This 24-year-old is hitchhiking across America and live-streaming the whole thing on Amazon's Twitch for his thousands of followers

Twitch uses a "cheers" system, which allows viewers to donate money to their favorite streamers with the on-platform currency, called "bits." The text in the top left corner of Daneliuk's video feed is a list of recent donations. American dollars are converted to bits at a rate of one cent per bit.

It should also be said that getting free rides from strangers isn't a particularly expensive way to get around.

On top of saving on air fare, Daneliuk travels with only what he can carry — while prioritizing his heavy streaming equipment — eats fast food for most meals, and often sleeps in a tent on the side of the road.

Still, Daneluik said this has been one of his most luxurious hitchhiking trips, and has included more hotel stays than he's used to, thanks to help from generous viewers.

While this reporter was watching his stream earlier this week, Trevor mentioned needing to find a room for the night, and within minutes, a generous viewer donated $140 to cover his stay. Shortly afterward, another viewer donated $25 with the message, "Don't forget about dinner."

"It's great, because I never know where I'm going to end up at the end of the day," Daneliuk told Business Insider. "You just end up in really cool situations that you would never get to experience otherwise. At the end of the day in a new city you get to sit there and go, 'How did I end up here?'"

Lot's of people ask him if he's ever worried about his safety while hitching for rides, but Daneliuk isn't too bothered by the risks involved. In the thousand or so times he's been picked up, he says he's never met a bad person.

"People who pick up hitchhikers are some of the kindest, most generous, and most amazing people you’ll ever meet," he says. "Plus, they’re usually local, which is great because they can help you get around and tell you where to go. Sometimes they even offer you a meal, a guest bedroom, or things like that."

On average, Daneliuk says he usually waits for a ride for about 30 minutes. While he's been picked up my every type of person, he says, most of his drivers are middle-aged men, and they're rarely ever bothered by the presence of his camera.

"I wanted to show people what it was like to hitchhike, and wasn't sure what medium would be best for doing that," he told Business Insider.

He says he tried journaling and made an effort to shoot and edit videos that would chronicle his journey, but before long he found that at the end of a long day of hitchhiking, his energy was often in short supply and those projects quickly fell by the wayside.

"Livestreaming is so simple, you just hit the button to start the stream and hit another button to end the stream and then you have nothing to do at the end of the day," he said.

But the real beauty of the format, he says, is being able to have hundreds of friends with him at all times.

"Hitchhiking is an inherently social way to travel, and streaming has an extra social dynamic too it, so they sort of go together really well."

Daneliuk's channel is one of many in the quickly-expanding subgenre of what Twitch calls IRL streaming (Internet slang for "in real life").

Unlike Twitch's core constituency of video game streamers, IRL streamers take their shows on the road — sometimes literally, as in Daneliuk's case. They'll go to interesting places and talk to people, and generally hunt for content in the real world. The format was popularized by personality-driven channels centered around pranking unsuspecting strangers, or recording people in public without their knowledge.

"IRL streamers have a bad reputation for the way that they get content," he said. "I don't really have time to watch any of those channels right now, but people think it’s a toxic community, abd that people walk around seeking content in irresponsible ways, at other people’s expense. I don't do that. I always let people know I'm streaming, and I try to do so in a respectful way."

"Hitching makes me feel like i’m accomplishing something," he said. "I'm building a community, and experiencing things. Friends back home are going to grad school and starting families and stuff, I'd rather be doing this."

When I asked what his mom thinks about his journey, Trevor laughed, saying she's very supportive, although it took her a little while to get used to the idea of hitchhiking.

She's particularly a big fan of his streaming career, he says, because it allows her to tune in on Twitch to check in her son whenever she wants.

Luckily, Daneliuk says he's managed to hitch five plane rides before, and is confident he'll be able to do it again.

"I should be able to find a way there through the network I’ve built up, which has been really helpful," he said. "I might end up calling in some favors to catch some flights."

When asked what it'll be like to finally return home after more than a third of a year, Trevor says he's looking forward to visiting family and friends, but that he won't be staying long.

"I’ll be home for maybe two weeks, then go on another trip. I'm not sure where yet," he told Business Insider. "I'll watch some of the videos from the trip, relive some of the memories, then head back out hitchhiking again."