Around the world in “Tweety” days

We like it when a neat idea, some good will and a little Twitter get together:

Paul Smith, a 34-year-old freelancer, returned from his honeymoon with the travel blues.

Yearning for another trip, he decided to try to get from the UK to Campbell Island, 200 miles off the coast of New Zealand in less than 30 days.

He posted his goal on Twitter and was eventually picked up by Stephen Fry (of Jeeves and Wooster & A Bit of Fry and Laurie fame), who tweeted it to his 1,646,433 followers.

Paul made it all the way to Stewart Island, off New Zealand, before getting stuck. (Stewart Island’s slogan, by the way, is “Island of Tranquility,” so it is actually not a bad place to be stranded…)

A recent Telegraph article explains how Paul did it:

• Ferry ticket from Newcastle to Amsterdam (tweeter named Leanne)
• Train to Paris (two French tweeters)
• Free bed at a hostel
• Train to Saarbrucken
• Lift in car to Frankfurt (German tweeter Andrea Juchem)
• One-way flight from Frankfurt to New York (tweeter called Owen, using Air Miles)
• Spare bed in hotel room (tweeter from Yorkshire named Mark)
• Then travel to and stays in Washington DC, Chicago and San Francisco by plane, train and car (US tweeters)
• Flight to San Francisco (Zurich-based tweeter)
• Car to Los Angeles
• Free flight from LA to Auckland (Air New Zealand)
• Ferry to South Island
• Lift to tip of South Island (tweeter named Smiley)
• Sailed to Stewart Island.

Sweet.

Jess