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Paul Smith hails from Newcastle upon Tyne, England but he’s hoping to get as far away from there as possible. He calculates the furthest landmass is tiny Campbell Island, south of New Zealand.

It doesn’t seem too difficult, but Paul is attempting to do this in 30 days. And he’s “hitch-hiking” by only accepting offers of transport and accommodation from users of a social media site called Twitter.

Getting past the press

We wanted to get past the press and talk with the Twitchhiker himself. During the interview we discuss his motivation, the charity he’s supporting and the trip itself. Click the play button at the top of this post to hear it, or subscribe in iTunes and download it for free.

Five rules of twitchhiking

1. I can only accept offers of travel and accommodation on Twitter, from users who are following @twitchhiker
This means if a Twitterer’s sister’s boyfriend’s father has a spare train ticket, I can’t use it; the help the person has to be a Twitter user, and they have to be able to directly action the offer of help. This may be too restrictive, but I want to draw on the support of the Twitter community, not to use Twitter as a search engine to find third party services.

2. I can’t make any plans further than three days in advance
It’s entirely possible that before I begin this challenge, I could have my entire route pre-determined and that would be no fun at all. So unless an offer of transport or accommodation is made within 72 hours of it being applicable, I can’t accept it. Damn.

3. I can only spend money on food, drink and anything that might fit in my suitcase
All travel and accommodation must be offered to me through Twitter. If I can’t, then I’m sleeping rough.

4. If there’s more than one offer on the table, I get to choose which I take. If there’s only one, I have to take it within 48 hours.
I’m not entirely happy about this bit. If any part of this challenge is going to see me dead in a ditch or under a patio, it’s this part.

5. If I’m unable to find a way to move on from a location within 48 hours, the challenge is over and I go home.
I hope my fellow Twitterers won’t let that happen.

How can you help?

Help the Twitchhiker by:

• Following him on twitter and offering transport and accommodation
• Making a donation to charity:water
• Reading about his journey on Twichhiker.com

You can also find us on twitter (site news, Craig) and plenty of other social media sites.

Lonely Planet travel blog awards

We’ll be posting more about this soon, but suffice to say we’ve been nominated in the Lonely Planet travel blog awards and could really use your help. There are plenty of other great sites nominated across the categories and we’re honoured to be featured alongside our competitors. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t love a win: please vote for “Indie Travel Podcast” under the “best podcast” category.

• Vote here.

NOTE: The chance to speak with Paul came through at the last minute, after we had already recorded this week’s show. Next week we’ll also talk about some of the same things and, strangely, call it show 93. We know … thanks in advance.

What do you think?

Your thoughts on the trip? How far will Paul Smith, the Twitchhiker, get? Tell us in the comments.

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This article was written by Craig and Linda

Craig and Linda Martin have been living on the road since February 2006. Both born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand they are ... somewhere in the world! Craig and Linda host the Indie Travel Podcast - you can get in touch with them here.