When I was a child I had an atlas and I used to love exploring it, closing my eyes and pointing my finger at one of the random pages and then open them up to see where I landed, letting my imagination run free about what that country or place would look like and would I ever get to visit it.
Now that I’m 21 nothing much has changed, except for the atlas now turned into google maps. I still discover random places and add it to my bucket list, wishing one day I would mark those places off. The journey to explore has begun, on a small scale since I’m a student.
Maps act as a journal of my trip. I can extend and share this journal with other users of the app by reviewing the place and also create lists which can help them explore the place as I did. I have also been able to give more detailed information about my expedition through connect posts on local guides connect.
Once when I visited a Salon nearby, the extremely polite staff asked me to rate her salon on google maps. Never had I imagined that the opinions I had about places would impact the places. Since I myself read a lot of reviews, I love giving reviews and find it super helpful, and now I cannot not do it.
As a student myself I’m always looking for pocket-friendly places, be it in Bangalore or when I’m travelling and the reviews play an important role for me to decide. Since the Local Guides program is a community that helps to make places accessible to the rest of the world, it is a guiding factor for me to contribute responsibly knowing that someone out there will make a decision based on my contribution.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words and they do not lie, initially I did not know what kind of photos to post, but by trial and error I think I have understood what kind of photos would work better. Yes, I’m that person who doesn’t let you eat your food until I have taken a photo of it. Also the number of views my photos get is something that excites me like a kid. Recently when one of my photos hit 50,000 views I was on cloud nine.
On a personal note, I’m someone who prefers to stay indoors, google maps has helped me go out, take photos of the places and face awkward situations. Not only has my contributions helped others, but it has helped me grow as a person.
The perks that I have received before like the socks, google one membership, discount on hotel bookings for exploring and the chance to attend a women’s meetup for safety motivates me to contribute every day to make this platform better. Not only the perks but the friendly competition I have with my brother or a friend about who’s got more views makes me push myself to contribute more.