What the Local Guides program means to me

I think the Local Guides project is great. Me as a local guide, I love to be able to help others find the information they need, correct what might be wrong and update the outdated information. As a comsumer, I love to be able to look up the best places to eat when I’m out travelling, or the best places to work out or hotels to visit. The ratings help a lot, and I try to give back using this program.

When we found the right place to eat, I try to give back by posting my experience of the place. I’ve found the rating system to be pretty accurate.

When visiting Montevideo in Uruguay a few years ago, my friend found Primuseum this way, and it was a special evening and occation in South America.

The restaurant was a complete evening with good food, live music and dancing, and for a bunch of Norwegian geocachers visiting South America, and finding a museum of Swedish (our dear neighboors) cooking devices with Nordic posters. It was good fun!

A few years later, my girlfriend and I were visiting Minsk in Belarus (where else to spend new years?) and to find a place to eat, what better way to use Google Maps and check for ratings?

Well, the menu was of course in Russian, and my Russian is limited to a few words. The restaurant wasn’t used to having non-russian-speaking visitors, but they were great. I used Google Tranlate with camera support to find something to eat, and we didn’t leave hungry. I didn’t think chicken liver was a thing to serve but it is! Not my favourite, though.

This experience makes it so much easier to find quality information no matter what you want to do. I love to be able to share, provide and user this information to make the best choices possible to make the best experience.

Thanks for creating this service, and letting me provide.

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Hi @Vatvedt ,

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@Vatvedt Hello from Minsk, Belarus. It’s so nice to hear that you choose our country for your New Year trip!

Could you describe your impressions? What do you like more? Did your expectations come true? What was unusual for you.

When you live in the city for a long time, it becomes habitual like old shoes, you don’t notice any beauty or inconvenience.

What country are you from?

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@OlgaKlimchik

Hi, I’ve been travelling through most of Europe and especially Poland many times since 1990. Minsk is a nice city, but staying in the city centre doesn’t really give the same impression as I’d probably have visiting the rest of the coutry. I’d love to visit people next time (if the occasion arises), and not just stay in a hotel. I find the people welcoming and warm. Like the Cat Museum where you can adopt a cat for the entrance fee! :slightly_smiling_face:

We wanted to celebrate New Years away from home and in a different country. Having visited Russia, Ukraine and most of eastern europe earlier, I knew mostly what to expect, and nothing really surprised me. It was a really nice stay, and I really like Father Frost and the Snow Maiden. That probably was the most unusual, and having the fireworks at 2AM and not midnight. That was confusing! :smile:

The Library building and Gorky Park was nice. And the “Stone Museum”. We had a short walk in the WWII park as well. Living in a place and visiting a place is really different. As you say, you get used to the place in a way, and you see it with different eyes.

I’m from Norway.

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Hi @Vatvedt

I want to let you know that I’ve moved your message out of the spam and it is now visible publicly. Our filters are sensitive and running 24/7 and sometime also a legitimate message can be caught by the filter. You can find here more information Why was my Connect post marked as spam?. “If ever you feel your post was incorrectly marked as spam, tag a moderator and reference the post; we’ll be here to help!

Welcome to Connect! To learn more about forum, you can read this helpful post 14 helpful tips for using Connect

Thank you for sharing your experience with us!

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@JaneBurunina

I didn’t know it was marked as spam or even why it would, but thanks so much for correcting it! :slightly_smiling_face:

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You are welcome @Vatvedt

Most of the times it happens due to multiple editing of the post.

In this case you can ask Moderator for help.

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@Vatvedt I’m glad you liked our city and our country. City center is beautiful, but there are a lot of other beautiful places in Belarus. You can ask if you need advice for the next time.

What concerns the fireworks at 2a.m. … We can’t see the fireworks earlier, we all are at home with our families and friends, listen to the congratulations of our president (some people manage to catch the congratulations of Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian presidents and celebrate with all of them), drink champagne and eat the Russian salad Olivier. So it’s unreal to watch fireworks earlier than 2 a.m. :slightly_smiling_face:

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