When I first met my wife I used to dream of traveling all over Europe, going to museums and historic sites and that sort of thing. This was about the time the Da Vinci Code came out and I was devouring all the books related to the old continent, I used to write it all down, make routes in Google Maps and even make a few “test trips” using Google Earth. Well, she was not in to it, not at all.
Needless to say I bent to her wishes and we went to Japan for our honeymoon, to know more about her heritage and family history, and I’m glad I did: it’s really common for us Brazilians to narrow down the world in the Europe and North America axis, and forget about all the other cultures and people, and she was able to open my eyes to a whole world of possibilities, quite literally.
When we first arrived at Tokyo, all that we have studied for the trip was just gone: our native language is Portuguese, and we rely on English or Spanish when traveling, but it wasn’t enough, as not a lot of people in Japan speak English, and those who do usually do so with a strong accent, making it even harder for us to communicate (we have a strong accent ourselves). We’ve tried the translation tools with about 50% good results, which wasn’t enough, and that’s when Google Maps came in.
You see, being able to learn about public transportation on the fly, best routes and even the ETAs to all the places we needed to go saved us in more than a few trips, and on top of that we could discover places not that common, like restaurants and temples, cured by people like me and my wife, who like to travel or to document our experiences. We’ve even found a Brazilian Steak House in Tokyo!
I’m a marketer, I manage clients’ Google My Business accounts all the time, but I only really started appreciating it truly when it was, mostly, the only source of information for us to discover their menus, business hours and more. Being able to discover all these different places that were not on our plan when we first arrived in Japan made our trip even more enjoyable, and that got me hooked in reviewing more places myself, not for clients, but for my own.
Now, whenever I write a review, I think of it as a little piece of advice or a guide to help others discover new experiences and even save them in unusual situations. I try to be concise (not always we have the time to go through a long review when on the go) and to be true to any place’s essence, and that’s really important to me as I think about how it can help other when visiting places I know and love (and when to avoid places that are not as good as they’re advertised).
In the Occident we have such different ways that its difficult for us to understand, even imagine, the way things work in Asia, how honor and tradition have a grip even on younger generations, and that’s life changing experience, at least this trip was for me. I don’t want to generalize all the communities and different cultures in Asia, but traveling around and meeting people from Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, I have to say these are traits common among their cultures, and I’m grateful for all the travelers and local guides that helped me see that when abroad. You’ve helped me and that got me hooked into being a local guide myself.