Will date for ride: Manchester grad used Tinder to hitch lifts across America

Sensitive Daniel Beaumont hitched his way across America by wooing lifts from over 30 women he met on Tinder — but won’t say how many he got lucky with. 

The Manchester grad came up with the ingenious idea to use the dating app after getting fed up of spending hours standing at the side of the road with a sign, waiting for his next lift.

The 24-year-old backpacker finished his three year degree in business management and ditched his career as an investment banker.

He said: “I had the highest scoring degree in my faculty with 82 per cent.

“I was one of 30 people who won a bursary because of it. I still played football and socialised more than my flatmates.

“I was dead set on becoming an investment banker. But when I finished I couldn’t go into that job. So I went travelling instead.”

The former Oak House fresher had spent three months getting 3000 miles across Canada. But Tinder allowed him to travel 12,000 miles across America in the same amount of time – and he claims it was much more fun.

He posted a catchy profile on the dating site reading: “Nomadic traveler of two years from Britain.

“Currently hitchhiking 20,000km across North America.

“Trying to get by through the generosity of wonderful people.

“Need to reach New York City by early November. Can you help me get there?”

In the end he ended up with almost 4000 matches — because he swiped right on everyone.

Daniel said: “I got some rejections. I swiped right to everyone to increase my chances.

“I had a romance with my first match Steph. I said to them ‘Can you help me and I can help you.’ It was a reciprocal thing. I inspired them. One girl quit her job and went to South America.

“The English accent is a massive thing. It’s basically like the guy from Love Actually.”

He wouldn’t tell us how many swapped the driver’s seat for the back seat.

Daniel, from Kendal, in the Lake District, said: “I made my choices of
possible match quite broad.

“I wasn’t necessarily looking for dates so I had opted for quite a broad age range, looking for women aged between 18 and 50 who were located within five miles of me.”

He said although he wasn’t looking for love he was up for fun and was
always honest and open with the ladies he met along the way.

He said: “There was a lot of flirting going on.

“I would quite often start a conversation with the opener ‘Do you want an adventure?’

“I was astonished by the response I was getting. I was matching with a lot of curious American girls who wanted to know more about my travels.

“They all seemed to dig the British thing, too. They love all things British, they look at the monarchy and think we are sophisticated.

“A lot of matches opened up with ‘OMG do you have an accent?’ to which I
replied, ‘Ever heard James Bond speak? I sound like him’.

“We would be joking around and talking about an adventure but then I would
tell them I’m deadly serious and we would be driving south for 30 miles and then go off and climb a mountain on the way.”

He first stumbled on using Tinder when he was in Edmonton in Canada and
found 22-year-old Steph, who still has a place in his heart.

He said: “Steph was a fantastic girl, I still speak to her now and I hope
to see her again in the future. She was amazing and was an adventurer like me.

“She joined me travelling for a bit and we went to Banff National Park. It was the best time.

“I built up a good resilience to not let moving along affect me.”

He decided to use Tinder as it was far more effective than couchsurfing apps and hitchhiking.

“I realise Tinder has a reputation for being a pick-up place but I wasn’t
necessarily using it for that.

“Of course I met some lovely ladies and had some fun, but some I wasn’t compatible with, some we just had a fun time as friends, some we just had a coffee. Some of the girls I met didn’t even give me a lift.

“I’m not mentioning any numbers of how many I hooked up with. A gentleman never tells.

“But more than anything I remained honest throughout, the girls knew I was
on my travels and I was using the app to move across America.

“I never broke any hearts.”

He said: “It was my birthday in Las Vegas, which was epic.

“I’ve learned that people are generally wonderful and caring and helpful
and Tinder was part of that.

“I think it worked because I was offering something a little more different
and genuine. In the end though, all this worked in my favour, people like you
more when you are not sleezy.”

Soppy Dan is now home for Christmas, spending it with his mum and two sisters.

He added: “It’s lovely to be back home. I’m enjoying home cooked food made
by my favourite lady — my mum.”

Dan mainly traveled across America to promote his new hostel business, which is why he wears the same t shirt.