2022
Hey fellow Local Guides, how's it hanging?
My girlfriend and I recently handed in our resignation letters from our comfortable daily grinds. Call us delusional and overly bright-eyed but yes, we are taking a big leap into the unknown. We will be dedicating all our time and energy into our YouTube travel vlog channel, all day, every day. All this started several months ago when we stumbled upon the Local Guides program. Here's a quick rundown:
- Ever since a friend here shared the news of his trip to Google HQ for the 1st LG summit, we were hooked. We loved traveling but neither of us had any experience reviewing businesses nor places. However, the interface was easy, fool-proof and welcoming to newbies enough to get the hang off quickly. In no time, we reached Level 5.
- Didn't help that both of us are competitive spirits, neither wanting to be outdone. Literally, not a place we went to nor passed closely by was safe from our prying camera phones and eventual reviews or edits. Nicaragua is also comparatively sparsely Google-mapped so it was both a challenge to find and create places and satisfying at the same time to see your uploaded photo and reviews making an impact so quickly on the businesses and the public.
- Meeting with fellows Local Guides here further fed into our passion as it was really invigorating to share stories and trade productive banter with like-minded people. Our LG community is still small but we are actively pushing to spread the message within the country and beyond as there are far too few participation from other close-by Latin American countries.
- With all of the LG Summit requirements ticked off, we had a grand time planning and shooting the LG Summit 17 application video. We of course had to look for inspiration from past attendees to have an idea of how we were going to wing it. This was also the time when we came across videos of travel vloggers. Since then, we have just been fascinated by their passion and dedication to their crafts in the same way that we first felt about Google Maps LGs.
Fast forward to today: I was fortunate enough to be picked to attend the Summit this year (my girl wasn't but next year she would be selected, she swears) and we still continue to be prolific contributors to Google Maps. We actively prod each other to take quick photos of the places where in while we're filming for our vlog.
So far, we are loving every minute of it! This makes us bounce off our beds every morning as we know that all our efforts; our hearts and minds - are being poured into our dreams.
I will of course vlog the LG Summit (if allowed) and my extended stay in SF, so exciting times ahead!
Thank you, Local Guides!
High Fives to @TraciC, @AnoukV, @JuanCh, @KarenVChin, @ElianeFranco, @iyudhi, @LucioV, @Shirley
P.S. Do subscribe to our channel to follow our adventures;
In Between Maps - YouTube Travel Vlog Channel
Local Guides Represent!
