The most exciting opportunities as a Local Guide occur whenever I am traveling to a new city that I have never been to. This is when I can combine two of my favourite activities on Google: exploring new places and writing thorough reviews about my experience. Understandably, when I am growing as a guide it gets more challenging to find new places in my home city. So if you ask me what is the most interesting thing that I’ve done as a Local Guide, then I’ll definitely have to say combining guiding with my traveling.
My first review on Google was actually when I was visiting Tbilisi in Georgia. It was a hot summer during my visit and after some time I really wanted to swim to feel refreshed. There are not a lot of options in there when you are located in down town. There are no seas nearby, only an artificial lake named Tbilisi sea that is still rather far from down town. So, after extensive Googling and researching we found a place that was actually an outside swimming pool nearby. However, there was not enough information about this place on the Internet (not in English, at least) and almost no reviews on Google. Decided to go there after all and was pleasantly surprised. Water was so clean and there was even a doctor who checked the feet for diseases before going in. The weather was great and the whole experience was perfect. After this experience I wished that more people would find this place, which in turn will help them to become more successful. I am happy to say that my wishes came true. It seems to be more popular as this place currently has 334 reviews with a 4.4-star rating. I have seen this place even in city guides. It is interesting to see how little amount of effort can change the bigger picture or at least play a little part in it. You can imagine how inspiring this can be as this was my first Guide experience.
Last summer I visited Narva, the third biggest city in Estonia with a total area of 85 km2. It is an exciting city full of history and kind people waiting for visitors. As a Local Guide, I felt an obligation to help to make this place more inviting for other tourists like me. For me, it is always interesting to feel this way. Reviewing is a process that comes naturally. But in some cases, you may feel a certain fondness about something and the reviews come straight from the heart. Narva is an example where I felt this way, but this can happen anywhere. This gratitude feeling is really much more than just reviewing.
