Expedition 206 Will Have All the Best Travel Technology Coke Can Buy

November 16, 2009 at 4:02 PM | by juliana | Comments (0)

Today we chatted on Skype with the winners of Expedition 206, a year-long travel expedition sponsored by Coca-Cola that will kick off on January 1, 2010. These three travelers are attempting to visit the 206 countries and territories where Coke is sold in 365 days, covering more than 275,000 miles. (Go here to see the map route. It's insane!)

Pictured from left to right: Kelly Ferris, age 19 and a native of South Africa currently living in Belgium; Antonio Santiago, 23, a university student from Mexico City; and Tony Martin, 29, originally from Washington, D.C., but currently living in Munich. The trio were selected in a global online vote which was announced today at a global investor conference in Atlanta.

All three were as excited as can be about their upcoming adventure when we chatted with them this afternoon. And how could they not be? They are getting paid to travel around the world and stop at such awesome events like the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

But it's not just about traveling the world. The trio are also on a mission to find out what makes people happy. Indeed, their titles are "Happiness Ambassadors" and that's what Ferris said she's most excited about with this project. Santiago was also excited by the creative output they will create and share with the rest of the world through blog posts, videos and pictures.

Still, we were anxious to hear what country they were most excited to vist. Martin said they were most looking forward to stopping off in Japan because it's a "vastly different culture" than what they've experienced before. But we're going to guess that the tiny islands and unheard of countries will also be an eye-opening experience for the Happiness Ambassadors as well.

Ok, so we're already extremely jealous that these three will be traveling all over the world for the next year but they will also have some of the best technology that money can buy to take with them (not to mention a special speed-packing instruction class!) And because of all this awesome technology (iPhones, cameras, laptops, etc.) the trio will be Facebooking, Twittering, YouTubing and Flickering their travels. So you'll have plenty of ways to find out what they are doing as well as offer your own suggestions for where they should go next and how they should get there.

Expedition 206 kicks off on January 1 in Madrid. Stay Tuned.

Related Stories:
· Expedition 206 [Official Site]
· Expedition 206 Winners Announced [Press Release]

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