In September of 2009, after a few unexpected life turns, we started planning this project. Restless with our current positions in our respective lives, we set out to see what would happen if we used the power of social media to enable an exploration of North America.

Without a route or any preconceived idea of what we will see and do, we are calling on the communities behind the most popular social media websites to act as our compass (pointing us where to go) and our guidebook (telling us what to see).

Equipped with a small car and a trunk load of equipment, our goal is to travel through every state, province and territory while documenting and sharing the experience through web videos and other internet content available at our website, alexandluke.com.

We will be exploring the gap between real-time relationships and online relationships and it is our hope that connections between these two realms will be made in interesting and unexpected ways. Every individual who participates and engages with alexandluke, both on and offline will play a role in our journey. Sometimes these relationships will be formed deliberately, and other times by pure happenstance.

The desire to explore has been with us for thousands of years. The geography of North America is relatively the same as it has been for centuries. The need to collect and share the travel experience with others is as old as is travel itself. But never before has exploration been so accessible and sharing been so easy.

Who we will meet, where we will sleep, what we will see, and even the most fundamental aspect – where we will go, are all unknown. The notion of directionless travel may not be a new one, but this wanderlust is both facilitated and shared through new social technologies in an internet-empowered world

We leave it in your hands to help us experience the North America that you think we should experience and you can do this in a number of ways. Regular polls will be held on the home page of our website, but you can also interact with us through Twitter (where you can vote and make suggestions), YouTube (where you can vote and watch our videos), Gowalla (where you can check in with our current location and visited destinations) and on our Facebook Fan Page (where you can interact with us and our other followers). Click on the Interact button on our home page to learn more.

We can’t wait to see how the story unfolds, and how your involvement will affect our journey.

ALEX’S STORY

I was living in England, finishing up my masters dissertation on representations of facial hair in Early Modern portraiture, and planning on entering the museum field in Europe, when unexpectedly I had to leave and return to Canada. I took up temporary residence with my parents in the suburbs of Toronto until I could secure a job or an internship, which in the fall of 2008, was not an easy endeavor.

Unfortunately, just before the holidays, my parent’s home had a devastating fire and it burned to the ground. Nobody was hurt but I lost all of my possessions and I found myself homeless, jobless, and without any direction. Just when I thought I had taken a step forward by landing a great job with a major international auction house, I was called up by their president and informed that the Toronto office was closing down due to the recession and that I would not be needed.

It was a tough series of months, but I ended up securing a position with an antique dealer. While it was a good job, and one where I learned a lot about art objects, marketing, and running a small business, I knew I wanted to pursue something more. I had started the process of applying to do a PhD, something I have always aspired to, but I just couldn’t seem to focus myself on any one particular area of art history to study. Fortunately, the house fire had resulted in a moderately sized cheque being handed over to me by the insurance company. Instead of using these funds to replace all of my art books, supplies and clothes, I had decided to keep it aside for a big trip.

I thought maybe I should take six months and see more of Europe, learn languages and focus my study objectives, but in the back of my mind, what I really wanted to do was take a giant step away from the world of traditional academia and explore the continent where I was from. Unfortunately, this seemed like an impossible task for a young woman on her own (without even a vehicle to her name). Luckily for me, I had this best friend (with a car) who was also restless, who also had the travel bug, and who would end up bringing a lot more to the table than just his car. Luke is an idea factory, and I am thrilled to be able to work with him on this most amazing adventure.

Alex.

LUKE’S STORY

I was climbing the corporate ladder at a very well respected consulting firm, a firm I had been recruited into during my final year of University, and a firm that I had a very clear life path with.
I was really good at this job: I sat in meetings, made flowcharts, went on business trips, wore suits, received promotions, conducted workshops, configured enterprise resource planning software, and helped design systems that helped companies keep track of what percentage of their net sales they should accrue.It was a really good job, but it was not a really good job for me.

While sitting in a cubicle in the industrial complex where I worked, I habitually felt like a hypocrite. At my University convocation I was elected to deliver a speech, and in this speech I stated:

“Achieving what you want is infinitely more fulfilling than settling for mediocrity. I implore you to be ambitious, be bold, and do everything in your power to ensure that your dreams and goals are not forgotten, but nurtured into actuality.”

I never had the goal to help companies keep track of what percentage of their net sales they should accrue, I never dreamt of configuring enterprise resource planning software, it was just the path that I ended up on and it was a very easy path to stay on based on the combination of money and respect I had in my field.

I had been living at home with my Mom (she is on Twitter too @joannietime), and I was saving up money to buy a condo, as that is what people do when they are 25 and work in the corporate world. But with every bone in my body I felt like I was doing the wrong thing.

Enter Alexandra.

She sent me a single text message with a loose invitation to go on a road trip, and it has since turned into this idea, which has completely consumed us from September of 2009 until today.
After working on this project for one weekend with Alex, I knew that this was what I was supposed to be doing with my life at this point.

I quit my job with tremendous support from my previous employer, and I am so excited to start living the type of life I have always wanted to live.

Fact: I could not do this with anyone but Alexandra*.

Luke.
*Unless Jay-Z would be willing to come.

Contact us at alexandlukedotcom@gmail.com

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