One man from the US whose ultimate dream was to catch all the Pokémon GO currently available to man discovered that dreams, no matter how trivial it may seem to some, do come true with a little help from a travel brand. Internet-based travel company Expedia actually helped him get there, literally, by sponsoring his travels to Paris, Hong Kong, and Sydney on his quest to “catch ‘em all” and become the ultimate Pokémon GO master.
American Nick Johnson has earned the amusing distinction of being the first in the world to capture all of the 142 Pokémons that are currently available. There are actually 151 that are part of the game, but the remaining six are yet to be released. In the first two weeks of the game’s release in the US, Nick already caught 142 of the monsters, all of which were available in his country. But to be able to catch three, which are only regionally available, he needed to travel to the three aforementioned places.
And that’s where Expedia came in. The company decided to sponsor his travels to Paris, Hong Kong, and Sydney just so he would be able to capture Mr. Mime, Farfetch’d, and Kangashkan, respectively. He has caught a total of 5,000 Pokémon so far, and counting. He has also been able to lose 8-10 lbs in two weeks because of all the walking he had to do, which is one of the benefits of playing this game from Nintendo and Niantic. Expedia also emphasized that another good thing that the game has bought is that people have now become explorers in their own backyards.
Some highlights of his trip include actually running into Justin Bieber when they were both catching Pokémon at Central Park, being able to catch monsters under the Eiffel Tower (apparently a big hotspot) and the Sydney Opera House. Also, good for Expedia for its digital marketing effort that was going beyond just being a Pokéstop or casting a lure party or something. Nick and his traveling companion, the Expedia Bear, will now be heading to the land where everything Pokémon started: Japan.
SOURCE: Expedia