Travel by Twitter: Case Study #1 The Twitchhiker

You've probably twittered to get a tip from other tweepers on a new place to dine at or have a drink, right? (That was a mouthful). But have any of you ever considered planning a whole trip around Twitter alone? Well, that's exactly what
The Twitchhiker (AKA Paul Smith, writer for The Guardian) is doing. This Twitterer hasn't started his journey yet. Paul is hitting the road on the 1st March to travel as far as he can around the world in a month on the goodwill and advice of twitterers alone. His aim is to raise money for Charity: water while experimenting with Twitter as a travel tool. You can read more about Paul's experiment in this story The Twitchhiker: one man on a Twitter travel mission and more about him on his site. Take a look at the rules that Paul has set himself. For instance, he's not going to allow himself to plan ahead more than three days in advance and he can only accept offers of travel and accommodation on Twitter, from users who are following him @twitchhiker. So Paul will be relying 100% on tweeps and the kindness and suggestions of Twitterers to ensure he doesn’t go without a roof over his head. Already he writes on his blog that he's getting a bit nervous and wondering whether he'll be sleeping on park benches. Another one of his rules: if he's unable to find a way to move on from a location within 48 hours, the challenge will be over and he'll have to go home. Let's hope that doesn't happen as this is going to be a fascinating travel experiment to watch. I'm wondering if it works, whether it will change the way some of us travel, and whether it might represent a travel revolution of sorts... what do you think? One way or another, I think The Twitchhiker is going to take us all on an amazing journey.

The pic? Venice again. I'm curious to see whether our Twitchhiker makes it to cities such as Venice - and Rome, Paris and Barcelona for instance - and whether he gets to visit such major tourist destinations on the generosity of strangers alone.

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