Have you felt the joy of connecting two of your passions? (one of them being a Local Guide)

You know when you love doing something (let’s call it A) and you get the chance to do it, you experiment some sort of joy.

When you also love doing something else that at first sight does not appear to be related to A (let’s call it B) you experience another type of joy.

And then when one day, out of luck or after a visit from your muses, you find a way to connect both things: A & B , the joy you feel is magnified and it is just pure and simple awesomeness…

I’ll stop here to ask if you have gotten any examples of your own life, because if you have not, then I guess this all sounds sort of nonsensical… (If you do have any, please share it in the comments and tag me!). And I will then continue to share my own case.

My case

I communicate, since childhood I have loved doing so. As you can imagine by reading my posts I can tell stories for hours and in any group in which I feel comfortable, I can be easily spotted as the one that is always asking questions and talking. Quite recently I was able to do connect two of my passions and I was so happy I almost jumped out of my chair. Here’s the story: since 2011 I own a website: https://quemashago.com/ it started as my way to promote in my country (Dominican Republic) opportunities I found when I was living in Spain: there I was able to learn about new exhibits, concerts, theatre plays and much more by just visiting a few websites. The name, in Spanish, translates to "what else can I do? and it tries to answer that precise question. After I came back home from that abroad time and I started traveling in my own country, the website started to include recommendations, but I had never been able to add a map. That, of course, until just now :sunglasses: .

After a web redesign, a few days ago I discovered how to add maps into my articles and, as a consequence I found a new way to give life to many of the lists I had done in Google Maps and, at the same time, make my pieces much more useful! Now I can write about basically everything and guide, Maps links in hand, a bunch of unknown people who are asking Google the same questions I could be asking myself and tho which I already have answers.

I was so excited because it felt like I was finally able to connect my passion to communicate with the one of being a Local Guide, of providing answers in advance to those geo-located questions. And it felt so good, I wanted to come and share it with this beloved community to see if you have been able to do connect two passions, in your own context.

Yes, I do know that there are some popular cases like @ErmesT who connected his passion of environmental issues with the one as a Local Guide through the “Local Guides Clean The Map” initiative, but I’m sure that there are many more less popular cases, and I would love to read from them…

I want to see, basically, if it is common to find ways of connecting the passion of being a Local Guide, with any other sort of passion in your life or if these are just exceptional cases. If it is common, I would like to learn in which fields has it happened and how it felt.

I’m all eyes, in case you want to share your point of view here :roll_eyes: .

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Whenever our path crosses, @Marichams we learn something new from each other.

But this time I think you read my mind, Maricha.

How do you know what I am doing in these days?

Well, let start from the beginning, not forgetting to mention that yes, when you can connect together two passions, well, that moment is priceless.

I am happy that you were finally able to add (embed is the correct term) Google Map in your site. What about a custom Map, where you can geolocate all your post, and link them, in a kind of geographic index?

And what If your index can be more interactive, let say like in Google Earth?

Have I got your attention? Do you want something visual to better understand what I am talking about?

Something like this?

Do you know that a customised map can be embedded on your website too? I did it for the worldwide “Mymaps of plastic pollution” of Local Guides Clean The World (not the Maps, that one is another program), if you want to check a sample.

I wrote this post sharing the two example: Su e zo pai ponti - Up and down on the Venetian Bridges . The link is on the first reply, where I shared the embedded Map and a link to the Google Earth Project

If now you say that you never worked with My Maps, well, this is why I said that you are reading my mind.

Less than 24 hours ago I completed my draft of …

I will present it in a meet-up soon, then I will make it available in the community, especially for the ones who wants to contribute on Accessible Life

Regarding your question, I think I responded to you in my last link, when I impacted with the disability of my mom, and I tried to help “being a Local Guide”

In the post I linked to you I have provided a lot of details but, well, there is a time in your life when you have to make a choice, and decide how you want to help. Your choice cannot be “against” your passions. Your passions must help you direct your choice, you must feel good when you do something important. Here, my choice was to create something for an “accessible life”. My mom left us in November, and this is one more motivation. I’ve been working on this project, in silence, since 2017 (yes, since before LocalGuidesCleanTheWorld) and now it’s time to show it.

So I understand your feelings very well, and I am happy that our paths have crossed again

Hugs

Ermes

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Hey there @Marichams ! Hope you are doing fine.

Interesting topic and nice to read your case. I love the concept of your website, it looks very attractive too!

I only started being a Local Guide 2 years ago, after meeting with a Russian friend of mine. Travel (like many of us here) is my biggest passion, and I only became a better traveler when I joined the program.

It pushed me even more to visit as many places as I can when traveling, which made me in the end more exhausted than anything when coming back from the travel. :joy:

But there is nothing more fun and satisfying than posting all the reviews and photos & updating the business information on Google Maps from your sofa once you got back. It is such a great way to remember all of your amazing experiences even more!

When I travel now, I make a detailed planning via Google Maps. It makes my traveling so much easier and relaxed. Find the guide here: How to: travel like a BOSS with Google Maps

So, that was my A & B coming together. :hugs:

Take care all!

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@ErmesT que gran trabajo haces, no sabes como ayuda in darte cuenta, muchas gracias.

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Hola @Marichams , :slightly_smiling_face:

I am so happy to read about your joy, thanks for sharing it with us! Your post is inspiring and heartwarming at the same time. :hugs:

I see how your passions for communication, storytelling, exploring the world, and helping others do the same, perfectly match with being a Local Guide and curating a website like yours. A very good example of the genuine Local Guides spirit that we all know and love. :cupid:

Keep guiding and keep rocking! :raised_hands: