Being a Local Guide started out as a fun little pass time. Take some pictures of a restaurant while waiting for food, share a review of a really cool place… but I realized in time that it’s so much more than that. Being a Local Guide has not only opened up the opportunity share my own experiences with things I would already do, but it has been an incredible chance to see what other Guides find, and experience that as well. The Local Guide community is vast and extensive, to the point where “Local” doesn’t even begin to encapsulate it.
Having a reliable source of colorful opinions, favorites, feedback, photographs, from all over the world is not just fun, but it’s an incredible vision of what the future could look like. I imagine a day when you can go anywhere in the world, open up your phone, and immediately find the coolest, most incredible things in the area, because the Local Guides have your back. A day where only minutes after arriving in a new city, you can know it like the back of your hand, from the tourist attractions to the coolest hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Ten years ago, the idea of this seemed like an impossible luxury. Now, we’re on the cusp of it.
When I realized this, being a Local Guide became about more than posting a fun review or a pretty picture. It became about being a part of a network. A community. A Guide. Someone who does their part in helping others know their way around, no matter what it is they’re looking for. Being a Local Guide, to me, means helping create a world in which any place, for any person, can feel like home.