I have been an active Local Guide for as long as I can remember.
I would leave reviews and post pictures. As I got better I would build maps that I shared with my friends. Often taking the role of team tour leader based on the ability to sniff out the best restaurant/cafe/experience.
When I travelled I would ignore Tripadvisor and go straight to Google reviews. Sifting through them to uncover my next adventure. In return I would add pictures and comments for others to enjoy.
I get vicarious pleasure from looking at the number of views on some of my pictures. My second most popular picture of a fish head curry from a great street restaurant in Singapore.
My most popular picture has nearly 2m views and includes someone’s elbow in the bottom left!.. Go figure.
I am not going to call out a “destination” as the most interesting thing I have done as a local guide.
I have converted my love of writing snippets to writing longer form. For the past eight months my friend Milton and I have been writing a blog. To me this is a straight lift from being a local guide. It gives me purpose.
We publish every second day and send an email to our 100 subscribers every ten. Sharing tips and tricks and experiences of places we have travelled. Wherever possible we add links and maps to help our readers with their own planning. Check out this one on Darwin in the Northern Territory, it even has a crocodile video!
So, thank you Google, I have a new purpose.
PS the blog is called www.pointsbrotherhood