Earlier this year like soooo many others I applied to go to Connect Live thinking there was no possible way that I’d be able to go for a fourth time, but to my amazement after the excruciating months of waiting (it’s hard right?) on the day they were due to announce for some reason I woke up around 2am and checked my email and there it was… You’re In. I couldn’t believe it. Weirdly, I went right back to sleep and woke up the next morning and had to make sure it wasn’t a dream.
This year I included a pre-trip to New York and San Francisco before heading down to San Jose. This year’s pre-trip was even more amazing because it I brought along my plus one, my partner Christina. This was the first time we’d had significant time away together without kids or parents for 25 years.
We stayed in a little apartment in Brooklyn right near a beautiful green oasis called Prospect Park. We used this as a base to explore New York. I had been before so knew my way around the subway and the city more or less but Chris had never been and needed to adjust a little.
We were fortunate enough to visit the Google offices thanks to the extreme kindness of the Local Guides team especially my bestie @TraciC . If you’ve never experienced a Google office and you get the opportunity offered to you then take it up. While they of course have the standard desks, cubicles and work spaces they also have amazing places to recharge, rest your mind, develop skills or simply have a snooze. The New York Office also has the most amazing views of the city.
Some members of the team joined us later that afternoon for a 36walk photo walk on The High Line, an abandoned elevated railway converted into a wonderful green slice of heaven with artworks galore. Definitely work exploring if you’re in New York. Take a look at the photo album - you might see a few familiar faces on that walk and you can read the recap of the walk.
We even managed to meet up with one of Chris’ friends Angie who Chris has known online for 18 years but never met in person - we had a great afternoon together before Angie had to head home. When Angie asked why we were there I talked about Local Guides and she said something like, “oh on Maps - I do that!” it’s a small world when you’re a Local Guide.
Naturally we did all the big grand tourist things like the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Walking Brooklyn Bridge, visiting museums and galleries we also did our Local Guides things and found great food, great experiences and great places using Google Maps.
We met up with the guy I call The Nigerian Prince @U-royFelixA and shared Sushi and Sake for an evening before watching the Halloween Parade along 6th avenue.
A couple of days later we met up with Traci again to barrack for Australian Googler Karen who sadly is moving on from the Local Guides team. During the trip, we also met up with Sydney Local Guides @PennyChristie and George including Nathan’s hotdogs, Coney Island Brewery and of course the amazing spread of L&B Spumoni Gardens for dinner.
Enough of New York, I could rabbit on about that city for years. Anyone would think I lived there. Maybe I will one day.
Next we moved onto San Francisco where we had a beautiful quiet private apartment in stylish Glen Park where we enjoyed some cool coffee, markets and other shops as well as heading into the city to see the sights like a night behind the scenes tour of Alcatraz which was quite amazing. Mostly in San Francisco because we lived near there previously in Oakland and Berkeley we didn’t do as much touristy stuff but did spend a lot of time catching up with friends who I used to work with and other people that I know from that time. We dedicated this week to ourselves and our friends because we needed to recharge after the hectic pace of New York.
Naturally, though me being me there had to be a 36walk in San Francisco and along with some intrepid Local Guides from all around the world plus some locals we toured through Chinatown, the heights, up to Coit Tower then down the steps to the waterfront. We had an awesome time enjoying the place, taking photos and of course eating, drinking and eating and drinking. You can see the recap of that walk.
After our relaxing week in San Francisco we made our way south to San Jose with the help of my good mate @Twister411 who was heading down to San Jose to join in on, you guessed it,another 36walk in San Jose where again we were joined by heaps of Local Guides from literally everywhere to wander the streets of San Jose until we finished up in Origin Gravity Public House for some brews waiting for dinner time when Manuele was due to bring us the joys of Italian culture and food with a pizza dinner. You can readthe recap of this walk. This walk apart from being special because of the people I was meeting was also meet-up #80 for me which I’m pretty happy about. Turns out there was one Local Guide @IlankovanT I who beat me because he had organised 83 meet-ups (84th this week!) - well done to you Local Guide Super Hero
Finally, yes, finally we get to Connect Live and you know what, I’ve been before, this was my fourth time, and I was thinking how are they going to top last year? Well man did they ever. The Local Guides team put on the most amazing event and once again this year was best known as the best summit ever. Right from the start with the well organised smooth sign up, the constant protection of the friendly security people, the swish initial party meeting oh so many people - near on 200 Local Guides and 100 Googlers, most of which are also Local Guides! I could tell it in words, but I’m not going to… I’m going to tell it in pictures (being careful of my NDA)…
All in all a stunning experience where we the participants have the time of our lives, but more importantly we walk away feeling wanted and valued. We took part in focus groups both large and small and one on one with Googlers to talk about new features, current things, things that work, things that don’t work and what the future is and might bring. Oh I’d love to talk about that… but no there’s that NDA again. Many of us even walked away with the tools to become better Local Guides or ways to altruistically contribute to the world in ways we could never imagine. Oh and how I wish I could talk about my new favourite thing… lets just say that by the time this thing goes live I’m going to be a top contributor on day one because I get it, I understand how we’re helping the world and I love doing it so much!
One last set of people I want to chat about… Team Australia - we had a massive contingent this year at the event and after spending months together on Telegram we knew each other pretty well and it was like spending time with family. We even adopted a few locals and brought them into the tribe. Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!
And then before we knew it, it was over…
You can see my main USA trip album if you’re interested to see some of the places we went.
You can see my New York List, My San Francsico List, and my San Jose List.
There’s one last question that I get asked a lot - how come I got to go four times - what’s the secret. I have to tell you, there is no secret. Do things for the community, be an active Local Guide with reasonable contributions, meet-ups, map editing, whatever is your thing just do it and do it well to rise up above the crowd. Be cool about life. Follow the advice of Bill and Ted, Be excellent to one another and of Dr Spock - the good of the many outweighs the few or the one. If you look at the people in the photo above: you’ll see we all have one thing in common… well you won’t because its invisible. We do this stuff because its fun and for the good of our communities. No other reason! Remember, its not about perks. Its not about glory. Its about community.
Have a great day.
Paul
