Interview: How @twitchhiker Paul Smith Traveled the World by Twitter and Lived to Publish the Tale
Paul Smith was in the grocery store when he got the idea to use the social media network Twitter to hitchhike around the world. With the blessing of his wife, Jane and their two sons, Jack and Sam, Smith set up his handle @twitchhiker and began his journey on March 1, 2009 when a Twitter follower hooked him up with an overnight ferry to Amsterdam. Within 30 days he successfully made it from his home in Newcastle, UK through Europe and the U.S. until he reached the remote shores of Stewart Island in New Zealand with the help of over 11,000 Twitter followers he picked up along the way. He also raised over 5000 British pounds for ‘charity: water’, an organization that provides safe drinking water for people in developing countries. One year later Smith went to the The TimesCenter in New York City to accept a Shorty Award for his innovative use of social media in the travel category. He just released his first book, a hitchhiker’s guide to the digital age called Twitchhiker: How One Man Travelled the World by Twitter.
Before he was the Twitchhiker, Smith was a producer and a programmer for commercial radio and the BBC, as well as a writer for the UK publication the Guardian. As co-founder of the digital media startup Never Odd or Even, Smith has also developed a few iPhone applications, including “Ask the Hoff,” which responds to life’s most burning questions with prerecorded answers from actor David Hasselfhoff. In the spirit of experimenting with social media, @mbstartups decided to interview Paul Smith live via Twitter.
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Facebook is a closed circle, and doesn’t feel as dynamic as Twitter in terms of delivering (or reacting) to real-time events.
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Perhaps that’s changed in the 18 months since Twitchhiker, but I still find more geographically distant contacts through Twitter.
mbstartups @twitchhiker: How do you pack for a road/air/boat trip for 30 days? If you had to do it again, what would you pack/leave behind?
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Two bags – one with tech, one with about 5 days worth of clothes. Wish I’d taken a HD video camera and had an iPhone…
twitchhiker @mbstartups: for an app called @audioboo, launched after I set off. Lets you create quality sound recordings, audio equivalent of Twitter.
twitchhiker @mbstartups: not sure what I’d leave out – anything I didn’t need was dumped as I went. 
mbstartups @twitchhiker: Your Twitter hosts seemed like good people. Do you keep in touch with any of them?
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Most of them on Twitter or Facebook, or both. Some more frequently than others. I got lucky. Some people tried causing trouble.
mbstartups@twitchhiker: Ooooh, what kind of trouble?
twitchhiker @mbstartups: One guy tried derailing it because I wasn’t going to suffer, like I would if I swam the Nile. Another put a bounty on my head.
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Another tried to see me stranded with no help. Very much the minority, thankfully.
mbstartups @twitchhiker: How did you feel when you won a Shorty award for your trip?
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Great! It wasn’t just my award – hundreds of people played a part in Twitchhiker. Brilliant to see it recognized.
mbstartups @twitchhiker: How did you turn a road trip into a published book?
twitchhiker @mbstartups Twitter: Again – there was no plan to write a book, but six months later a publisher found me through Twitter and got in touch
mbstartups @twitchhiker: That’s fitting. In your book, you say Americans overuse the word “awesome.” Which words can we overuse in the UK?
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Overuse ‘awesome’ if you like. Just don’t use it because you had a nice sandwich, or fixed the flush on the toilet.
mbstartups @twitchhiker: Fair enough. Are you working on any mobile apps right now?
twitchhiker @mbstartups: We’re working on a couple; one I can tell you a little more about is TinToTin – more details here http://bit.ly/dxoDLE
mbstartups @twitchhiker: New mobile classified platform? Cool. Got any advice for other entrepreneurs, writers, or entrepreneurial writers?
twitchhiker @mbstartups: Crumbs. Um. I’d say that whatever you want to do in life, just get on and do it. Don’t make excuses. You don’t need permission.
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