At the beginning of March, I set off on an adventure. Armed with nothing more than a laptop, a camera and three changes of clean underwear, I left my home in Newcastle in an attempt to travel to New Zealand, unable to spend a penny on transport and accommodation, and instead relying entirely of the charity and goodwill of people who use Twitter. I'm also trying to raise a tidy sum for Charity: water.
All of which goes to explain why, 13 days later, I'm in a 15 year-old boy's bed in Wichita. He's not here at the moment, obviously - he lives with his mother most of the week. I'm stopping with his step-mother. That doesn't sound right either.
How did I come to be the guest of a complete stranger in deepest Kansas? Because a Twitter user offered me a ferry ticket from Newcastle to Amsterdam, after which another person paid for a train ticket from Amsterdam to Paris. Another offered a train ticket to Saarbruck in Germany, then there was the flight from Frankfurt to New York via Amsterdam (again), a bus to Washington DC, a road trip to Wheeling in West Virginia, a flight to Chicago, a bus to Kansas City and finally a Greyhound to Wichita.
I set out to prove that the connections we nurture online are capable of being equally as strong, if not stronger than those we foster in the flesh; that the world may be full of bastards and murderers and thieves and the devil, but is more likely to show charity and kindness.
And it's done that so far, just so long as you don't count Pittsburgh. Given the choice between helping me find accommodation for a night, and sticking fingers in both ears and humming loudly, the Steel City chose the latter option. Otherwise, thanks to some truly selfless individuals, I've never had to spend a night sleeping rough. Kathy and Alston are the couple I stayed with in Wheeling - when Pittsburgh failed to hear my plea, they stepped forward and offered me their sofa.
One of the benefits of squeezing so much travel into such a short period of time, is that I've picked up plenty of useful travel hacks along the way. Such as: in the US, the bus can be a credible and low-cost alternative to air travel. On the east coast, the Bolt Bus serves Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, with direct routes that offer extra legroom, reliable wifi the whole route long, plus power sockets. It's like magic. Megabus also offers wifi on many of its services, too.
And: A diet of buffalo chilli and Cuban quesadillas with extra jalapenos is rarely a good bedfellow for an eight-hour road trip the following day.
Later today I'm joining a couple from Wichita on the eight hour road trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas. I've no place to stay yet, or any idea how to move on. Let's hope the Twitter community comes to the rescue.
• Follow Paul at twitter.com/twitchhiker, and his blog at @twitchhiker
See a Google Map of Paul's route
