Local Guides for me is that Local Friend, I always Rely upon to Guide me with the Best of what a Place has to Offer!
I joined the Local Guides Program 3 years back, unknowingly.
I had no idea how it worked or what it was. I just tapped on the notification of sharing my review about the place I had been to, and that’s how my journey started on the Local Guides Program! Since then, I have discovered so many places, areas, cities and regions through the Local Guides Program, and have shared more and more every month!
I am an avid traveler, backpacker and adventurer, and there are tons of places for which there is no information available! I love visiting offbeat places, lesser-known spots, and exploring the place beyond the popular! And to do all of this, my only help is Google Maps & the Contributions of Local Guides! And for the same reason, I want to take this moment to thank each and every one of them who’s helping the community!
For me, the Local Guides Program has been many things, and the first of it is,
MY ACCESS TO EXPLORE THE WORLD
Knowingly or unknowingly, I have relied so much on the contributions of the Local Guides! And I have just started realising that!
My journey with Local Guides began the day I finished my college in 2017.
I was looking for something crazy to do! I needed an adventure! So, I decided to go for a night trek and camping at a place called Nijagal Betta, near Bangalore.
I had no other information about the place, and wasn’t able to find anything on the internet either, about it. But, I just found some pictures and some answers on Google Maps contributed by the Local Guides about the place. I got the confidence, to head out for this adventure without any preparations or information, just because I found genuine answers and pictures of the place contributed by trusted individuals!
And that’s how I found out the beautiful night trek and a less known place called Nijagal Betta!
That’s also one of the first places I added the pictures and review for as a Local Guide!
This kept going and I was able to use more and more of Local Guides to explore more and more! And every place I explored, I made sure I kept contributing more and more to help the next one!
The second thing, the Local Guides Program has helped me with is
MY PHOTOS! THEY NOW HAVE A PURPOSE
Over time, I started realizing the impact of good pictures and how much they’re useful to the next person! A well-captured photo giving an overview, action or aura of the place has so much more impact! So, I started clicking my pictures from my travels with much more intent to help others and give the best overview of the place to the viewer!
On a recent trip to Gokarna, I went the extra mile to extend the trip, visit a place called Murdeshwar and take some epic pictures of the place only for sharing them on Local Guides Platform!
The last thing, which I have introspected very recently is that,
MY PERSPECTIVE CHANGED - THE FEELING OF HELPING OTHERS HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT
The sense of helping the next visitor, as I was helped by the previous one! This chain of helping forward has created a lot of positive impact on me! As I see how many people are getting help by my contributions, I feel a noble sense of pride and humility in sharing, contributing and being a part of this community!
I discovered about the Local Guides Connect platform very recently!
Now that I know that it can connect me with other Local Guides who share my mentality and help continue this chain of helping, forward, I would be excited to talk, share and meet them more and more often!
Here I close my article talking about what the Local Guides Program means to me, and more importantly, Why!
Hoping to meet, learn and share more and more with the community of Local Guides from around the globe! And hopefully at Connect Live 2020!
PS A special thanks to Gujarat, Local Guides Community for helping a newcomer like me with tips, examples suggestions and feedback! @NareshDarji @KishorMali @karanmehta20491 @shardul_dave @Er_Manthan @rajuroyal @shrungar and many many more, whom I’m not able to tag here! But thank you all!
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