I’m Jeffrey Salas, and I currently live in St. Louis Missouri but originally, I am from the Philippines. As an international student in the US for a couple of years, I was able to visit and explore the wonders of the United States- by wonders I mean, the amazing National Parks and other tourist destinations- may it be by plane or via a road trip. I have visited a decent number of states already and planning to complete it to 50 very soon, this time with my better half. I believe that this would not be accomplished without the Local Guide program of Google.
Taken at Rocky Mountains National Park
Taken at Yosemite National Park
Taken at Key West, Florida
The contributions and information the local guides have in a certain place certainly help hugely in the exploration. When I first visited New York, I was by myself and having Google Maps with me, riding the subway and walking down the busy streets of Manhattan became very convenient. Furthermore, reviews on places such as restaurants, parks are for me very valuable because it gives me a glimpse of the hours of operations, how busy the place is at a certain period of day, what the specialties are and of course what are the best spots to take photos at so I could post it in my social media accounts!
The 2nd NYC trip with my husband would not be completed without the famous chicken joy of the Philippines, Jollibee. Thanks to Google Guides!
And the beauty of them all is that Google Guides not only give the public an information about the place but at the same time, it also sends information on events, post photos of the places people are dreaming to visit in the future, and the chances of connecting and meeting people that share the same interests.
On the other hand, I am very glad right that every time I meet people in the US and once they know that I am from the Philippines, they ask me to validate reviews and posts that they’ve read from Google Guides about places in my country. This is very interesting as this promotes tourism thus helps local businesses and the economy as a whole.
I earnestly desire to join the Connect Live 2020 to establish friendship with other local guides all over the world while learning new ways on how to contribute information in order to promote diversity and culture.
