This dude used Tinder to hitchhike across North America

Tinder's all about hooking up. Right-swipe, match, chat, meet up, get down, go home. But one industrious Tinder-er (spread it!) found a creative new use for the "dating" app: hitchhiking. And he did it to the tune of more than 7,500 miles worth of car rides across North America.

Three months and 5,000mi into a six-month, 12,000mi-long hitchhiking trek around the US and Canada, 24-year old Daniel Beaumont ditched the roadside thumb-up for a smartphone right-swipe (along with Couchsurfing and Craiglist) to carry him through the remainder of his journey to New York City.

Dan Beaumont

Of course, he switched out the the profiles pics with tigers in Thailand (let's be real, there’s like a 90% chance he had one) to photos around the world to show his adventurous side -- like this one above, where he's just chillin' on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Beaumont also upped the range of women he was interested in from 18-50, and tweaked his bio to state his honest intentions. But plenty of women were willing to take him for a ride. In the literal sense.

Dan Beaumont

3,766 ladies matched -- and that's just in the US. At one point, Beaumont's account was so busy, it crashed and he lost all his matches. But it soon relaunched and got him back on the road. One of his matches liked him so much, she drove him a whopping 310mi down Route 101. He also went adventure climbing in the Rockies, visited the Grand Canyon, and took a tour of Hollywood.

Eventually, Beaumont did make it to NYC, so perhaps LTRs are possible through Tinder. Although it's doubtful anyone will see Tinder as the hookup and hitchhiking app for the foreseeable future. Still, it made for an interesting trip.


Chloe Pantazi is an editorial assistant on Thrillist's travel team. Yes, that's a British accent. No, she doesn't watch Doctor Who. Follow her on Twitter at @ChloePantazi.