NEW YORK, NY - June 20, 2019 - (HISPANICIZE WIRE) - Ever since Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson drove from San Francisco to New York City in 1903 to become the first person to drive coast to coast, America has been fascinated by road trips. On June 24th, road tripping is going full retro with the launch of the Retro 80s Road Trip Across America, a 18-day, 4,000-mile cross-country journey that will showcase America’s love for all things 80s pop culture from New York City to Los Angeles and many places in between.

Sponsored by Best Western® Hotels & Resorts, the epic trip kicks off a major publicity tour for NostalgiaCon’s Ultimate 80s convention (www.NostalgiaCon80s.com), that will take place September 28 & 29 at the Anaheim Convention Center, the first “decade-takeover” celebration of its kind.

“This trip will be like playing live 80s Trivial Pursuit on steroids,” said NostalgiaCon Founder and CEO Manny Ruiz, a retro pop fanatic whose nostalgia expert credentials also include a bachelor’s degree in history and a personal 80’s diary. “America has never seen a road trip like this and thanks to social media we’re about to bring the enchanting 80s alive like no one has yet imagined.”

The road trip will transport retro pop culture fans to iconic places where history was made and major trends were born. Among the stops will be the locations behind films like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “A Christmas Story”, “Pretty in Pink” as well as the hotel where President Reagan was shot, the Philadelphia location of Live Aid, the Chicago parking lot where the first commercial cell phone call was placed, and much, much more. The cross-country trip will culminate with a retro meet-up at Anaheim’s Decades Bar and Grill, Orange County's premier 80s and 90s-themed restaurant and bar.

A live version of 80s trivia will be in high gear on Instagram (@NostalgiaCon80s), Facebook (@NostalgiaCon80s) and Twitter (@NostalgiaCon80s) as NostalgiaCon road trippers transport 80s pop culture fans to the literal places they spent countless weekends discussing and revealing insights that will warm their hearts. Along the way, Ruiz will host daily Facebook Live interviews and meetings with celebrities and pop culture experts.

“With so many Best Western hotels in towns and cities across the country, we’re proud to be part of this iconic road trip,” said Dorothy Dowling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Best Western® Hotels & Resorts. “At Best Western we have been helping families discover the joy of road trips for over 70 years. As we embark on this journey to NostalgiaCon, we hope to inspire travelers to hit the road and explore our nation’s many landmarks.”

The trip will feature a two-vehicle caravan. The first vehicle will include Ruiz, his co-founder wife Angela, as well as their four children, who will share daily updates from the road on NostalgiaCon’s blog along with their social platforms. The second car will include social media influencers XoxoLizza and The Jose Resendez, who will help document the journey via social.

The tour will visit:

— New York City, NY - June 24-25

— Jersey City, NJ - June 26

— Philadelphia, PA - June 26

— Washington, DC - June 27

— Cleveland, OH - June 28

— Detroit, MI - June 29-30

— Chicago, IL - July 1-2

— Nashville, TN - July 3

— Dallas, TX - July 4-5

— Albuquerque, NM - July 6

— The Grand Canyon - July 7

— Las Vegas, NV - July 8-9

— Simi Valley, CA - July 10

— Los Angeles, CA - July 11-12

— Anaheim, CA - July 13

#Retro80sRoadTrip Twitter Party

To get fans engaged and solicit travel suggestions for the trip, NostalgiaCon will also be hosting a #Retro80sRoadTrip Twitter Party and trivia game with VIP event ticket giveaways, gift cards and other prizes on Thursday, June 20th from 7 to 8 p.m. PT. To be eligible to win prizes, participants must RSVP at http://bit.ly/2ZwhJ5p, and tweet an answer to one of the four prize questions using both the #Retro80sRoadTrip and #NostalgiaCon80s hashtags.

In addition to presenting partner Best Western® Hotels & Resorts, road trip sponsors include Singing Machine, Visit Philly, and Decades Bar and Grill.

This is the third, coast-to-coast national road trip for the Ruiz family. In 2010, they traveled to the four corners of the continental United States for a grand total of 12,136 miles in 46 days. In 2010, they did a 10,000-mile road trip from Miami to Vancouver in 44 days. In 2014 their road tripping notoriety landed them a national summer-long TV commercial with Best Western that captured the craziness of their epic family travels. You can view that commercial at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TpYG38c_EI.

About NostalgiaCon
With offices in downtown Miami, NostalgiaCon (www.NostalgiaCon80s.com) is a global fan conventions company wholly focused on celebrating the pop culture icons, influencers, music, newsmakers, entertainers, shows, films, sports, fads, toys, foods and more, that take us back to the decades we're most fond of. NostalgiaCon is the first platform ever created to fully scale and monetize the decades both in the United States and internationally through conventions, concerts, events, privately licensed entertainment, social media, and more.

Beginning September 28 and 29 in Anaheim, California with the epic 80s, NostalgiaCon will capture eras in their full glory, capitalizing on the powerful force of nostalgia via the people, trends and moments that define entire generations.

NostalgiaCon is the brainchild of serial entrepreneurs Manny Ruiz, creator and producer of the nationally renowned Hispanicize event and the Mixed Reality Marketing Summit, and Sean Wolfington, Chairman and CEO of The Wolfington Companies and Chairman and CEO of CarSaver, Walmart’s exclusive auto buying platform.