Lindsay Rule is comfortable traveling by herself, which is unusual for a young single woman in today’s scary world.
Don’t get us wrong – it’s not that traveling by oneself that’s the scary part – it’s the way that Lindsay chose to do it that may have given her family and friends a bit of a scare.
On the other hand, if you think about what Lindsay did, she was probably traveling in the most safe way possible. She technically wasn’t traveling alone; she was bringing hundreds of eyes with her, watching her every move.
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Lindsay decided that she was going to try to TRAVEL ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR FREE, relying only on contacts that she made on Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, Ridejoy, CouchSurfing, and any other social media tools that she could leverage.
Oh, and she only had $100 in emergency money to rely on, just in case.
Her social skills had to get her not just transportation, but also places to sleep and food to eat. Her goal was to travel clear across the country without spending any money whatsoever. And in two weeks, Lindsay was able to leverage her social network to get from Boston to San Francisco for (mostly) free.
In some ways it reminds Web Watch of the 2002-2003 ESPN game show BEG, BORROW, and DEAL, where teams of contestants had to travel across the country using just their wits (and whatever tasks, roadblocks, or other missions the ESPN producers threw their way). In some ways, what the ESPN show did was a bit harder – without the social media aspect, the contestants had to rely on immediate human interaction…. you know, being social old-school and face-to-face.
Granted, having a camera crew tag along with your expedition may even things out a bit.
So here’s the question — how far could you travel across the country, for free, using only your social network? Make it interesting, and limit yourself to using only Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn rather than plastering your mission out across all mediums. Think you could go from Boston to San Francisco for free like Lindsay did?