I first became familiar with the Local Guides program when I started a career in the downtown core of Toronto. Until this point, my family didn’t have the means to eat out regularly at different restaurants, nor did we do much exploring in our own city as my parents often worked every day. Fast-forward to me turning 23 and starting my first career job at a firm in the downtown core. It was as if the world finally opened up. Where should I go for lunch? Where was the best place to grab an after work drink or coffee with someone? Where were the greatest places to listen to live music? I found myself continually searching on Google and reading the reviews of Local Guides to help me discover my city. Since I often eat with my eyes, skimming through thousands of photos posted by Local Guides helped me explore and get a feel for places before I even left my house. They say life opens up differently when you see the world through someone else’s’ eyes. In this case, the Local Guides program allowed me to discover the world through the eyes of others and create long buckets things of places I wanted to visit or restaurants I wanted to eat at.
I slowly began to explore little by little. Every couple of weeks, I’d try a new restaurant. I’d go to a new part of town. I was slowly starting to figure out what made Toronto great. Google also made it very easy for me to remember where I went and whether I liked somewhere by prompting me to rate each place I went to out of 5 stars. Soon my discovery and explanation started to get more international. The further I went away from home, the less I knew and the more I had to rely on the recommendations and reviews from others to help guide me. Google maps was my best travel tool, helping me first pick the places I wanted to visit and then helping me map out where places were in relation to each other. I remember planning an entire week in Chicago using Google maps and the recommendations of local guides to map my itinerary – see some pics below. For me, Google began to open up the world by putting it at my fingertips – I had access to the information necessary I needed to discover and then explore some of the best places in the world, many of which were hidden gems now un-coverable due to the knowledge and recommendation of others.
For years after I discovered the Local Guides program, it had been more or less a one-way relationship. I used Google almost every day to search a new restaurant or place, yet I rarely ever shared the immense knowledge I had built up through my own exploration. Sure I had taken the time to rate the stars on each place when I was prompted and this slowly graduated into me using my knowledge to answer questions about places. I never really thought about regularly posting detailed reviews on places or sharing my photos – after all, why would anyone want to hear from me when there were thousands of others who had already given their opinion? This all changed when I went to Santa Teresa, a relatively remote part of Costa Rica. I endlessly searched for places to go and restaurants to eat at before I left for my trip, yet only a couple places came up. Even more, the pictures of places – my go-to function when I decide whether or not to visit a place – were scarce. Soon I was resolved to the fact that I would just have to figure things out when I got there – a scary thought for an uber-planner.
During my trip, I lucky to eat at some of the most delicious and remote restaurants I had been to in the world. The freshness, the commitment to organic and sustainability, the small shop feel – these were truly gems. I felt a wave of determination come over me – these places had to be written about and my photos shared so that rest of the world could discover and explore them! I realized that it was my turn to give back to the Local Guides community that I had been relying on for so many years. I began to vigorously post all my photos and write up reviews on every place I went to in Santa Teresa so I could help the local businesses promote themselves to others planning their visits. A proud moment for me was posting the first photos and writing the first review for Farm to Table in Provincia de Puntarenas < https://www.google.com/maps/place/Farm+to+Table/@9.6339782,-85.1309039,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8f9f6f0d6620a041:0xcadab7e05e6a87e8!8m2!3d9.6339782!4d-85.1287152>. Many who visit the region had no easy way of finding out about this true farm to table restaurants given the lack of reviews or photos. Talking with the owner, they relied heavily on word of mouth to get people to find the restaurant, which is buried away in the hills away from the main part of town. In many ways, I felt like even if only 1 other person saw my post, it was one additional person that would now know about and could discover this hidden gem and that would make it worth it.
Since this experience, I have ensured I have been a regular contributor to the Local Guides program. My hope is that sharing my thoughts and photos through the program with the rest of the world will allow others to discover and explore the world in the same way it has for me. Perhaps one or more of my posts may also compel someone else to share their knowledge and experiences for collective wisdom – the world is always a better place the more we are open to sharing and leveraging our collective experiences.
Some pics from my week in Chicago:
