A traveller has claimed to be the first person to journey through Europe without spending a penny on accommodation thanks to dating app Tinder.
Anthony Botta, 25, from Brussels, Belgium has shared his journey going to twenty different cities and meeting 21 women by only staying at the homes of some of the 3000 strangers he’s met on dating app Tinder.
The dating enthusiast, who’s dubbed his invention ‘tinder-surfing’ posts updates about his journey to Instagram and YouTube.
A traveller has claimed to be the first person to journey through Europe without spending a penny on accommodation thanks to dating app Tinder
Anthony Botta, 25, from Brussels, Belguim has shared his journey going to twenty different cities and meeting 21 women by only staying at the homes of some of the 3000 strangers he’s met on dating app Tinder
Anthony uses Tinder Plus, a paid-for setting that allows user to choose the city they want to match people in.
He sets his sights on the city prior to travel and then is hosted by women he’s matched with.
Anthony said his journey has been ‘Sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. but he has ‘learned a lot about himself’ on his travels.
Over his two-month ‘road’ trip, Anthony travelled to Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
‘I’m not really picky because in the end all I am looking for is a place to stay,’ he told The Independent. Adding that he is always looking to meet someone he is attracted to but ‘that’s not always possible’.
Sometimes he ends up swiping right, the action to show you ‘like’ someone, on every profile he comes across in the desperate hope to find a roof for the night.
‘I managed to find a host in every city I wanted to go to except for Vienna so I just went straight to Bratislava as it’s only an hour away,’ he said. ‘After a few days I found out I couldn’t spend three hours a day just chatting on Tinder explaining what I was doing.’
Anthony uses Tinder Plus, a paid-for setting that allows user to choose the city they want to match people in
The multilingual traveller often got knocked back, saying the common response was wishing him luck but saying it’s not for him
‘So I came up with the following game plan: break the ice with ‘You are my first match in the city’ and then whatever the lady would text back I would send her the link of the trailer video that is on my Youtube channel followed by ‘wanna be my host?’
The multilingual traveller often got knocked back, saying the common response was wishing him luck but saying it’s not for him.
He admits he doesn’t have the highest of standards when looking for hosts and admits that the ladies ‘don’t need to be supermodels, they just need to host me.’
The multilingual traveller often got knocked back, saying the common response was wishing him luck but saying it’s not for him
Anthony often shares video diaries of his travels – even sharing posts from the hosts homes and from his dates
‘The ladies, at the end, just need to host me. They don’t need to be like supermodels, but a couple of times I couldn’t find a host, so I just thought I’ll match everyone’.
But the eight European countries and 21 women haven’t satisfied Anthony, and he admits he wants to go further, naming New Zealand as ‘women are more liberal’ there.
The social media enthusiast has even taken to Instagram calling himself ‘Tinder Surfer’ and using #TheZebottaLife.
He admits he doesn’t have the highest of standards when looking for hosts and admits that the ladies ‘don’t need to be supermodels, they just need to host me’
Some places he didn’t like and left quickly but, in other places, if the date went well he’d stay. At one point he even stayed in Munich for five days.
‘That house was mad’ he said. ‘Swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi, even her own gym. She lived in the same street as several famous Bayern Munich footballers.
Although, he is still single and looking for love, at one point he considered staying with his host in Koln for the whole summer.
Anthony says he occasionally slept with his hosts, but sometimes ended up on the sofa.
He’s now back working in Brussels, but still sometimes Tindersurfs when he can.