GENESEO — Veteran travel writer and Geneseo Central School graduate Amber Nolan plans to hitchhike across all 50 states. However, she won’t be standing by the side of the road, thumb in the air. Nolan plans to make her journey in private jets and small planes on a shoestring budget of a couple thousand dollars.
The project – dubbed JetHiking – will be recorded through a series of webcasts, radio interviews, and online blogging as Nolan attempts to redefine modern hitchhiking.
“It takes a lot of research and time to plan,” she said. “I discovered very quickly that it’s not practical to sit at the airport with your thumb in the air.”
She did basic research at airports, seeing how frequently flights take off – which, she soon found out, was not very frequently at all. She decided she would contact people ahead of time to see if they had room for her. She also visited pilot blogs and forums and contacted pilots who might be willing to take along a passenger.
Most of the pilots let people ride for free, though some may ask to split the cost of gas.
“I’m kind of calling it ‘modern-age hitchhiking,’” Nolan said. “I am still only planning these trips one or two flights in advance, so it’s still very spontaneous. I have to go wherever they’re going and just go with the flow, but at the same time, there is a little more planning than just spur-of-the-moment grabbing a car ride.”
Her first attempt at “JetHiking” is a flight from Rochester to St. Louis – the city with ties to Charles Lindbergh’s infamous “Spirit of St. Louis.” From there, the “JetHiking Gypsy” makes her way to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for EAA AirVenture ‒ America’s largest aviation celebration.
Some of Nolan’s goals for the project are to explore lesser-known tourism attractions, combat common misconceptions of the air industry, and demonstrate that in a difficult economy, budget travel is still possible with a little creativity.
Nolan served as the Senior Producer and Cruise Editor at ShermansTravel Media, an online guide to travel deals and destinations. Her work has also appeared on MSNBC, ABC Travel News, Frommers, and TheTravelWord.com. She is currently a freelance writer for 10Best.com.
“I’ve been involved in the travel industry for several years now, and I have never heard of anyone doing something like this,” she said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun to see how it all pans out.”
Those who are interested in Nolan’s project can follow the adventure at JetHiking.com as she takes to the skies on July 11.