
Be a roaming hacker this fall: JetBlue offers all-you-can-fly pass for $599 - rufo
http://www.jetblue.com/deals/all-you-can-jet/
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alaskamiller
San Jose -> San Diego, 2 Days

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?

~~~
alaskamiller
Can't edit my original post but just to update you guys: bought the passes.
Going to do something great with this. Thanks guys, stay tuned!

~~~
dcurtis
And I'm coming along, too!

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antonovka
Enjoy your trip, but social-hacking attention-currency without having to
actually build anything is so 90s cyberpunk-and-Wired blasé.

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.

~~~
allenp
Work in a soup kitchen in each city or something, that would be a lot more
interesting and probably get you enough karma for a much longer stay in Vegas.

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eli
Uh, it's for _one month_

JetBlue's pretty cheap already. I don't think I'd want to fly multiple times
per week even if it were free.

~~~
bretthoerner
You don't have to fly multiple times per week to beat $600 in a month. 4
weeks, 4 distant places you've wanted to visit. Bam, hundreds in savings.

~~~
Alex3917
You'd save money even if the only place you flew was to Bogota and back.

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.

~~~
seanos
The pass only covers domestic travel so Bogotá is out.

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kqr2
Use it in conjunction with something like:

<http://www.airbnb.com/>

to find inexpensive places to stay.

~~~
Derrek
Or find a free place to sleep at <http://www.couchsurfing.org>. I haven't done
this but know folks who have had great experiences with couch surfing.

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.

~~~
peterwwillis
I can recommend this too, it's big in places like Portland

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paul9290
Here's where they fly to ... <http://www.jetblue.com/wherewejet/>

Bermuda and the Bahamas - nice!

~~~
breck
We looked at some of the international taxes/fees.

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.

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phreanix
I can imagine a video/photo account of someone making the most of this pass
going viral.

~~~
endtwist
I was just thinking the same thing. Though I'm in school during that period,
I'm very tempted to buy one of these and travel every weekend for the month.
Perhaps spend one weekend seeing how many cities I can get to in just 48
hours.

Edit: except, I just remembered that jetBlue doesn't serve St. Louis (my
"base"). Damn!

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look_lookatme
Man, I was laid off 8 months too early.

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rufo
It would be pretty neat to be part of a roaming band of hackers traveling
around the country visiting different cities.

But maybe that's just my restless side showing. :-)

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kilowatt
This is pretty awesome. And tempting. But I wonder how much "international
fees and taxes" add up to.

~~~
aquateen
(d) in the case of international travel, government fees and taxes of up to
$127.60 each way, and (e) in the case of Puerto Rico travel, a US Departure
Tax of $16.10 each way.

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brk
I got mine earlier today when I saw this posted on Twitter. I travel a fair
bit for work anyway, but I plan to just go to some random cities to work for a
day here and there on my pass.

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ryanwanger
I just bought my pass! I've mapped it out already
([http://www.everlater.com/ryanwanger/jetblue-all-you-can-
jet-...](http://www.everlater.com/ryanwanger/jetblue-all-you-can-jet-month))
and I'll be documenting it as I go.

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.

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edw519
The quality of this program will be inversely related to its popularity. How
quickly will all the seats be gone?

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datums
If planned correctly this could be a pretty awesome roadtrip for 2. Napping at
the airport , keeping your luggage at the airport while you discover a new
city. Sponsorship would be a great idea.

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PostOnce
IIRC Amtrak has the same deal but by train for half price.

~~~
kragen
That's awesome! I had no idea! What's it called?

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.

~~~
jbr
I did this alone for my winter break of freshman year of college. To the best
of my recollection, my itinerary was Portland -> Vancouver (BC) -> Toronto ->
New York -> New Orleans -> Ft Worth -> Joshua Tree -> LA -> SF -> Portland.
One month. I arranged to either sleep on the train or crash with friends (knew
someone in most of those places). The diner car was pretty expensive, so I
generally carried a little food and ate heavy when I hit stopping cities. A
significant portion of the 30 days was spent in a train, from what I recall.

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.

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danw
Slightly off-topic, but relevant for roaming hackers: What's the pricing and
coverage of 3G mobile broadband dongles like in the US?

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aichcon
If someone does make a viral video out of this, I'm interested to see how many
days will be lost due to delays :)

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10ren
Not global, JetBlue seems to be restricted to the Americas.

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ars
I wonder why they charge a $100 no-show penalty?

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?

~~~
telegraph
For the same reason that all you can eat buffets have small plates.

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paulgb
Some also charge for uneaten food, which is a more direct equivalent to the
$100 charge.

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zackattack
I've never heard of an all you can eat buffet charging for uneaten food.
Example?

~~~
JimmyL
Often happens at all-you-can-eat sushi places; personally I know of three or
four in Montreal/Toronto where this is done.

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).

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breck
One of my roommates just booked it.

