Hello Local Guides
This weekend we celebrated women’s day with lovely women and amazing men around the world.
Everyone looked so fabulous in Blue ?
I was happy to see men joining to support women as we celebrate.
Adrian was one of the first few to join and show us streets of Manchester, He also shared statue of Emmeline Pankhurst.
Anil was the one who stayed till last and shared how he has been working with towards woman empowerment by conducting seminar and webinars till now he has done it in 143 colleges.
I was happy to see some new local guides this time.
We started differently this time, instead of introducing I asked everyone to share their greatest Strength and what they celebrate about being a women and what is their biggest dream/wish they couldn’t fullfill due to some circumstances, surprisingly this interaction took the most time of the meet up, we were Happy to hear how everyone is celebrating their education, Family, Freedom, Independence, career, Motherhood and equality.
After this fun interaction We started with our lovely women who shared amazing travel experiences, accessibility, meet ups and businesses.
- @travelbyjp - is a Wonderful lady she travels with friends / small groups/ solo , she Has been to 17 countires and also has a travel podcast.She shared how she plans her travel well in advance.
Handy tips :
- expenses - planning the amount of money required for travel so that you can save enough for travel, making advance bookings for flights to get cheap tickets.
- Explore - she usually relys on Maps reviews, social media and friends for adding places she wants to visit when she travels to a new place. It’s easy to find accomodation with checking reviews she added.
- She shared here beautiful travel photos and now as she is unable to travel to different countries she is exploring green places in Bali.
- She also shared a list she made, She also shared how she utilises her weekends and holidays for local exploration.
(PS. I loved this tip to travel locally especially now as we cannot travel much we can surely explore places nearby)
- @indahnuria - shared how she gets to travel a lot since she was a child for various occasion
She had travelled to 57 countires so far and wishes to travel more. She and her husband share the same hobby of travelling so they love to explore together, being a Mum she usually liked to find out places which are kids and family friendly, she adds her experiences in her travel blogs and reviews. After joining connect she got more information about places reading post of fellow local guides she found our more places and more local guides.When I asked her about sharing the secret of amazing travel photos she said she uses her phone most of the time, but she also uses camera and lenses for places where she is going to visit once or maybe it’s located too far.This adds up to more photo contribution on Maps.
She loves to explore National Park as they are a mix of adventure, nature, Outdoor, landscape, ideal for family and it’s nice place to meet new people there.
She also shared How exploring UNESCO heritage around the world is fun with family.
Check out her
Handy tips:
- It is not necessary to have expensive phone or camera, you can take good photos if you know the right tricks to capture photos; Your phone can also help to capture great photos.
- Joy is important no matter where you travel or how many countries you travel. Even if you have been to exploring local hidden gems during pandemic you must enjoy it.
- @Ddimitra - our mommy local guide, shared her journey as a local guide just like all of us she joined maps and connect randomly. She found some local guides on connect and met them.
The first time she met local guides in Indonesia were from the Tangerangn local Guides community, after that she connected with local guides through connect and some of her friends and formed Jakarta local guides community. She loves to take 360 photos and videos, she said it’s fun to use 360 camera and she is learning day by day from everyone.
Handy tips -
- If you want to contact local guides while visiting different find out those you are active on connect and maps, you can private message them about your visit and ask them to recommend places or meet them. Here she shared about her travel to India and Malaysia.
- She shared how she found amazing people on connect which made her travel easy and fun.
- Apart from them she loves to explore food, malls and local places in Indonesia with her fellow local guides; She also shares her 360 photos and videos on social media.
- @Globe_trotter_Ish - Our Accessibility champion shared how Women need information about Accessibility through different phases of life.
Pregnant women need information about comfortable seating area, new mom’s need information about diaper changing and breastfeeding area, information about stroller, and ramps for wheelchair help to carry toddler and elderly
Handy Tips :
She shared how we can add accessibility information through contributions on maps
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Taking photos of accessible places.
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Reviews with Accessibility
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Yes/ no answers
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Map edits.
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Creating Lists.
@Ewaade_3A -she has been very helpful throughout the meet up to encourage everyone to speak, I invited her to share how it is to be a business owner as a women, she shared all the difficulties she faces and yet how she manages to do thing
She shared what, why, how and whom are the points to remember when starting a business.
She explains how being a business women it gives her a sense of freedom and independence, she can plan trips anytime, she learns new things with daily experiences in the market.
Handy tips -
Work for yourself, give quality products and services, customers are important.
Last but not the least I shared my experience as a small business owner, how I started things with zero knowledge of Google My Business and worked on putting updates daily; being on maps helped to grow my business and how the reviews from customers built a strong presence locally.
Handy tips-
If you had a bad experience with small business or any local place first talk to the staff or owner if they fail to resolve then put it in review, sometimes people just put a bad review and not know how it can affect the business.
- You can support women owned businesses on maps by creating Lists,
- adding your experience in reviews,
- helping them to setup Google my business,
- Adding photos or helping them to click photos as it may not be easy at the starting stage to know how to click better photos.
Including appreciation for service and staff encourages them.
Our celebration ended with beautiful photos and virtual hugs 
Check out photos here
it was great to hear from you Boss Lady 
