04-25-2018 01:02 AM
To all the wonderful Local Guides, Hello!
This is Sonia, a level 8 Local Guide, from Bangladesh. My introduction was posted last year in this post. I don't want to bore you by saying the same thing again. This year, the local guide team has selected me as one of their moderators for Connect out of 12 other Connect Moderator.
Traveling is my passion. I feel great pride in being a local guide, especially when I travel. That feeling, accompanied with an appetite to explore new places, is what drives my zealous spirit. I frequently travel by myself, although I do get on the road with friends or other travelers when the opportunity rises. I thoroughly enjoy both forms of traveling.
Along with traveling, I’m also a passionate foodie. Exotic, traditional, grandmother’s special or street food, I will gratefully try anything and enjoy every single bite. I believe food reveals a lot about a place's character. For example, when I eat any food cooked with coconut, I know the food was originated from a coastal area. By tasting the spice level, or the cooking style, one can easily tell if the food is Mediterranean or Asian.
Before I attended the Local Guide Summit 2017, I had no clue what incredible experiences were waiting for me. I made a bunch of crazy-wonderful friends, learned a lot about Google maps and Google earth products, met some amazing Googlers, shared our feedback about maps/ Connect with them. In short, the summit taught me so much more than I had ever expected. And for the same reason, I will embrace the opportunity to meet the Google geniuses once again, in addition to meet LGs from around the world.
I have hosted and attended quite a number of meetups in last one year, that includes two world-wide meetups and a few other in different cities. But my most significant meetups were the ones that I did in San Francisco. I organized 3 successful meetup focusing Summit 2017 (pre/post summit meetups). The first one, being the kick-off dinner meetup turned out to be super hit. We had more than 30 summit participants joining us. The next day was the beginning of our 2-day travel meetup at Yosemite, with 13 LGs from 11 countries. We all had a wonderful time there and I made 13 lifelong friends. And the third one, a day-long hiking tour with 7 other LGs to Muir Woods was a great show-stopper. Everyone, who attended either of these three meetups, enjoyed it thoroughly.
After attending the summit I was fueled with immense enthusiasm and I put that towards contributing to maps. I went from level 6 to level 8 in just 6 months! This was my personal best, so far.
I love sharing reviews and posting photos on Google maps. Lately, from the photography tips shared by different Googlers in Connect, I have improved my photography skills as well. Even though Local Guides is a voluntary program, I find it extremely helpful. Hence, I try to be as perfect as possible while sharing photos or other information about a POI.
When I started my journey with Local Guides, little did I know how it would change my life for the better. I feel honored to be a part of such a global and zealous team. And it gives me endless happiness to think how my many small contributions will change the way users benefit from the platform in the future.
Hope to see you guys in Connect Live 2018, or somewhere around this beautiful planet!
Happy Connecting!
04-25-2018 01:21 AM
you are a star @SoniaK, hoping to see you again this year in San Francisco!
04-25-2018 01:24 AM
BTW @SoniaK, coincidentally the subject of your and my post is same:)
04-25-2018 01:46 AM
Oooops......sorry @AslamMo. That was not intentional. I didn't even see your post earlier. Do you want me to change the title?
Thank you for the compliment. Yes, I sure will look forward to the chance meeting you and also the other 2017 alumni. We sure had a great time together.
04-25-2018 02:48 AM
04-25-2018 03:10 AM - edited 04-26-2018 03:39 AM
Best wishes for you @SoniaK
04-25-2018 03:18 AM
আপনার পোষ্ট পড়ে খুব বেশি অনুপ্রাণিত হলাম।
04-26-2018 11:49 AM
@SoniaK one of the best members i met in this program , wish you all luck sis :-)))
wish to meet you 😉
04-26-2018 01:40 PM