The Twitchhiker – Paul Smith

A brave traveller has made it all the way to New Zealand without buying a single ticket along the way.

Paul Smith – dubbed the Twitchhiker – made the 11,000-mile trip using only donations from people who use the social networking site Twitter.  

He gave himself 30 days to complete the trek, and was forbidden to spend a  penny on so much as a taxi journey.  

On completing his epic trek he wrote on his blog: ‘The Twitchhiker project showed that kindness is universal, that the whole can be infinitely greater than the sum of its parts, and that social media may begin online but it will converge with the real world whenever and wherever you let it.’

Paul reaches Stuart Island

Since leaving Gateshead on March 1, the Twitchhiker’s journey has seen him cross to the Netherlands, Germany and France.  

He then doubled back after being given flights from Frankfurt to Amsterdam, before crossing to New York.

Mr Smith then made his way through Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chicago and  LA.  

A final flight from LA saw the 33-year-old arrive in New Zealand with days to  spare.

Paul, of Low Fell, Gateshead, told how a woman met him in Auckland before taking him home to meet her husband, who hails from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

Via Mail Online