AN OXFORD woman has shot to international fame after travelling across the United States without spending a penny.

Former Didcot Girls’ School pupil Lilly Quinn, 29, made the epic 20-week journey with her friend Sarah Little, 25, from Kent.

In their adventure from May to October last year the daring duo drove – or were driven – over 13,650 miles and visited all 48 mainland states.

They joked on their blog: “That’s Lands End to John O’Groats 16 times, for all the UK residents out there: 116 and a half times round the M25, but with decidedly better views.”

The friends said they hitched 116 lifts – 16 with trucks – caught nine rides through Craigslist and took four bus journeys with tickets bought for them.

They found 29 homes to stay out through the couchsurfing website, spent six nights in a tent and six nights in hotels paid for by other people.

Their only expense was a £300 flight each to Boston.

Along the way they said they climbed two mountains, made one visit to ER, attended a Donald Trump rally, ate 28 free Krispy Kreme donuts and received “7,835,627 sexual propositions”.

They also used their blog, pretenniless.co.uk, to discuss challenges they came up against because of their gender, including the struggle to find travel insurance for women who were hitchhiking.

They wrote: “By standing up and saying ‘you can do this as a woman’ we can encourage other women to travel who feel like they can’t.

“If women are still being made to feel like they can’t do something, then we need to make them feel like they can.”