Do your part to help Alex and Luke cross North America

February 20 2010, 8:33am

Suffering two quarter-life crisis’ friends Alex Sabine and Luke Vigeant have decided to embark on a massive road trip that will span North America in a self-discovery style journey that will be entirely directed by fans and user-generated content (UGC). The plan originated in late 2009 out of a text message from a frustrated Luke regarding his consultant job and condo search in Toronto, Ontario. “I sent my friend Alex a text message saying I wanted to quit my job, and Alex said ‘come on a trip with me’—I knew that she was planning on going on a road trip through the States at some point—and the wheels started turning in my nerdy technology-consultant head.” Alexandluke.com is an interactive site that allows fans to participate in this adventure through online voting on everything from potential destinations and sightseeing to the new nickname of Luke’s VW Rabbit. The site features blog posts, video and “the map of progress.” While the pair are also clear that they are able to fund this entire trip they have also created a pledge for their supporters. Participants will be able to donate money toward the trip with 25 per cent of all donations going toward one of six different charities dependent on the geographic location the pledge comes from. Donors will also have their website, blog or Twitter handle printed on the side of the car in a font size proportionate to the dollar amount given. “From kind of a nerdy, academic perspective, I’m really interested to see what the potential is for [social media] technologies to affect something so basic as travel, which has been around forever,” said Alex. Alex and Luke plan on leaving Toronto today - March 20, 2010. “We’re going to be able to do something really cool in a technological space that no one has done before, and that really excites me,” says Luke. “You can either do it now or you can do it never.”