specificity. We just do not have the time or the inclination to be hall monitors. So, I guess there is nothing really stopping you from doing it other than your own honor code!

When it comes to these types of things we have two mantras:
Stick to the spirit of the game.
Work on an honor system.

[Miriam]

Hi everyone,

I am asking a probably stupid question: what exactly do you mean, when you say, it must be 'tagged'? I figured you have to go to the book's page and look, what shelves it is put in, but I am not sure.

Also, if a book were tagged 'German' would that count? Or would it have to be 'Germany'?

It seems like books are often shelved under the adjective/ language, not the country. Maybe this has been asked before, but I didn't manage to follow all posts, even though I tried to :-)

[Nicole R]

Miriam wrote:

I am asking a probably stupid question: what exactly do you mean, when you say, it must be 'tagged'? "

Not a stupid question! We use "tagged" and "shelved" interchangeably. So a shelf is a tag!

Our group started on Shelfari many years ago, and they used the term "tag." Despite our now being on GR, which uses the term "shelf", we haven't been able to shake that vernacular!

How do you find the shelf/tag?

You can certainly go into each book and look OR an easier way may be to find the (for example) Germany shelf here on GR and look through it. The books are listed with the most tags to the least tags so it is an easy skim!

For Germany, that looks like this: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

But that may not work if you have a specific book in mind and you want to see if it is tagged (sticking with my example) Germany. If that is the case, then you would need to go to that book, look at the shelves people have used, and search for Germany.

Can the book be tagged German or must it be Germany?

The book must be tagged with the exact location you are claiming, so languages will not be accepted.

And, there are a lot of posts to follow! I tried to summarize them in the FAQ I posted this morning, but you hit on some new questions! Let me know if you have other questions!

[Miriam]

Nicole R wrote: "Miriam wrote:

I am asking a probably stupid question: what exactly do you mean, when you say, it must be 'tagged'? "

Not a stupid question! We use "tagged" and "shelved" interchangeably. So a sh..."

Thank you, Nicole! Very helpful.

[LibraryCin]

Thank you for the reminder of attractions closeby. Though it has shades of Poll Ballot, I'm going to check into "Rocky Mountains".

I'll need to check that the distance calculator is ok with it, then see if anything is tagged 5+ times. I don't see Banff or Jasper as being tagged that many times for anything if Alberta isn't.

ETA: Looks like the calculator doesn't know what to do with Rocky Mountains. :-(

[NancyJ]

Theresa wrote: "You know, return trips are often rerouted due to weather conditions like severe storms or blizzards but also engine troubles, especially if you fly, with you finding yourself having to train or dri..."

Oh yes, I really want to see Plane Trains and Automobiles again!

[Amy]

Nicole - Play Book Shelf just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?

[Nicole R]

As everyone has been talking about their travel plans, we have seen so much creativity! Definitely inspirational. And, sorry for the post in a new thread, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw it and the other thread is getting a bit long!

So, here goes...

If you want some mini-challenges to help guide some of your travels, we will be awarding participation points (exact number TBD, but probably anywhere from 2-5 for each goal) for the following:

1. Visit all seven continents over the course of the year! Yes, even Antarctica!
2. Travel to a place you've actually been before. You'll need to note this in your review when you post your read. You have a limit of doing this THREE times throughout the year and you cannot count your travel back home! Too easy! ;)
3. Travel to your original birthplace or where your family is originally from. You'll need to note this in your review when you post your read as well. Be sure to tell us if it was you or another member of your family who is from there and any other information you may know about them! (Limit of ONE)
4. Submit a guess in advance for the most visited continent (secretly). You can PM either me or Anita with your guess no later than January 10th!

Again, these are all optional, so if you are focused on travelling as many miles as possible and these extra things do not fit in your plan, then no worries! No penalty for NOT doing them.

Additionally, we are going to post some extra opportunities for participation points throughout the year. These will NOT require you to go to a specific location or to change up your pre-planned book selection. Instead, they can be completed no matter where in the world you are!

This is the exact same announcement as I made in its own thread. Sorry for the double post, I just didn't want it to get lost in the shuffle!

[Nicole R]

Amy wrote: "Nicole - Play Book Shelf just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?"

I'm afraid people would shorten it to Play B.S.

Hahahaha!

[LibraryCin]

Amy wrote: "Nicole - Play Book Shelf just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?"

LOL! I don't think it does!

Nicole wrote: "I'm afraid people would shorten it to Play B.S. "

LOL even more!!!!

[NancyJ]

Nicole R wrote: "As everyone has been talking about their travel plans, we have seen so much creativity! Definitely inspirational. And, sorry for the post in a new thread, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw it ..."

Wow Nicole, this is fabulous. Thank you! You made my week.

I really love the idea of visiting someplace your family came from. What a great idea. My brother and I often talk about doing some ancestry research, so this gives me an extra push to get that started.

Visiting the continents is my #1 goal this year. There is map program that can help keep track, so you don't need to examine maps to figure out if a country is in Europe or Asia.

I haven't been to very many countries, but I appreciate another excuse to go to France!

Thank you!!!

[Nicole R]

Remember, there is no requirement that your destinations are international! So if you haven’t done much international travel, but have been some places in your home country, that will count too!

And, if you travel across the world hen back to a destination in the US you have been, you would get quite a few miles.

[Amy]

I'm a planner. (Isn't that obvious?) I think I have charted my course through 12 books for Fly the PBT Skies. I am starting in Sweden and Landing in Boston, and in between I think the course is this:

Sweden
Cuba
Australia
Chile
Iran
Hawaii
India
Mexico
Russia (replace Poland because Poland was better for Australia)
North Carolina
South Korea
Boston

If anyone's curious, happy to share my books, and some alternates. They all have 5+ tags from these places. Here's a hint. Drums of Outlander actually has a hell of a lot of tags for North Carolina.....

[NancyJ]

That looks like a great plan Amy! You're really on the ball. I'll bet you my plan will change every month.

Cuba wasn't on my radar, but it should be.

Enjoy your time with Clair and Jamie in North Carolina on Fraser's Ridge. You could stay for 4 books If you wanted to read very fast. You'll read some interesting early American history too.

[NancyJ]

Some possibilities (not in order)

Sweden- Anxious People January
New Zealand - I have several possibilities including Whale Rider (light) and one with more history
Russia - Master and Margarita, plus a mystery
Antartica - possibly with Ice Bound, by Jeri Neilson -It's on the map.
Israel - Apeirogon - unless I manage to read it next week.
Zimbabwe - unless I read it next week.
South Africa - Born a Crime -I must be the only one who hasn't read this yet.

For long trips, I was looking at hops from South East Asia to South America. I have books I want to read from the Philippines, China, and Columbia so far.

There is a book I'd like to read from Greenland which is the closest I might get to the North pole.

I found a book that is half Ireland and Half New Zealand, which sounds really appealing and gives me some flexibility with the smaller goals.

[Joanne]

@Nicole-If I want to go to an Island that is not reachable by plane, do I fly to the nearest point that allows me to land and take a boat or do I just go to the Island. The Map calculator takes me right to the Island, is that what I would use?

Also, if I am going to be "off the coast" of a certain place, do I use that place?

[punxsygal]

In Fly the PBT Skies, are there any extra miles if the book meets the monthly BONUS tag, but not the regular monthly tag?

[Nicole R]

To get the 500 bonus miles in Fly, your book can be tagged at least 5 times as either mental health or historical fiction!

But, you DO NOT get 1000 miles if it is tagged both. No doubling up 😉

[NancyJ]

Joanne wrote: "@Nicole-If I want to go to an Island that is not reachable by plane, do I fly to the nearest point that allows me to land and take a boat or do I just go to the Island. The Map calculator takes me ..."

Joanne, I don't think airports matter at all. The distance calculator uses exact distance - as the bird flies - and airports don't match up. For my fantasy trips, I'm going to assume that there is a magical portal between all my locations.

[Amy]

I just love the idea of a magical portal!

[Karin]

I really need to get new software so I can print this, etc (plus get a new printer that still works with a Mac). We have 11 different flights, which I knew, but somewhere got it in my head there were 12.

BUT the good news is the author I was going to read that is always shelved Nantucket (what I think I will use not the state), has a historical fiction novel. This means I have another Christmas book I can read this month.

[Linda]

I asked this on the other page, but will also ask it here. Is someone keeping track of our miles, or are we supposed to be doing that?

[Nicole R]

The admins keep track, but you are welcome to keep your own shadow scoring as well!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

[NancyJ]

Karin wrote: "I really need to get new software so I can print this, etc (plus get a new printer that still works with a Mac). We have 11 different flights, which I knew, but somewhere got it in my head there we..."

I think you were right. We have 12 flights, one flight each month. We have 13 locations, when you count your starting point. My #1 will be my home town, and #13 will be my home state (since there are no books with enough tags in my town).

I had a general plan that covered all the continents until I realized I needed a 13th flight to get home. Theoretically the north-south trips should give me an even number, but the east-west diagonals threw it off. So that plan is out, which is OK because some of the locations weren't very appealing.