It has given me the opportunity to explore, eat and drink on a budget. And now it’s giving me the opportunity to provide the same to others who are on the same situation I was years back.
In summer 2016 I moved to Barcelona to do my Masters, I was there with a scholarship and it was vital for me to budget everything that I did, from grocery shopping to going out with my friends, and that’s how I found the Local Guide Program. At first, I was using it to figure out business house, menus, price range and general information, when I realized that people were reviewing everything and actually giving detailed information about the places, I was hooked. It helped me so much to not miss anything and to be able to afford living there. And I started adding my own reviews, almost including price range or suggesting wether it was a good place to spend your money.
I travelled to some places while I was there like Holland, Paris and many many places in Spain and in every single place, the first thing I did was to Google the best restaurants, the cheap options, the ones you can’t-miss and I would give my reviews from the places I visited. I loved it, it was almost a journal I was keeping from my travels.
At the end of my one year residency in Barcelona, I got a job and moved to Madrid, and that’s when I started making it a point to make reviews. I arrived to a new beautiful city not knowing anything or anyone and Google Maps helped me find my place in the city and a few friends. It truly because my city guide. It meant knowing where to go to meet people, where to find things that interested me, I was able to visit new places that I could afford and even explore areas in the city.
For me is always important to be able to plan my trips, I love traveling and living in different countries has thankfully been a part of my life, I’ve lived in the California and Florida, USA, Shanghai, Barcelona, Madrid and Mexico, where I currently reside. But the most important thing to do when traveling, as a student or remote worker, is to be able to budget your money, I had to do that for a long time and now I can help others do that as well.
Being able to help others through the Local Guides Program, means everything to me, there’s 100s of people traveling for vacation, studies. work, and most people want to know that are using their money well, that’s why I started writing reviews. When I started checking the reviews by other Local Guides, I didn’t realize that I could be a part of that, until I decided to start reviewing places as well, and adding the information that I would like to see in there. When I noticed that I was actually leveling up, I couldn’t stop doing it, it almost became an addiction. That’s how I became part of the program, and it means a lot to me to be able to help other people that are traveling with a budget, or not, find out if it is worth it to spend their time and money to visit, shop or eat at certain place.
P.S. I still like to budget every single penny of my trips, although now, with a job and a bigger budget I do splurge every now and then.
