How One Man Used Tinder To Travel Across The Country
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I must be using Tinder wrong. Women I chat with often say things like what Annie of Tinder recently said to me: “Thanks for not being the typical horny-ass Tinder dude.” I think she said this because at no point in the conversation did I ask her for sex (I was taught that it’s rude to ask for sex. Sex is something that you hope and ask God for.)
From my side, Tinder tends to be used by women explicitly not looking for a one-night stand posting the five best photos ever taken of them. Based on Annie’s comment, I get the impression that on the other side of Tinder — the dark side of Tinder where women talk to men — Tinder is one big horny mess of anonymous libidos flopping around like methed-up fishies on a deck.
However, while the women on Tinder are looking for relationships, and while the horny men of Tinder are looking for one-night stands, 24-year-old Daniel Beaumont used Tinder to hitchhike across the United States.
As profiled in Thrillist, “Daniel ditched the roadside thumb-up” and clocked thousands of miles on a cross-country road trip powered by Tinder. Daniel was upfront in his profile. He said in his profile that he was not so much looking for a hookup or dating situation as he was in the market for a free ride and a little kindness from strangers (all travelers hope for a little bit of kindness from strangers here and there — it gets lonely on the road).
When I read of Daniel’s exploits, I caught myself wishing I were still on the right side of 25 so that I could steal his idea and hitchhike across the country without being pathetically too old to do so. But, instead of envying his ingenious application of current technology for intrepidly practical and perhaps sometimes sexual purposes, I instead encourage everyone to follow his example of what it truly means to plot one’s own course.
Remember, just because the label says that you are supposed to have meaningless sex with it, it does not mean that you can’t travel with it. Daniel’s trip is a reminder that the only rules to the road are the ones we create ourselves (with a little help from our friends at the Federal Highway Administration).
Technology won’t stop changing. As it does, there will always be new ways to use it. The seasoned traveler knows how to seize the right ideas at the right moments and use them to travel with intrepid meaning and purpose. I bet Daniel’s primary motivation had less to with lack of bus fare and more to do with accumulating experiences. You don’t have to be a horny guy or a woman not looking for a one-night stand to understand that.
Luke Maguire Armstrong is the author of the intrepid travel collection The Nomad’s Nomad. When he’s not traveling or getting mauled by rodents in the jungle, he spends his time being rejected by girls in bars in Antigua, Guatemala. He broke his left ankle river dancing and his right ankle trying to impress the locals in Belize. Give Luke a guitar; he’ll sing you a song. Hand him a whiskey; he’ll tell you a tale. Give him both, and he’ll give you something to drink about.