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On August 12th, 2009 JetBlue offered customers unlimited travel between September 8th, 2009 to October 8th, 2009 for only $599. The next day, Clark Dever and Joe DiNardo devised a creative plan. They would quit or take a break from their jobs and travel to as many destinations as possible within JetBlue offer time period. The interesting part is that they are only allowing themselves twelve hours at each destination. These guys have been able to successfully use their knowledge of social media to be featured on various big media outlets as well as scoring Boston Red Sox box seats at Fenway from Dunkin Donuts. They were both willing to spend their time to do an interview with me during their travels between Boston, Chicago and Long Beach. {image by Luke Copping Photography | lukecopping.com}

Clark Dever and Joe DiNardo

How did you both meet and become friends at the University of Buffalo?
We met through Clark’s cousin bryan who I was friends with, we just kinda clicked..we both have very outgoing personalities so we became fast friends.

What city and activity are you both looking most forward to during your ‘Twelve Hours in a City’ trip?
Joe: I can’t wait to eat In ‘n’ Out Burger on the beach in LA.
Clark: I’m really excited to meet new people in each city.

Clark, how did it feel to leave your corporate desk job to focus on pursuing your passions and would you ever go back to working in the corporate world?
It was a long time coming. I had been preparing to quit to take on photography full time anyway, this trip was just a catalyst to do it sooner.

Joe, I understand from your online biography that you are afraid of flying and taking off on an airplane. Do you think you’ll be over these fears at the end of this trip?
If this trip doesn’t get me over my fear of flying, nothing will.

So you’ll be sleeping at airports and on the airplanes but it appears a few of your flights are only a few hours apart. Think you’ll be getting enough sleep to function for thirty-one days straight or should I be investing in caffeine related company?
We’ll be relying on caffeine, A LOT. Thankfully Dunkin Donuts has sponsored us.

I know that I usually feel pretty grimy after sitting in an airport and airplane for a few hours. The both of you will be doing this as well as walking around your destinations. How will you manage taking showers and acquiring clean clothes?
We have a lot of friends in a lot of cities who are willing to let us shower there. When we’re in a city we don’t know anyone we’ve gotten a great response from fans offering laundry and shower services.

Are you both shocked at the sudden media craze regarding your travels or was it part of your master plan all along?
We never expected it to get as big as it has before we took our first flight but we knew with the right social marketing we’d be able to make a sizable media impact pretty quickly.

What do you both hope to learn about yourself, life or the world, at the end of this thirty-one day trip?
This trip will without a doubt teach us who we really are. How we handle stress, how we interact with the world (are we participating or just observing?). We’re really excited to see all the micro culture of each city because while we often think of America as homogeneous each city has its own unique culture.

I wish them both all the luck on their month long journey and I appreciate them both for taking time out of your trip for this interview. If you are interested in learning more about their travels at each destination, make sure you check out their Twelve Hours in a City blog.