Some readers may have harbored childhood fantasies of traveling the world on a Pokemon journey, befriending and battling pocket monsters all across the globe, region by region, continent by continent. This was, of course, just a dream back in the day. With Pokemon GO, however, not only is it possible, one man is living the dream for free. Nick Johnson announced last week that he was the first Pokemon GO player to catch all 142 Pokemon available in his region, being America. Head of Brooklyn tech startup Applico, the aspiring Pokemon master is heading across the world to catch the last 3 Pokemon that can possibly be caught in the game right now; Farfetch’d in Asia, Mr. Mime in Europe, and Kangaskhan in Australia.
His trip will be sponsored by Expedia and Marriott Rewards, with all of his flights and hotels, quite fancy ones at that, booked up for him free of charge. His itinerary will take him, along with his girlfriend, to the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe, where he’ll be checked in for two days, at first. Once he has Mr. Mime in his Pokedex, Johnson and his girlfriend will stay for two days at Renaissance Hong Kong Harbour View to hunt down Farfetch’d. From there, they’ll hit up Pier One Sydney Harbour to find Kangaskahn, then finally take a couple of victory days at the Tokyo Marriott Hotel.
In exchange for the sponsorship, Johnson’s travels will be put out for all to see on multiple outlets; he’ll be blogging on Expedia’s Viewfinder platform, doing media interviews when possible, and keeping followers on Twitter and Snapchat in the loop. He says that he plans to use Reddit and advice from friendly locals to figure out where to find the rare Pokemon. He’s already managed to attain a modicum of fame from his adventures, netting a spot on Good Morning America and an interview with CBS New York, among other things. When all is said and done, Johnson will only be missing Mew, Mewtwo, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and for some reason, Ditto; players aren’t certain on the reason for that one or how to find Ditto quite yet. Of course, Johnson could always just stay home and walk tons of 5 and 10 kilometer eggs until the three missing Pokemon hatch, but that could take quite some time, and staying in one place isn’t the ideal way to become the very best like no on ever was, after all.