By Sophia Chang
The 33-year-old freelance writer and product designer has documented his life through an online journal, first at AsianAvenue.com in 1999 and then moving to www.livejournal.com/users/hipstomp in 2002. Along the way, Noe's witty and thoughtful musings have gathered a readership numbering in the thousands, thanks to a few endorsements from popular Web sites such as Metafilter and word of mouth within the online community.In a journal entry from April 27, the Elmhurst-born writer noted that a friend in Vancouver had invited him to her wedding in July. He wrote that he planned on attending by traveling by train across America, but the catch was the cost of train travel, which can be more expensive than flying. Though he wrote about the trip in passing, he said, a few readers' comments mentioned that they would help pay for it, sparking the idea of writing about his travel adventures in exchange for donations. Noe said he discussed the idea with a few friends, who encouraged him to pursue the project.”A friend talked me into it,” Noe said in a recent interview. “I said, nobody's going to donate money.”But Noe set up a Paypal account anyway, which is a sort of online bank account where people can deposit money, and pitched the travel story to his readers. He said he was surprised by the response.”I gave it a shot, and I was shocked,” he said. “I thought maybe 3,000 people would throw in a dollar. It was fewer people, a few hundred people who donated. Some donated large amounts,” including $150 from an anonymous donor and $100 from a post office worker.In all, Noe raised nearly $1,841.41 of the $2,909.14 cost of his 11-day trip, which took him from Penn Station to Chicago, then Seattle, up to Vancouver, across the Canadian Rockies to Calgary and brought him back to New York via plane.Noe left on July 10. He traveled in coach and sleeper cars, he said, and on his last train leg through the spectacular Rocky Mountains, he splurged on a luxury train called the Rocky Mountaineer outfitted with glass ceilings. Along the way, he said he got to know a cross-section of people, leading to some of the sociological observations included in his trip entries.”New York to Chicago, there were a lot of ex-cons,” he said, adding that many ex-convicts prefer to travel by train to avoid airport security scrutiny. “But from Chicago to Seattle, there were a lot of families, tourists like me, senior citizens.”At times Noe's journal entries from the trip, “Train Adventures,” read like a novel, replete with vivid characters and spliced with pictures of his travels. He documents a memorable poker game with a group of travelers in one entry.Travel bonds form quickly, especially when you're in an atmosphere as intimately conversational as the cramped cafe car. Everyone got pretty familiar with each other. Strange for me, because I'm not an inherently social animal.Anyways, as the hours wore on and the group got a little drunker, I made the mistake of asking everyone what their final destination was.”Chicago,” said Rich. “Whatcha doing up there, visiting relatives?” I asked. “Naw,” he said. “I'm on the lam.”I'd never heard anyone say that seriously before, so I figured he was joking.”There's a warrant out fer me,” he said, which sounded awfully familiar. I glanced at Tracey, but she kept quiet. “If they catch me, ahm gonna be locked up for a while,” Rich drawled.”Whadidja do?” I asked. “What didn't I do,” he scoffed, nonchalantly taking another swig of vodka.Noe said his least favorite part of the trip was the jaunt on the Rocky Mountaineer luxury train. “It was $1,200 for two days, and it was super high-class,” he said. “There were only people who can afford those kinds of trips. The rich senior citizens, the rich European people. There was nobody I could talk to.” But he enjoyed the journey, although Noe said he had been concerned there would be nothing to write home about. “I was worried before the trip. I thought, 'what if nothing interesting happens?' I gotta make it interesting.”But the reader feedback has been positive, he said. Noe admits he felt pressure to make his travels appealing to his readers and contributors. “There were no editorial demands. You're cutting out the middleman” with this direct format, he said.Despite his interest in travel, Noe counts himself a quintessential life-long New Yorker who has lived in all of the boroughs except the Bronx. He attended school at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied industrial design, and now lives in Manhattan. Though he said his journal will remain focused on his daily life in the city, his ultimate hope is that his writing, whether at home or on the road, will satisfy and humor his readers.”I like to give people something to read,” he said. “The happiest e-mails I get are the ones that say, 'Dude, I was so bored at work, but you made me laugh.' My only thing is that I can make people laugh on the Internet.”Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
