Man Tweeted to round the world trip

Rather than letting his friends know what he's having for his tea, a British man has used Twitter to travel around the world.

Newly-wed journalist Paul Smith got back from his honeymoon and decided that he wanted to get more holiday time, with the aim of getting to Campbell Island, 200 miles off New Zealand, within 30 days. When his appeal was retweeted by Stephen Fry the campaign took off.

He managed to blag:
- Ferry ticket from Newcastle to Amsterdam (tweeter called 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 called 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 called Smiley)
- Boat to Stewart Island.

When Paul got to Stewart Island he hoped to get a lift on a boat to Campbell, but was unsuccessful. He said: "my main aim was to get as far around the world as I could in 30 days. When I gazed across the sea towards Campbell Island I didn’t feel like a beaten man. "

Air New Zealand offered him a free flight home where he set about writing up his experience in new book, 'Twitchhiker.'