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One VW, two friends and a very long road By Domini Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 3 · Thursday, March 18, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com What better way to break in your car than stuffing it full of travelling supplies and recording gear and putting about 200,000 kilometres on the odometer in eight months? That's what two Oakville friends plan to do when they hop into a compact 2007 VW Rabbit (Golf) and drive through every North American province, territory and state in a social media experiment. They go on the road Saturday (March 20). Alexandra Sabine, 26, and Luke Vigeant, 25, will be blogging, videographing and photographing their entire journey for the public to see at www.alexandluke.com. Daily updates will also appear on social networking websites Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Gowalla and a blog at oakvillebeaver.com (visit their Oakville Beaver blog at www.insidehalton.com/listing/blog). Interestingly enough, the pair has no planned route. The travelling duo will tally its followers' votes from all of the participating websites to decide which way it will head next. "We look forward to the challenges," said Sabine. "We know the car is going to break down at some point and it will be interesting to see what happens and how we deal with it. I'm sure there's going to be fights -- it's a small car." Vigeant added, "You have no way to plan in advance, so there will be nights when you're looking for a place to stay and if our budget is super tight and we have to stay in a hotel that's very expensive and we're running out of money, it can get really intense. Right now, we have no source of renewing income and we're living in the car with each other for six to eight months." So why did they decide to do this? "Alex's passion lies in geography and exploration and my passion lies in exploring the technological landscape," Vigeant said. "Literally, we couldn't do this trip a year ago because the technology tools weren't in place. We're going to be the first people to travel this way. We're going to put it all out there on Twitter and Facebook and get people to interact." Sabine has an honours BA in art history from The University of Western Ontario and a masters degree from the University of Glasgow in the same subject. She was born and raised in Oakville. age go off and tour different places, but we seem to be neglecting our own home," Sabine said. Vigeant added, "I've intentionally stayed ignorant to a lot of the states to keep them a surprise. So I literally know nothing about Utah at all." Both admit that travel won't always be easy or particularly safe. "We're inviting people to inform us what we do and where we go, so we realize that sets us up for potential danger," Sabine said. "On this Gowalla program you see the longitude and the latitude we're at," Vigeant added. "We're saying we're right here in the middle of the desert with these expensive computers and these camcorders. If someone is mean, they can rob us, but on the other hand, there is this other community that is behind us." The pair will have a going away party, that is open to all, at Wallymagoo's, 245 Queens Quay W. in Toronto on the day of the departure. At 5 p.m., they will tally the total SUPPLIED PHOTO votes and will set off in the direction chosen by the public. READY TO GO: Alexandra Sabine and Luke Vigeant (aka Alex and Luke) update their blog in the back of the VW Rabbit they will be driving across North America in their quest to visit every province, territory and state in North America. She has known Vigeant for about five years. He has an honours BA in information systems from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. He's a long-time resident of Oakville. Leading up to their departure Saturday, people can vote on which direction the pair starts its travels. Currently, north is leading, which is what the travellers are hoping for, but enough votes can change the starting direction. As the trip progresses, new directions will be posted, including specific locations, that people can vote for. Furthermore, there are pledges that the pair is accepting on its website that can override the daily travel votes, as well as make the pair do other tasks. For as little as $10, people can have a 40character message posted on the car. Pledges range from $10-$25,000. The largest sum will mean the sponsor will receive the car at the end of the trip. The pledges pay for several things. First, they fund the trip for things such as food, accommodations and adventures. Twentyfive per cent of the pledges made will be donated to charities, and the charities will depend on where Alex and Luke are at the time of the made donation. Depending on how much money is raised through pledges and the cost of the trip, a higher percentage may go towards charities. Some of the charities listed include Friends for Life Foundation, Charity: Water, American Diabetes Association. "We're really not looking to make a profit," Sabine said. "We're trying to facilitate as much as we can on the trip, so we can create more content, but we're also using social media to see what's possible and part of that we want to see what's possible in giving back. If we can, we'll end up giving more to charity or put it towards making the car more environmentally friendly and eating locally." Vigeant added, "We have a very tight budget. So a pledge could mean the difference between making a video of picking up sand or a video of us bungee jumping." The pair will do daily updates on the website. It has a wireless cellphone based internet connection that has a large North American coverage. The two will know when they are entering unserviced areas and will make posts before and after they go through. They also have a friend back in Oakville, who can make posts while they are in unserviced areas. Both of them have quit their jobs in pursuit of this venture knowing they may have to find new employment afterwards, though both said this trip may lead to further adventures. They are both excited to travel to northern Ontario, as well as to see places such as Nunavut, Newfoundland, Alaska, the Grand Canyon and several American cities. "It's almost so popular to do the grand tour thing (around the world) and people our SHUTTERS Authorized Eclipse Shutters Dealer Shop at Home Service CALIFORNIA & PLANTATION · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, · Serving Oakville with Shop at Supplied & Installed Home Service · High Quality at Affordable Prices FREE SHUTTERS ETC. 905.691.4455 www.shuttersetc.ca