“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.” - Confucius
This is one of the quotes that has inspired me recently, which heard through a podcast I adore. Maybe the thought process I go through when picking needs over wants, in my day to day priorities, has made that quote more sensible to me.
When it comes to these respective priorities, travel and trying out new experiences have always had a special place within me. Most of the time it is more of a learning experience, where I tend to explore new things, while making joyful moments. However, as I frequently try to connect with these places through photos and feedback, it eventually becomes a particular sentimental memory.
There is no other product like Local Guides, which explicitly creates the platform for this. It gives me the freedom to express my feelings about a place or an experience, it allows me to share feedback and gratitude through a review and overwhelmingly, it allows me to look back on that digital note I have made, like a memory anytime I want.
As a daytime software developer, I get to try out different restaurants that come as meetups, outings, treats, trips, etc. Trying out a newly opened Thai place or going to the known Indian place, are some of the common discussions we take through our private work chats. Discovering newly opened Frosty Roll Ice Cream shop which is closer to the workplace, is an instance like that. When I was trying this, it was just the first week of the shop. I am so happy that how me being a local guide impacted this newly opened business even slightly, to bring at least a few customers to their shop. Come-on, who hates Ice Cream?
Similarly, I found Casa Italia thanks to a word of mouth recommendation. I was amazed to see this unrecognized and hidden restaurant, in a time where everyone suggests overrated places. After a delightful experience, I undoubtedly shared my ritualistic food photo-shoot in the Local Guides, along with candid feedback.
I honestly do not know the exact impact my review made. However, I took my mom to Casa Italia two times after that and saw how hard it is to get a table there. On the other hand, the owner still knows me for the initial uplifting review in Local Guides and it is still my number one Italian place in Mangiamo Colombo.
Personally, there is an annual goal where I save petite amount monthly, to travel some country I have not seen before. I feel so grateful for being able to do this during the past few years and hope I will be able to continue it this year too. Though my peers have different perspectives on spending money for these world excursions, I think of it as money well spent, since I learn about people, cultures and history during every trip.
Apart from learning new things, abroad travel for me is mainly visiting mesmerizing attractions and finding the best restaurants. Chin Chin Melbourne is the best Thai restaurant in the world I have ever tried. So as a Thai fan who is coming from Sri Lanka, why should not I share my experience globally through Local Guides? Vatican Museum is the most fascinating museum so far, I have been to. I am pretty sure I took more than 250 photos inside that place and Local Guides is the ideal place to show my best collection out of it.
I think the friendly competition of Local Guides consistently encourages me to do and contribute more. As a tech-savvy person, I enjoy all these virtual badges and gamification achievements. I plan to get the expert photographer badge within this year somehow.
Additionally, I should mention how the Local Guides program helps to improve travel and tourism in my beautiful country. Sri Lanka is one of the famous tourist attractions in the world and it was ranked by Lonely Planet as the world’s #1 travel destination in 2019. Google Maps is the most common tool among every tourist and even I use it to help myself during local travel. Nevertheless, the contribution local guides can give through photography, filtering, and listing the country’s attractions, is substantial.
During the past few years I had to help several foreign traveling friends of mine, where I partially did the virtual tour helper job. Though I am not an expert in organizing these trips, I assisted them with my knowledge. Helping these foreign friends who wanted to explore Colombo while riding TukTuks, inspired me to compose this Colombo in TukTuk list. It contains 14 places you can get to within Colombo while beating the traffic, and it will be my next foreign friend’s reference. Likewise, I also have my growing bucket lists such as Sri Lankan Climbs where I have climbed 7/14 places so far.
When considering all this, I think these great features of Local Guides have made my travel-related life way easier and exciting. I am pretty sure the future product will also not let us down. I have attached three photographs below, which published in Local Guides that define a few main aspects of my Local Guides experience.
Additionally, I thought of revealing the long-term connection between restaurant reviews and myself too. I once tried building an app through a proper research to help these online information seekers to find the best restaurant based purely through reviews. I would not say it was a failure, because I was able to build a prototype mobile app to present my research findings and most importantly, I was able to learn how the online restaurant reviewing could revolutionize the industry. Though I could not experiment much with the Local Guides at that time, I am still thinking the ways I should try out new avenues as a level 6 Local Guide.
Finally, I think Local Guides have made a significant impact in the way I express my travel and other experiences. It is visible from the both quality and quantity in views and responses I see in my reviews, where I feel like below.
“When we do something that we enjoy, that is a passion and when we use that passion to help others, that becomes a purpose.”