This Family is Road Tripping Using Only Bitcoin...

[TimS]

No matter how did they spend BTC through the entire journey and in what ways,  at least they were enthusiastic about BTC things. It was really a kind of big campaign for BTC.

Bingo. It can be a success for that regardless of whether you can call it "using only Bitcoin". Even the places that accept BTC online typically convert 100% of it to fiat immediately on purchase, so it's rare that you find a totally-Bitcoin transaction with a company.

It's a nice experiment that shows the current state of the Bitcoin economy as it relates to traveling the US: you can do everything you need to with Bitcoin, if you go a bit out of your way to book places and buy gift cards in advance. But the companies are usually only interested in holding the fiat, so it'll be converted sooner (when you buy the gift card) or later (when the company accepts your BTC and converts it immediately).

[Stery]

Too risky. What do you do when in some areas no one accepts them

[brian_23452]

No matter how did they spend BTC through the entire journey and in what ways,  at least they were enthusiastic about BTC things. It was really a kind of big campaign for BTC.

Bingo. It can be a success for that regardless of whether you can call it "using only Bitcoin". Even the places that accept BTC online typically convert 100% of it to fiat immediately on purchase, so it's rare that you find a totally-Bitcoin transaction with a company.

It's a nice experiment that shows the current state of the Bitcoin economy as it relates to traveling the US: you can do everything you need to with Bitcoin, if you go a bit out of your way to book places and buy gift cards in advance. But the companies are usually only interested in holding the fiat, so it'll be converted sooner (when you buy the gift card) or later (when the company accepts your BTC and converts it immediately).

Wow really?  You think the average person sees this as a success story for bitcoin?  I see it as an abject failure.  How does this show that you can do everything you need to do with bitcoin?  He didn't do hardly ANYTHING with bitcoin.  He paid for everything with fiat cash and cash equivalents. 
The average person seeing this is going to be thinking "yea, you can do anything you want with bitcoin, as long as you sell the bitcoin for cash first".  But of course you could say the same about anything.  The ONE transaction he actually made with actual bitcoin, was a failure, he lost the reservation waiting for transactions to confirm. 

[Harley997]

Not to mention using up your stash for some publicity stunt. A lot of people will look back witha lot of regret if this does get as big as people think it will.

Unless you repurchase the same amount of BTC that you spend. Which further departs this from the idea of "using only Bitcoin"...
Bitcoin could be great as currency between two parties who use Bitcoin. When one (or both) of the parties is only interested in holding the fiat equivalent, though, it's hard to classify the transaction along the lines of "using only Bitcoin". Then it's just another way to transfer the fiat, which may or may not be worse than traditional transfer schemes (credit, debit, cash, etc.), depending on the buy/sell gaps and fees you're dealing with when converting BTC to/from fiat.

No many people really know and accept BTC. They prefer to keep fiat rather than BTC. It needs to take some while before the majority of population find BTC valuable and superior. Then one party just pays BTC for goods or services to the other party without the third party(payment processor to change BTC to fiat).

the point of these types of stories is to help show the public how valuable bitcoin can be

[leex1528]

the point of these types of stories is to help show the public how valuable bitcoin can be

I agree, but at the same time its showing how unreliable it is, and how it cannot replace currency at all.  I mean, they didn't even use it, it would have been absolutely awesome if they found gas stations along the way and food places that all ACCEPTED bit coin.  Basically, all they found was places that accept US dollars....big whoop!

[factor280]

Hopefully the time will come when a roadtrip with bitcoin is absolutely possible.

[Harley997]

the point of these types of stories is to help show the public how valuable bitcoin can be

I agree, but at the same time its showing how unreliable it is, and how it cannot replace currency at all.  I mean, they didn't even use it, it would have been absolutely awesome if they found gas stations along the way and food places that all ACCEPTED bit coin.  Basically, all they found was places that accept US dollars....big whoop!

There was an article last year about how a reporter tried to survive solely on bitcoin. She did a followup a few months ago (~a year later) to try it again, and the focus of this years article(s) (it was actually a series of articles) was that it was much easier to survive on bitcoin now then it was even a year ago.

[ThomasCrowne]

Hopefully the time will come when a roadtrip with bitcoin is absolutely possible.

I'm guessing by this time next year it pretty much will be

[AlPutino]

Hopefully the time will come when a roadtrip with bitcoin is absolutely possible.

I'm guessing by this time next year it pretty much will be

It is possible alredy, but you kind of need to try hard.

[factor280]

Hopefully the time will come when a roadtrip with bitcoin is absolutely possible.

I'm guessing by this time next year it pretty much will be

That would be awesome and here's hoping that's the case!

[QuestionAuthority]

Didn't James McCarthy (Nefario of GLBSE) already do this with Bitcoin? I'm pretty sure he was the first "Bitcoin only" traveler.

[DannyElfman]

I think the issue with going on a road trip solely on bitcoin is the issue of buying gas as there is not really a way you can go from bitcoin -> gas without first going to fiat. If a family were to go on a vacation then this would be possible as they could book their hotel with expedia, their flight with (I think the site that accepts bitcoin for flights is) cheapair, and find restaurants that accept bitcoin to eat at.

[spainful]

Oh, they decided to start an adventure time. Good job, guys!

[skottiejay]

This is the stupidest thing ever, and people get angry with me for what I've said on the board.

I suppose they obtained this legally? Or did they ask for donations and because it's a "family" people rallied behind them?

I'm not even going to bother clicking that link, this is exactly what I've been saying all along.

[Harley997]

This is the stupidest thing ever, and people get angry with me for what I've said on the board.

I suppose they obtained this legally? Or did they ask for donations and because it's a "family" people rallied behind them?

I'm not even going to bother clicking that link, this is exactly what I've been saying all along.

The story said that the father of the family has been into bitcoin for around 6 months, and it appears they somehow purchased the coins with their own resources.

It looks like they kind of cheated as they purchased a lot of gift cards with bitcoin to pay for gas.

[leex1528]

It is rather silly to claim this is anything but using actual money. 

It will be really cool when say in 2 years, you can just go from place to place actually paying in Bitcoins(gas, food, anything you might need) 

This was just a, we took a family trip and I like bitcoins vacation.  Nothing to do with them being together...