Foreign Perspectives

Wouldn’t you like to have a personalised tour of the holiday destination that you’re going to rather than being herded around by some impersonal tour?

I’m sure that many people would but figure that it’s bound to be too expensive to do something like that so never give it another thought but there’s growing assembly of what are called “greeter networks” around the world which offer you the opportunity of just a personalised tour yet for no charge at all. How come? Well, it’s made up of a network of volunteers in each of the spots offering this service which is supported by a very small full-time administration to match up tourists and the local volunteers.

For example, if you’d like to see New York then the Big Apple Greeter Network can connect you with one of their volunteers who’ll give you a local’s view of the city. What you can’t do is to book them for days at a time (not yet anyway) but this is one way to see the city as a local does and you can always go to the big tourist draws on another day.

Sadly this service isn’t available everywhere yet but it’s currently available in Adelaide, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Houston, Lyon, Melbourne, Nantes, New York, Paris, Kent, The Hague and Toronto. You can check out the up to date list on the Global Greeter Network.

A very worthwhile endeavour and one way to actually connect with at least one person in the country you’re visiting.