immerse yourself in me
What is the most interesting thing you’ve done as a Local Guide?
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – said Saint Augustine.
I wasn’t thinking of anything when I first started out sharing and checking in at Google. It started out for fun as i felt like good places are worth sharing with others. And I felt the need to help others as not everyone opt to download apps but everyone has Google app pre installed in their phones. Which made it easier and accessable. Was not expecting likes or followers. Or things like that. Just sharing my experience which I believe will benefit others in the process.
Working in the Entertainment and hospitality industry meets me with many kinds of people, either the locals or tourists alike. A lot of time I’ve been asked by the tourists especially and sometimes locals too regarding recommendations of places and things to look for such as food, shops, club and bars and even toilets too sometimes. It began last year when I started using Google maps as a reference to places which are unfamiliar to me and finally now into local guide level 5. And the story goes… It started when we were sitting at a bar, a guy "tourist"came up to me and ask me where do I get my vape juice from?? Told him that, he can buy from me and I’m working part time selling the juice at some of the vape stores in Kuala lumpur, or he can just go to these few vape shops around the area where we were located that time. Then, I tried to guide him through Google maps for the nearest vape shops around but unfortunately not many of them are tagged or located on maps, although some vape shop does, it was just not enough and sometimes you can’t even get their information, photos, rating or comments of the place as reference. I’ve been thinking, he is just like me when I’m travelling oversea for example when I was in Yangon, Myanmar or Cambodia which is a third world country with limited technology access and resources. Let alone updated info. U’ll be lost unless u have a tourist guide or u just have to ask the locals, and still the whole process takes too long sometimes. So, I started to tag, locate, take some videos, photos and write my personal review about places that I went to and especially if i see there’s not enough info and guides in maps eversince. I started just for fun, personal interest and just to help other viewers as guidance. After a few months, I was shocked when I got an email from maps showing from my photos to my viewer went up to over 100k viewer in just a couple of months. U know what??Seriously, I feel good about contributing the knowledge,general travelling experience, good powerful words as descriptions and the photo visual for the view. Now, I’m more interested in mapping and writing doing things that I simply love and enjoyed doing and I hope Google Maps or Local Guide could help me to go further and do more. Let’s keep moving Onwards. BiG LuvV