This story starts on my first travel abroad 
. Until that moment of my life, looking for places I wanted or needed to visit was fairly easy, there was always someone that could help me go to this or that place, not to mention that without any problem I could ask for directions on the street (our native language is something we do not appreciate as much as when we are at a foreign country). But now (I mean, not now but at this point of the story) I was travelling in a plane to literally the other side of the world. To be honest, I am not the kind of person that plans everything ahead, for God sake, I am lucky if at least I know where I am going.
The plane landed, a car picked me up and after a few minutes I was in Mohali, Punjab at India. I went there to study for as long as a semester (just so you know). Vacations came and with them the opportunity to travel and see all the wonders of India and of course my first stop had to be the Taj Mahal. Although there were a few problems: (1) All my friends had other plans because most of them had already been in the Taj, (2) I didn’t knew more than a few phrases in Hindi and even less in Punjabi, (3) I am a really shy person and most important of all (4) I already had my train tickets bought (you may not know, but if you are planning to travel on holidays in India you really need to buy the tickets in advanced). The day came, and thus came the beginning of my adventure and my love 
for Google and Local Guides.
First things first, thanks to Google maps I found a bus to the train station, so everything normal until this point. After the train arrived (and oh boy! The train itself is an adventure) I realized that I had arrived very early in the morning to Agra (Taj Mahal home state), to be precise it was four in the morning. I took a cab to my hotel and found out that THE HOTEL COULD NOT ALLOW ME IN YET ?, not even in the lobby at least not until 7 or 8 am. So as the fearful boy I am, alone in the dark street, I did what I thought was the best, I started walking towards the Taj. I turned on my cellphone, opened Maps and looked for the directions to get there, as you could imagine the app made me aware that this wonder of the world was closed, and that it would stay that way for a while, but I thought to myself: “Bro, is the Taj Mahal! It has to be surrounded by police officers; it should be safe.” And with that my journey into the dark begun. I will not pretend I was brave and not afraid at all because I metaphorically and literally was making my underwear unclean. I walked for ten minutes when two other persons appeared in the street and looked at me like wondering if I was or was not Indian (I guess). I just said hi with a small move of my head and acted normal, first obstacle overcome. After a while I needed to make a decision, to either stay where I was for other three hours or to get into a street of complete darkness, I chose to stay… for 14 seconds because I heard small animals lurking around me, and I rather be eaten by the Buggy-man than touched by rats 
. I turned my cellphone light on (surprise! It was lighting nothing but my feet) and walked (ran) really calmly (as fast as I could) to the end of the street, second obstacle overcome. Afterwards, I found myself in front the keepers of the last street: 4 dogs, 1 bull and 3 cows, maybe for some people it is normal to walk near an animal that could possibly put his horn inside ones guts but for me it was not, so I walked doing the most silly thing I could do, seeing directly into the eyes of the bull, certain about my death… But my luck was not such, meaning I survived and there it was, my last obstacle overcome.
I continued traveling through India for a couple of times, and in all those journeys I checked the Local Guides recommendations. I was never afraid again, after this experience I knew before I arrive what to expect, where to ask and what to do. Finally, if you ask me what the Local Guide is to me, then I would say that it is the perfect tool to help and be helped. I know it is exciting to discover new places, new cultures and new people, but it is also frightening to be in a new place and feel lost, to not know where to go and how to move. This is even worst for people like me, who can be a little ashamed to ask for help from strangers, that is why I do not just use it for getting help, I also like to post my experiences, go to a place an rate it. I also like to upload pictures because God knows how many times I had opened a photo just to get a notion of where I was and where I should go. It is amazing how many people is willing to help you if you just ask. A great community, that is Local Guide for me. I was lost but now I will never be (I hope ??).