Building bridges, connecting ideas and sharing experiences are some of the ways that I would describe the Local Guides program and what it means to me. I have always been amazed with human beings having so many different cultures and ways of living and yet having the same common origin that unites us all. That’s what prompted me to learn more about different cultures in order to build bridges to maximize the human experience and that is exactly how the Local Guides program has facilitated it for me to achieve that. It helped me a lot in sharing my own culture and getting to know people from around the world which resulted in me having more tolerance towards different cultures.
Connecting ideas is another thing I admire about the Local Guides program. The way it works for me is that whenever I travel, I usually read reviews and local stories of the places before visiting in order to gather tips and ideas about the place which have benefitted me significantly and then share my own input by building upon the earlier reviews which often times results in coming up with innovative and unique ideas that wouldn’t have been possible by an individual idea.
Finally, sharing experiences is what amazes me the most. It is amazing how every guide has a different experience to share for the same place and a lot of other important information that assist other members. I remember dropping a review for Song-kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan which is not visited by a lot of tourists and getting three likes on it made me extremely delighted for being able to help those people in some way by sharing my experience and similarly I have benefitted greatly from other guides sharing their experiences as well.
All in all, it has been a great journey with the Local Guides program. I certainly have learned a great deal and it has changed my life in a lot of subtle ways. Thank you very much Google!