When the current management of Let's Go travel guides called up three of its former editors and asked them to hit the road on a promotional tour for two months, the three alumni were ecstatic.
During the next two months, Brendon Gibbons '99, Adam Stine '99 and Kaya Stone '00 will tour more than 40 colleges on the East Coast, handing out free Let's Go travel guides, backpacks and other accessories.
"People said we would never be able to get people to commit to a two-month trip, but we did it," Stone said.
Two years ago, when they were running Let's Go for Harvard Student Agencies, the trio tried to push the same idea--but it fell through for lack of funding and interest. Now, as Let's Go expands and has increased its publicity efforts, the effort has strong support.
StudentUniverse.com, a Watertown-based travel agency, is co-sponsoring the project with Let's Go.
The two companies have invested more than $40,000 on the road trip project and have worked together to develop the project's website, www.letsgoroadtrip.com.
Let's Go and StudentUniverse.com are raffling five round-trip tickets to Europe through the website. The site, which will have daily travel logs and video clips, also offers a detailed itinerary for the trip.
The travelers plan to "sell" locations to college students through the Let's Go travel guides. StudentUniverse.com officials hope to benefit by selling the tickets to get there.
"We're going to follow them everywhere they go. From Boston to Chicago, and over to New Orleans," said Rob Egan, vice president of marketing at StudentUniverse.com.
The travelers are being paid only a nominal stipend by Let's Go. But Stone said they have put forth an enormous effort to coordinate the publicity stunt.
"We've been on the phone for weeks, setting up interviews, trying to get an RV, getting colleges to publicize us," Stone said.
Stine, who will be heading to graduate school in film this September, says he might make a movie out of the journey.
"I'm very excited about this. We're goning to make the college students do weird stuff to win prizes," he said. "I'm going to tape it all."
Gibbons, Stine and Stone will start their road trip this Friday, in their newly rented and christened RV, "The Big Daddy."
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