How our contributions as Local Guides help people in profound ways

I have used Google Maps for as long as I have been using a smartphone. It is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive service for getting you from one place to another in the most efficient manner. However, there’s a lot more that you can do with Google Maps, such as discovering new places to eat, and the Local Guides community is an integral part of that experience.

The first contributions I made as a Local Guide, like many of us, were of the places in my neighborhood that I visited regularly. They weren’t as descriptive or supported by photos, as I didn’t quite grasp the importance of this at that point in time. It was only when I started traveling regularly that I truly understood the enormous potential of the Local Guides community.

I have visited nine different countries over the past two years. As you’d expect, I heavily relied on Google Maps to navigate in cities where I couldn’t even pronounce the street names properly. When planning my trips, I used Google Maps to see how far the hotels I had shortlisted were from the sights I wanted to visit. I started taking into account the reviews left by Local Guides in selecting the hotels. The images that they had posted along with their reviews provided an accurate depiction of the property and its surroundings instead of the curated image presented on the property’s own website. That is when I understood that this is a treasure trove of information that is really addressing some of the biggest pain points associated with traveling.

When I’m in a new city I’ll use the excellent Google Trips app to look at suggested itineraries and the top spots to visit. However, you may not like every single place that’s repeated ad nauseam in every travel blog as the absolute must visit in a city. You don’t get a sense of the vibe or an idea of just how long the lines might or perhaps that there’s another way to enter a popular museum other than the iconic pyramid entrance. (Yes, there’s an underground entrance to The Louvre in Paris).

This is where the brilliance of Local Guides is at full display. Their contributions can go a long way in helping you decide whether you want to spend your precious hours in a new city on a place that either draws too large a crowd for your liking, that’s the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai for me, suggesting you an alternative to get some of the best views of the city for free, like the Caretta Shiodome in Tokyo, or that while the Ihwa Mural Village in Seoul is worth a visit, it’s also basically a semi-intensive hike.

One of my motivations for travel has been to experience new cuisines. However, it can often be difficult to weed out the truly authentic joints from the tourist traps, and once again, I have come to rely on the trusted Local Guides for recommendations. You probably may not find Barcelona’s Bar Jai-Ca in many travel blogs recommending places to eat in the city, I came across it in a Local Guide recommendation, and that was one of the highlights of my trip to the Catalan capital. The tapas were sublime.

Or the excellent Bistro V in Paris which was quite a distance from where I was staying yet making the trip for that duck was well worth it. A review had mentioned that the owner spoke perfect English which just made the decision to go there so much easier for me since I can’t speak French.

Sometimes you can’t find the menu of the restaurant online and you just want to get a sense of how much a meal might cost before you step inside. You may feel shy exiting the place after you’ve been seated and handed the menu. Local Guides will often include pictures of the menu in their reviews and that’s just perfect because you instantly know whether or not that restaurant is within your price range.

As I have traveled to all of these different places and had some of the best experiences of my life and eaten some of the best food of my life, I have a newfound respect for people who take time out of their days to contribute information that can help other people. I have now made it a point to be very descriptive with my recommendations as a Local Guide, be that for places in Karachi, Pakistan where I’m from, or for all of the hotels I’ve stayed at, restaurants I have eaten at, and the landmarks I have been to. If you ever find yourself in Karachi, do take my recommendation and have the Steak au Poivre at Cafè Flo. It would be a moment of great pride for me to know that my contributions helped someone have a good time, whether that be in my own city or anywhere else I’ve been. It’s also a way of giving back to the community that has essentially had my back as I’ve been on my quest to see the world and experience new cultures.

It can often be overwhelming to be in a new city where you don’t speak the language, you don’t know anybody there, and you can’t even read the script. The Local Guides are just that, your guide to a new place, helping you cut through the confusion so that your time is better spent on things that matter the most: making new memories that last a lifetime.

2 Likes