We pulled into Atlanta around 9 AM and after getting permission from the conductor (always respect your train conductor), I went up to the platform and waited for Julie Hauldren to turn up at our pre-arranged time!

Julie, because she rocks, matched my “spirit of the season” sparkly blue Santa hat with her own bunny ears!

And like another holiday bunny, came bearing gifts! Xmas cookies AND $2 bills!

Cool huh?

I had to rush off so we shared a couple of hugs and back onto the train I went to travel through through the beautiful landscapes of Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. Next stop is the final stop for Amtrak train number 19, the Crescent: NEW ORLEANS!

(Pics taken with the N8-00 generously donated by Nokia)

After more than 24 hours of bus travel from Montreal to Greenville, SC via NYC, DC and Charlotte, NC, I was met at the Greyhound station by Doug Cone, owner of Nullvariable Web Consulting at midnight. Doug enthusiastically and patiently showedme around downtown Greenville and brought me to Trey Pennington‘s (to whom this year’s trip is dedicated) favourite spot: The Liberty Bridge in Falls Park where Trey left the following tip: “While you’re there, stand just above the western bank of the Reedy River facing south (away from downtown), look straight down, follow the bank 5°, that’s Popkin Peak. Cool, huh?”

As it was the 6th night of Hanukkah and despite the thick, misty fog I attempted to light Hanukkah candles. They stayed lit long enough for me to get a picture but the wind and mist got the better of them.

Finally at 1:30 Doug drove me to the station and we had to wait a while for someone to let us in even though the posted hours said it was open. With a hug, Doug went home to bed and I waited for the train, which was delayed an hour and got underway on this 3rd year of HugTrainUSA… Next stop: Atlanta!

The Liberty Bridge in Falls Park, Greenville, SC

Lit Hanukkiah on Liberty Bridge

So the cat is out of the bag! And I’m glad for it!

I am happy to announce that a very responsive and helpful Nokia are helping HugTrainUSA out this year!

How?

• providing a phone: the very cool N8 with a 12 MP camera and Xenon flash) which we will be using to document this year’s trip and our new “HugDiary”,
• paying for our phone service so we can stay in touch on the road, organising events for us (one online & one offline – details to come!),
• connecting us with their vast network of advocates,
• creating a map of the trip on Nokia Maps
• and also blogging about the trip to help get the word out!  (First blog post here today: http://blog.maps.nokia.com/nokia-maps/whos-on-board-the-hug-train)

Working with Nokia so far has been brilliant, not only are they friendly and helpful but they are very responsive All the things you look for in a company!

Thank you to Elina and the team!

Debbie Horovitch from Social Sparkle & Shine has been a huge help in kickstarting our sponsor search by helping with the creation of our sponsorship documents.

Here’s a little about Debbie in here own words:

We are very grateful for eModeration‘s very generous support of HugTrainUSA

Here’s more information about them in their own words:

“eModeration Limited is an award-winning social media management company also offering a bespoke social media strategic and social media crisis consultancy.

Based in London UK, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, eModeration provides multi-lingual community management, moderation and social media consultancy services bluc chip clients and agencies worldwide.

Committed to ethical business practices and to the promotion of child online safety, eModeration’s CEO Tamara Littleton recently worked with the UK Government department UKCCIS to produce their guidelines on how to moderate online environments for children.

eModeration contributes to the growth of knowledge in the social media world via its white papers, blogs and seminars, and has a strong roster of returning clients who appreciate the high quality of its services”

It’s not too late for your company to sponsor HugTrainUSA: Contact us on sponsors@hugtrain.org for more information.

More sponsorship news coming VERY soon!

Hello everyone,
Just wanted to let you know that we are already planning the next HugTrainUSA
We plan to leave from Atlanta on 12/26 and travel to New Orleans, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Whitefish MT, Chicago again, DC and Orlando with some long and short stops in between. We hope to see (and hug) you along the way!

Final details are being.. err… finalised but HugTrainUSA 2010 is set to depart from Boston’s South Station at 9:30 PM on December 27! More details will be shared as they become available. Like last year, we are supporting Mental Health America but this year we are collecting onlion donations through firstgiving.com You can pay for your hugs or give so others can get free hugs right here: http://www.firstgiving.com/hugtrainusa

Final details are being.. err… finalised but HugTrainUSA 2010 is set to depart from Boston’s South Station at 9:30 PM on December 27! More details will be shared as they become available. Like last year, we are supporting Mental Health America but this year we are collecting onlion donations through firstgiving.com You can pay for your hugs or give s

HugTrainUSA launches from Penn Station tomorrow!
We’re so excited to get this going!
Arié will be tweeting from the train on @HugTrainUSA

Departure is at 3:45 PM and Arié should be at the station from 3 PM if you want to get your hugs in!

Here’s the link to facebook event for the launch: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=241062534950

There will be a stop in Albany tomorrow evening from 6:20 to 7:05 PM and Arié will change trains from the Lakeshore Limited to the California Zephyr in Chicago on Monday morning arriving at 9:45 and leaving at 14:00.

For me details on the rest of the HugTrainUSA itinerary have a look at our Itinerary page!

See you at the station!

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your awesome support and your help getting the word out about HugTrainUSA!

We wanted to let you know that all funds collected by HugTrainUSA will be donated to Mental Health America.

If you’re not along the route or you can’t meet the train, we encourage you to donate directly to Mental Health America online or by phone by calling 800-969-6642 and selecting option 3.

Thank you again for your support!

Thank you so much for your positive feedback. The response has been great.

People have been asking how they can help so here are the areas we need the most help with right now:

The most important thing is for people who want hugs to get hugs so we need your help putting us in touch with those people and getting them to the train station!

Design: We really could use the help of a designer to make the website look a little nicer, make an avatar/logo we can use on facebook and twitter, some blog badges and possibly a designto print out on t-shirts.

Writing: We need help getting the word out! That means blog entries and tweets and possibly even media. We could also use help running this site and the twitter account (@HugTrainUSA)

Photography: We could use some pictures to go up on the site right now and for people to help take pictures throughout the trip!

Local Organizers: If you live anywhere along the HugTrain’s itinerary and you want to help organise the meetups at the station or close by we’d love to hear from you!

Nice to haves: It would aslo be nice to have a contact at Amtrak to help this run smoothly, Internet and phone access throughout the trip, a video/still  camera so I can document the trip from my point of view and maybe some help with healthy Kosher food during the long train rides (Chicago to San Francisco and Los Angeles to New Orleans are both 2 days long)

If you can be of help or know anyone who can help with any of the above please let me know by commenting on this page or e-mailing me at arie.moyal AT blcubed.com

Thank you! *HUGS*

If you’re here you’ve probably heard about #HugTrainUSA on twitter and you’re wondering what it is.

Here’s a quick overview:

I’ll be travelling around the USA by train starting in New York on December 27, 2009 and ending in Boston on January 10th , 2010.

I figured since I’m doing this anyway why not add a social change/charity aspect to it and make it fun?
I also thought that since the holidays can be tough on people some cheer could be useful and what better way than to spread it with hugs?

And that’s how I came up with the HugTrain!

8 stops in 15 days including Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Atlanta and Washington D.C. spreading holiday cheer and raising money and awareness about mental health!

For a more detailed itinerary, click here
I haven’t chosen a charity yet but I have approached some and am waiting to hear back.
What do you think? Can you help me spread the word or donate some time to make the HugTrain the best it can be?

Please comment below or e-mail me at arie <DOT> moyal <AT> gmail <DOT> com

Hope to hear from you!

Arié