Spending 6K On The NBA

Our latest math project was one in which we were tasked with designing and calculating a theoretical road trip for MTV’s “The Illest Road Trip Of All Time”. While this project involved a lot of creativity and room for personalization, it was also very difficult at times. There were really only a few rules we had to follow; we had to start and finish in New York, we were only allowed to travel by road, and we had to spend between $9,500 and $10,000. However, that last one was changed when Mr. Gross ended up setting up a math challenge that could gain each of us up to $8,000 extra to use on our road trip. After completing the challenge, me and nearly all of my classmates were given an imaginary extra $8,000. Lastly, we were allowed to bring as many people as our vehicle could fit. Because of the car I chose, which you will find out shortly, I could only bring one person. I asked MTV to pull some strings and sure enough they did, because Mark Wahlberg was coming along with me on this trip. So, enough about all the boring stuff let’s get in to my trip.

Me and Mark decided to start right in the heart of the city that never sleeps, Times Square. From there, it wasn’t much of a journey to our first destination, Madison Square Garden. Both of us are huge fans of basketball, and because we had such a huge budget, we bought courtside tickets to see the Knicks play the Nets. They were pretty expensive, already setting us back $1,000. After the game we stayed a night at a luxurious hotel in Midtown. After waking up we hit the road, setting our sights on our next location; Florence, South Carolina. We spent the next nine and a half hours driving, it was rough. However, we knew we were gonna have a nice, big, comfy bed to crash on as soon as we pulled in to Florence. We had a bit of a nap until we were hungry. We ordered room service and it was better than most restaurant meals I’ve ever had! Im not sure Mark could say the same though…

The next day we were driving for nearly 10 hours to make it to Miami with time to spare before the sun went down, so we woke up a little early and had a quick breakfast at the hotel. The drive down through Florida was really nice, the weather was warm and we took the roof down on the Lambo and my god did that engine roar. Cruising by Palm Bay we got all kinds of stares from the ladies looking at the beast of a machine we were travelling in, too bad it was only a two seater. When we got to Miami we went to the hotel to unload our luggage. I have never felt richer than I did when I found myself pulling my Louis Vuitton suitcase out of the front of my Lamborghini, that’s when I knew it was “The Illest Road Trip Of All Time”. After we valeted our car and unloaded our bags up in the suite, we hit Miami Beach for a quick swim just before the sun went down. The sunset over the Atlantic horizon was absolutely breathtaking, me and Mark had a good time relaxing.

The next day was still spent in Miami. We headed downtown to go shopping before chilling at the beach again. Later that night we Ubered over to the American Airlines Arena to watch the Miami Heat play OKC. Once again we had courtside seats and they were so worth it, it was such a great game. Despite the fact that Russel Westbrook got yet another triple double, Dwayne Wade and the Heat were able to secure the W in a close scoring game. Seats for this game cost double what they did in New York, but we didn’t mind, it was an amazing experience. We still had one more day in Miami, so we decided to take a cruise on a yacht. We put on our sunscreen and spent the day out on the water with some of Wahlberg’s friends from Miami. That night we went to Nobu for dinner. The food was fabulous and the atmosphere was just what we wanted on vacation.

When we woke up in the morning, we drove an hour and a half to Port St. Lucie where we had brunch on the coast. The weather was still beautiful and it was nice to escape the big city for a break before we hit the road for another 8 hours. When we got to Atlanta it was dark and we were ready to chill, watch a little Netflix, order some room service, we wanted a night in. Our hotel in Atlanta was really nice it was right downtown in a tall, modern building. Our suite was so big for just the two of us, we even wondered about throwing a party. Eventually we fell asleep and rested up for another travelling day to get to Chicago.

The next day on the road was really boring. It was my turn to drive as Mark drove the day before and the route to Chicago was brutally dull. Good thing I had a fast car and the refreshingly bold taste of Coca-Cola to keep me going. Not gonna lie, to make it to Chicago in less than 10 hours – the maximum time MTV allowed us to drive per day – we had to speed here and there but it was completely safe, I’m a fantastic driver. Upon arriving in Chicago, instead of heading straight to the hotel we thought why not enjoy the city, so we parked the car downtown and had a stroll through the sky scraper filled city, before having a seat on the edge of Lake Michigan. After dining at Chicago’s premier deep dish pizza restaurant, we headed to the hotel.

Our hotel here was the best of the whole trip, we had the penthouse suite all to ourselves, right in the heart of Chicago. After a long day of driving and walking we fell asleep nearly right away. We woke up late the next morning and ordered room service for breakfast. The whole trip was full of fantastic food and this was no exception. Eggs Benny tastes so much better in bed! We had booked a private helicopter ride for that afternoon, so we drove over to the airstrip just outside the city and prepared for an amazing experience. The helicopter ride was so much fun, the pictures I took were some of my favourite ever.

The next day, our last day in Chicago was the highlight of the whole trip for me. Me and Mark yet again had courtside tickets to see the Chicago Bulls play my favourite team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. We sat beside Kanye West and Kim Kardashian and it was such a good time. Lebron James and J.R. Smith combined for 64 points and defeated the Bulls 114-97. We went out and celebrated downtown with a bunch of Mark’s friends.

In the morning we checked out of our suite and drove back to New York. It had been one heck of a road trip; nearly 3500 Miles, 62 hours of driving, and $6,000 spent on basketball tickets later, we were back in Times Square where it all began.

Here are all the documents pertaining to my trip:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.