As a frequent traveler, I just cannot believe this story at all, unless he had built up a lot of points in his frequent traveler accounts of airlines and hotels in the past, or he stayed with his friends and let them drove him around in many places. Yes, you may be lucky enough sometimes to find a very cheap airfare and hoetl room, but those cheap deals always come with a lot of restrictions and blackout dates. In many cases they are the last minute deal. It is just impossible to use them consecutively on one preplanned trip around the world.
I belive this is a fake, or at least much exaggerated story.
