At first I was just a traveler, visiting towns and cities without a care in the world. I could eat, I could walk, I could visit. All of this I took for granted. It wasn’t until sometime after 2014 that I was slapped with an invisible illness. Where mobility was now a luxury I could no longer afford. Long distances were painful and stairs were simply out of the questions. But, as if that was not enough, I was informed that with my condition came dietary restrictions.
I was distraught, to say the least.
My entire being was swirled into a mess, and road trips were practically impossible to plan out. At first, I spent my time meticulously scouring the web in search of menus and ratings that didn’t always exist. I would be invited out to dinner with friends and family, only to find out once there that I could not take a bite out of a single thing on the menu. More often than not I would be encouraged to select the location for our meals. When I did I would come to find that the food was particularly awful, or that their allergen menu contained only a sad salad as “allergen free”, and even then there was no guarantee I wouldn’t become ill.
After being burned one too many times, I joined the Local Guides group. Deciding to help out others like me find locations where they too could enjoy a simple cheeseburger. Initially, I must admit, I was not wholeheartedly invested. It took time and I felt my reviews were not of much help. But as I continued to add locations and reviews I realized that I was receiving responses from business owners and other users. Their involvement with myself made me realize that I was a part of something much bigger, and even though my reviews, pictures and comments were just a drop in a bucket they made a difference for someone.
Perhaps someone out there is spared the sad salad and is having a bowl of Mac and Cheese instead, simply because I took the time to add content. This is why I continue to add content and why I feel that my involvement with the Local Guides program has now become a passion.