A man who has travelled the world using Tinder dates for accommodation is planning his next trip in New Zealand.
During his first summer free from university, 25-year-old Belgian Anthony Botta wanted to do something a little different before settling into a working career.
"I had a few ideas," he told Newshub. "One idea was going on a euro trip with a bike and a rabbit - that was a stupid idea."
A friend came up with the concept Mr Botta now knows as 'Tindersurfing'.
"It's basically travelling, staying with ladies in this case, that I match on Tinder."
Using Tinder Plus, a paid version of the dating app, he can find matches in the cities he intends to visit before he arrives and sometimes gets to work swiping right weeks in advance.
If it's a match, the conversation always starts the same way: "My first match in the city," he says, followed by the heart-eyes emoji.
Eight countries, 20-something cities, 3000 matches and 21 Tinder hosts later, Mr Botta says he's experienced the full spectrum of reactions.
"Out of 100 ladies around half will be insulting me, deleting the match, saying 'you're an asshole, who are you doing that?', 'are you bringing syphilis with the breakfast?'
"I have ladies telling me 'no, I live with my parents', 'no, I live with my boyfriend'... what the f*** are you doing on Tinder if you live with your boyfriend?
"A guy travelling only with Tinder? That's never going to please everyone.
"But all I need is only one lady to say 'yes' in the city and I have a place to stay."
He's not a fussy guy and usually sets his age bracket between 22-45.
"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 said 'alright - I'll just match everyone'."
As for sex, Mr Botta "can't deny" that's sometimes a part of it too.
"Tinder is a dating app and Tindersurfing, at the end, is going almost every night to a different Tinder date. At the end of a Tinder date, sometimes you go back home together.
"But in this case I was sure I was going home with my Tinder date.
"Sometimes I will just crash on the couch, sometimes I have a private room just for myself, but sometimes I won't deny that some stuff happens."
Mr Botta tries to keep feelings out of the picture, but sometimes can't help it. Once he was only meant to spend a night with his host but the chemistry kept him there for a week.
"We just clicked in super well... It was kind of painful to leave.
"But sometimes I have ladies texting me afterwards like 'oh, when are you coming back to see me'. Some ladies I see again and that's cool, but some ladies I don't really fancy seeing again and they keep on texting me.
"You just need to be polite and that's it."
Some hosts were better than others, he admits.
"I won't mention her name but she was living in what you call a proper shithole. Super small, it was smelly, it was dirty everywhere.
"The next morning, shower time... and the water was not leaving the shower.
"It was, I swear, like a tennis ball full of hair. Disgusting.
"And she was doing the dishes in the shower - what the f*** is she doing? Cleaning the plates in the shower? It was f***ed up."
Mr Botta hasn't been to New Zealand, but tells Newshub ahead of his trip he's already tried out Tinder in Auckland.
"It looks f***ing lit, if I might say.
"The ladies look way more open than in Europe. I think in the States and probably Australia [and] New Zealand, you can just go for coffee with a Tinder date in the middle of the day."
"In Europe it's more like this sexual idea... negative stuff."
"I'm really excited because for me, New Zealand is like the furthest country you can go to. As a kid, you always dream about going to the other end of the world."
He'll be coming to town near you in a few months' time.
Newshub.
