When I first began travelling the world about two years ago, I was just another ordinary user of Google Maps. I would use it to find useful transportation in Rome or to figure out where the laundromat nearest to my hotel in Budapest was.
During my journeys I noticed the reviews listed under museums, restaurants and hostels. I realized I really cared about these reviews. Not about the stars ranked, but about the things people wrote: Their personal experiences.
So what does the Local Guides program mean to me?
From my point of view, “classic" marketing and advertising has weakened in recent years and in its place the personal human opinion is getting stronger. The idea of “normal people,” just like me and you, visiting somewhere and leaving an honest and natural review – on the platform of the world’s leading navigation app – well, turned me on. I wanted to be part of it. And the more I wrote, the more I felt significant.
My desire to write more reviews and upload more photos grew stronger with time. I feel that when I lean on other users’ recommendations and condemnations, I have to give back to the community, in order to help everyone make better decisions about the places they choose to go to.
Pictures, for instance, are the most helpful tool in any review! Why should we count on the restaurant’s professional photos of its dishes or hotel’s photos of its rooms? It’s good that they’re there but when we, the Local Guides, take our own pictures throughout our own visit, we tell the honest truth about the place, for better or worse.
I admit, in the beginning I found it funny to be called a “Local Guide.” Me? LOCAL? I’m a full time tourist in all these places I visit!
As time passed, I understood how accurate this title is. For example, as someone who traveled the Philippines, I visited a bunch of places local people don’t visit. I gained experience as a tourist, learned what a good standard for a tourist attraction is, and based on these experiences I ranked different places using the review feature. In the same way, a Filipino who travels around Israel and goes to places that I would have never thought of going to (as a native resident) deserves a high rank as a Local Guide.
In this context the Local Guides program means a lot to me – It helps me feel a World Citizen. My opinion counts just as much as anyone else’s opinion, anywhere on the globe. As long as I’m willing to help others, I can be a local guide wherever I’d like to be!
