Be a roaming hacker this fall: JetBlue offers all-you-can-fly pass for $599
jetblue.com
jetblue.com
San Diego -> Las Vegas, 2 Days
Las Vegas -> Denver, 2 Days
Denver -> Salt Lake City, 2 Days
Salt Lake City -> Portland, 2 Days
Portland -> Chicago, 3 Days
Chicago -> Pittsburgh, 2 Days
Pittsburgh -> Boston, 2 Days
Boston -> New York City, 3 Days
New York City -> Washington DC, 2 Days
Wash DC -> Tampa, 2 Days
Tampa -> Aruba, 2 Days
Aruba -> Houston, 2 Days
Houston -> San Jose, 2 Days
14 airports. 30 days. I'm still double checking all the connections but I think this probably the max you can hit within the promotion. I originally wanted to do the international parts like Aruba, PR, San Jose, Cancun but that's just not workable or it'll has to be a trip in itself.
Considering the extra costs needed for traveling outside of the airport, food, and living expenses, I'm going to be spending at least $3k ($599 pass + $200 taxes/fees + $1000 food + $1000 beds + rental car/cabbing/bussing?) for everything.
Concept wise, I'm also drawing a blank, I need a hot geek girl/onair personality to come along. I can Ustream all the airports but no one will sponsor/pay for it--certainly not JetBlue since they know 1000 people will consider it, a dozen will go through with it, and all the social media marketing will be valued at zero. At best you can tape yourself going to all the airports and talk about them (review the architecture, shops, food, services, etc.) but that's boring after awhile. Time-lapsing and condensing the footage into a 5 minutes Where In the World is Matt video, maybe, but that's marginally novel and I think will only be a moderate (YouTube: 500k? Vimeo: 100k?) viral hit. How do I monetize on viral videos?
I don't have access to a pre-existing support system so it makes it that much harder, whoever has access to a film/production crew or video podcast already can certainly this take this and run a big play. Who has connects? Let's talk, I'm willing to help.
In my mind I think this is the greatest modern American road trip you can get but in the BACK of my mind where logic resides I think this is the worst idea ever. Argh... bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea...
Edit: This would allow for THE best geocache or turfwar game. EVER. Or an web-based Amazing Race knockoff. Argh, I need to start a production company.
PS. How fast will I end up on the terrorist watch list after this?
Obligations and responsibilities aside, you'll regret not doing it. The cost may exceed your budget but the payoff in experential value may be well worth it. Even if you don't tax yourself by trying to produce a viral video. And, I'm going to make the presumption you have an itch to be a filmmaker.
As for the viral video, think along the lines of "Where the hell is Matt?" - e.g. do something common in each different city - like go visit all the Indian buffets in the local area and get everyone there to do a Bollywood dance number. Or visit all the local coffee shops and interview their owners. Or interview people about how the economy has affected them. Or interview the people of a certain type of scene in each city. Or visit people in senior centers and ask them about the one most important thing in life they've learned/their signature story. Or whatever. Something that sincerely interests you. If you're passionate about startups, connect with the startup scene in each city. It depends on what your lifelong interests are. Watch/listen to "This American Life" for inspiration.
Visiting fourteen different cities in 30 days. Wow. You could get a lot of raw footage for a documentary festival entry. Or even stock footage.
If you have a place to cook (Camping stove? but you can't take that on an airplane with fuel. Maybe the penny stove?) you can eat very cheaply.
Not directly, but if the videos catch on it's promotion as a media personality (travel oriented) at the very least. If you have camera personality and want to take that route it's a great chance at some exposure.
1. Partners and concept: I know states/cities have pretty active tourism boards who you could tie up with to see the best of the destination in as little time as possible.
2. Costs part 1, bed and board: An idea already aired here is a tie-in to couchsurfing or airbnb. Its a perfect way to give them the visibility while snagging free/cheap stays at each stop. I'm sure couchsurfing could use the good press after that rape thing that made it on the news.
3. Costs part 2, hard cash: Part of snagging sponsorship is really about how much media mileage you can offer the client. Your best friend here believe it or not, would be local media. LA for example have quite active local news and if you get at them in advance telling them your story and goal, should be quite willing to give you a little tv time on the morning news. KTLA.com for example in LA always has Gayle Anderson running around the city covering small events, activities, and such. If you can lock down coverage even in a couple of those cities and make sure you're wearing branded gear, I'm sure that'll be worth a couple of grand to a few sponsors.
4. Accessories: Sheesh, use your imagination. Hit up Bestbuy for a Flip Mino or other small video cam, or get at them directly. What better way to show their best features than a monthlong, multi-city slog. I'd contact buy.com, Maybe Apple for a small notebook with extended bat life, the list can go on.
5. Document: Wordpress of course? Googlemaps to track you, ustream/twitter to get geo-located, geekmeets in certain cities, swing by the Jetblue headquarters for a meet&greet, can't go wrong with vegas night life (they could use positive energy), sheesh, wrangle a test drive of the chevy volt if you can lol.
Keep it going guys?
Anyone can board an airplane and sleep in a bed -- see if you can't gain attention by doing some good (of any variety) in the places you visit.
i made a facebook group so we can post any awesome deals in jetblue cities that we come across: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123309380809
I'll start you off--hit Sushi Ota in San Diego, and Lotus of Siam in Vegas. Both 28-rated and Lotus is the best Thai in the country. Lunch should be less than $20.
I personally couldn't do this. I absolutely hate airports. Good luck.
If you're looking for a tech environment, Austin is clearly the better choice. Otherwise, urbanites in both places are similar to each other, as are the suburbanites.
Plus, you might be able to find a nice couch to crash on.
For example, Vegas to Denver goes through BOS/NYC, Denver to Salt Lake is the same, etc. etc. etc.
:-(
At each stop, interview researchers about their P,NP problems. =D
JetBlue's pretty cheap already. I don't think I'd want to fly multiple times per week even if it were free.
If I had any faith that Jet Blue would actually deliver on this then I'd do it, but I'm guessing they'll run out of seats in like three hours and then have to refund everyone's passes.
to find inexpensive places to stay.
The OP might also include profiling his hosts as part of his video project. Sort of a Tour of America And It's People... or something like that.
Bermuda and the Bahamas - nice!
Most were between $60-$70. Highest we found were $110.
So it's definitely a great deal if you stay in the U.S. If you go International the math becomes more complex.
Still, one of my roommates booked it and others are considering it.
Edit: except, I just remembered that jetBlue doesn't serve St. Louis (my "base"). Damn!
But maybe that's just my restless side showing. :-)
Disclaimer: I work for Everlater. But of course, this is why we built it!
I tagged the description of my trip with #AllYouCanJet so if anyone else does it, I can create a page of trips from others doing the same.
Edit: the rail pass, naturally. But it's a lot more restricted: "Passes are available in three travel durations and travel segments (15 days/8 segments, 30 days/12 segments and 45 days/18 segments) through out the entire United States. Travel must begin within 180 days of the date the pass purchased." ...and there are some other restrictions.
It also isn't noticeably cheaper: US$389 for the 15-day pass, US$549 for the 30-day pass, and US$749 for the 45-day pass.
/me updates mental notes
I wish they still offered the unlimited riding for 30 days passes that they had several years back. Eurail passes are immensely popular, partly because they are easy to understand.
Traveling by train has a special extra something; you're with the people you travel with for long enough to actually develop a conversation, but you're with them just short enough that you don't have to worry too much if you don't hit it off. This was great for an introvert like me to practice chatting up strangers with little risk in a safe setting. And you meet a really interesting mix of folks, different from the people I normally find myself talking to. It's particularly fun to feel the gradient of humanity / culture shift as you travel.
I traveled light; just a backpack, a camera, and a laptop (well, and climbing shoes for J-Tree). I was super careful about keeping the tech gear hidden and slept wrapped around my bag when I slept in public spaces (train stations / trains).
One thing about traveling by train: Amtrak is always late, and often by half a day. Make sure people who might be meeting you at connections know this and don't expect it to work like air travel.
Anyway, my thirty days of independent travel was a fantastic experience, and I'd really recommend it to anyone, young or old. You can even comfortably get work done in the passenger cars. Tether to your 3G phone or whatever and you're riding the Rails in style.
Or why they charge you to cancel a booking if it's less than 3 days.
Do they want you in the seat so badly? Wouldn't they get a standby flier if you didn't show?
They're the kind of places where you order small dishes off the menu, and you can just keep ordering them until you're done. No limit on the number you can order simultaneously, but if you call for the bill when there are uneaten plates they'll charge you some nominal per-plate fee for each one (this isn't for leaving one or two pieces behind - it's for when you order a plate of ten pieces of sashimi and eat two).
http://www.jetblue.com/p/about/ourcompany/promise/Bill_Of_Ri...
I think it's reasonable for them to ask you to make a three day commitment or pay $100. Think of it as a guaranteed reservation.