Traveler trades service for fare

On Monday, Josh Minney was cold and penniless in Glasgow, Scotland.

The next day, the 20-year-old Newport Beach native was repairing locks, answering phones, and training to be a guest psychic for the lady who bought him on eBay for $935.

A junior at Northeastern University in Boston, Minney left Southern California for Japan nearly two months ago hoping to see the world. He plane-, train- and bus-hopped all over Asia and Europe and was in Rome when he realized he was running out of money.

At one point, Minney considered pawning his iPod, but the traveler was saved when his companion, Smith Anderson, suggested selling Minney and a week’s worth of his labor on eBay and using the money to buy his return flight.

“I’d heard of people selling really interesting things on eBay so I thought let’s just give it a shot,” he said. “What did we have to lose? $1.50 in a posting fee and a week of waiting around in Europe.”

That’s where Darlene Anderson of Quincy, Massachusetts — no relation to Smith — comes in.

After seeing a story about Minney on the morning news, she couldn’t help but come to the rescue of the “kid who was stuck in Europe,” having once been stranded there herself.

“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, that poor kid,” she said. “So I went on the website and I bid.”

Anderson, who runs a psychic tea room, gave herself a limit of $1,212.12, snagging Minney from 16 other bidders for less than a grand. The auctioned opened a week prior at $2.50.

“We’ve got him cleaning, painting and fixing things and by the end of the week, we hope to have him as a guest reader,” she said. “We don’t want to pressure him too much. He’s already been through enough, but of course, I do want to get my money’s worth.”

After losing his watch in Bangkok, his video camera on a train in Italy and nearly fracturing his skull while riding motorbikes in Vietnam, Minney is glad to be home and is thrilled with his temporary post, which will end Sunday with a festive cookout.

Oh his eBay posting, Minney said he was willing to do all sorts of work, including ditch-digging, joke-telling, opening junk mail and serving as an understudy for a musical.

“Working as a psychic is definitely not something I ever imagined myself doing, but I think it’s absolutely fantastic and a lot less labor-intensive than I would have expected,” he said. “I’ve never had it this good.”

Minney’s mother Maureen is relieved to have her son back on U.S. soil, wishing she could have afforded to bring him home herself. His father sent him money during the trip, but left it up to his son to find his own way home.

“I’m so happy that he’s home and that he had this adventure,” said Maureen Minney. “I think traveling is one of the best things for you besides a college education.”

When Minney returns to Newport Beach to visit his parents and friends later this month, he plans to begin work on a book about his exploits, including speeding on the Autobahn, drinking absinthe in Prague and sleeping in the airport in Marrakesh, Morocco.

“I have seen a whole bunch of things that most people never get to see,” he said. “I want to encourage people to get out there.”

AT YOUR SERVICE

Josh Minney listed several tasks on eBay that he would be willing to do, including but not limited to:

Painting, baby-sitting, house-sitting, mowing the lawn, construction, washing cars, blowing up inflatable pool toys, counting things, singing, acting, sailing, skippering your boat, ditch digging, personal training, photography, modeling, understudy for a musical, minimizing pop-up ads, hedge trimming, cameraman, freestyle rapping, story telling, driving, push-up contests, tour guide, computer lessons, scribe, historian, museum curator, interviewing, tent-construction, a dinner date, waste removal, landscaping, interior decorating, joke-telling, master of ceremonies, toastmaster, chef, housekeeping, pet sitting and opening junk mail.