My name is Monique Olivier. I was born in a town called Bloemfontein (poetically called “City of Roses” by locals).
I’ve always loved good food.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a cook or chef.
But there’s something about an atmosphere, candlelight, a pasta dish and a lovely Amarula (cream liqueur from South Africa. It is made with sugar, cream and the fruit of the African marula tree) Crème brûlée to end a night off.
I remember seeing reviews and those little local guide icons next to the Google users names and wonder "How did they end up being a local guide? I didn’t even do research, because of course, I thought I wasn’t going to make the cut. I’ve always enjoyed giving people advise and I have given a few reviews to local places. So when my boyfriend and I travelled to New Zealand I started reviewing places. Let’s just say I obviously wanted to be a Local Guide when that email arrived!
It’s important to me that I give reviews to help local businesses and the people who go to these places. I want people to know if I enjoyed that dessert or experienced a great stay at a hotel or B&B.
One of my personal goals is to taste the best dessert, however, in my hometown, there’s not a lot of good bakeries. So when I travel, I always want to stop in the best bakery in town (and I can feel my boyfriend’s eye-roll and sigh right now). And viola! Google Maps helps to find one (thank you so much, it was quite handy when we had to travel through the whole of New Zealand). It’s amazing how this tool helps so many people, and I am so grateful to be part of it.