I first figured out that local guide existed in January of 2019, when a very nice friend of mine, told me that he received a message like this one inviting him to Connect Live. So, I asked him what it was all about and he nicely explained it. I was so surprised that something like this existed, I had no idea of how it worked. So, as soon as he finished explaining everything, I knew I had to be a Local Guide.
It is important to say that I already had an Instagram photography account and I loved travelling, I had just been on my year abroad in Germany, so I had many nice pictures to show the world. I noticed that trough Instagram I wasn’t gaining a lot on notoriety so I thought that on Google maps I could get what I wanted, to help people discover new lovely places to go to, and to have people enjoying my pictures.
So turning into a local guide has helped me to find one of the many things I like doing, improving my photography skills, specially due to the fact that on Google Maps you can’t simply use a nice picture to describe a place, you need a picture that can give value to the users about that destination. Or you need a picture that can easily help you find your destination. Knowing this I had to adapt my photography skills to fulfil the objective I set, and like this, to be able to help more people.
My first post was uploaded exactly a year ago, In A Coruña, of their town hall in la Praza de María Pita. This came out to be a very important trip for me during my year abroad. (Caption 1). Here I will also upload my most viewed and liked review, which is also related to my year abroad. It was taken in the Black Forest, due to my love for sports, I went cycling from Karlsruhe to Baden-Baden trough the Black Forest and on my way, I found some amazing views. (Caption 2)
I really enjoy being a Local Guide and finding new places or changing information about other destinations. And I have already received some nice comments from bar owners saying; thanks for the review and that they will invite me to a drink the next time I go. So, they encourage you to keep helping people and reviewing more and more places, I feel like being a Local Guide has made me, in a way, a better person. I really hope I will always keep uploading new information to Google Maps due to my love for travel and photography.