What I love about being a Local Guide:I love to make reviews that can help other people in finding the information they need or were looking for. So I'll add as much information to my reviews as possible. I really like it when I can help people. For example just a couple of weeks ago, I was on holiday and I had written a review about the hotel we were staying (while we were staying there). Nothing special about that, I do it all the time, but the next day at breakfast somebody comes up to me and asks me if I was Nicolas De Smyter, I replied "Yes, I am", then he introduces himself as the manager of the hotel and wanted to personally thank me for making a nice review about their hotel. I was very happy to get the appreciation from the hotel manager, because that made me think that I not only help the people that are looking for the information, but also the hotels and locations themselves.
My favorite cuisine to explore: I'm a fan of the food in Europe (lucky me for living in Europe), because I'm not a fan of the spicy food or the food with some exotic tastes. But I do like large portions of food 🙂
How did I hear about Local Guides: I follow several Twitter handles from Google, mainly because I'm also a Software Developer and want to remain up to date on some topics. So when the Local Guides initiative was launched, I was one of the first to join and add my reviews to it. I was also helping with Google Map Maker, which was regretably stopped in my country (or is it also global, can't remember for the moment).
Fun Fact about me: I am a CMAS diving instructor, so I visit lot's of places where I go diving around the globe. I sometimes take a camera with me on my dives, and take some pictures under water. So if I made some nice ones, and I remember the location of these pictures, I also try to add them to Google Maps. This gives the divers amongst us some more information about what can be seen on those locations.
2022
