––What were your expectations for the trip?

Haigh: The plan was for J to pick me up at my parents’ house in Pennsylvania. He had never met any of my family, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. My cousin was getting married that weekend, and he would be my date for the wedding. We planned to leave for Florida the following morning. The whole trip was supposed to take a couple of days.

Livesey: Having grown up in a place where ten miles is a long way I was completely unprepared for how large the US is and for how big the roads are. There were some rather scary moments when I was hitching on the interstates - one small person with all these huge vehicles thundering by.

Poirier: My expectations were mainly to get drunk, swim in the ocean, blob on the beach for a few days, not to think about the SATs, college admissions, or the C- I was getting in physics.

Richter: Being high, I expected to have a more interesting, fun time than if I were not high. If I’d been paying any attention, I would have noticed the words fear and also loathing in the title and thus surmised that I might be terrified or miserable much of the time. And I was! Though Captain EO was cool.

Wallace: I don’t remember what our expectations were. But it was the first time either of us had been completely on our own, far far away from our home and families. I think we expected to feel what it felt like to be free, and we did. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way again.