Taking a vacation in an unfamiliar place? Forget the guide books and the maps, the ideal way to discover a city is with a friend who lives there — even if you have to rent them.
That’s the idea behind a burgeoning Web site created by a Brazilian, Alice Moura, who told AFP that its expansion to 15 major cities owed to pent-up demand for a one-on-one insider’s tour.
“I thought mostly of backpackers, but many clients are elderly people who like personalized service. We also have families that don’t like inflexible tours, and young people who want to know trendy places,” she said.
Her www.rentalocalfriend.com site started when she was living in London and a reader of her blog at the time asked her to play guide outside the usual tourist circuit.
Now, it covers cities including New York, New Delhi, Barcelona, Paris, Shanghai, Berlin and Buenos Aires.
Although relatively unknown compared to the big recommendation sites such as tripadvisor.com, Moura says her business has turned some client-guide “friends” into real friends after meeting up.
Those who do show visitors around can’t expect much more than pocket money — 80 euros (NT$3,120) a day in Milan, US$77 (NT$2,460) in Rio de Janeiro or US$90 (NT$2,880) in San Francisco, for instance — “but it’s more for the fun than the money,” she said.
(AFP)
要去個不熟的地方渡假嗎？先把旅遊指南跟地圖擺一旁，發現新城市最好的方法就是找個當地朋友陪你──即使得租一個。
由巴西女子艾莉絲•幕拉架設的朋友出租網站就很熱門。幕拉告訴法新社說，這個構想得以擴張到全球十五個主要城市，全都靠潛在的一對一個人導覽之需求。
她說：「我想的主要是背包客。但多數顧客是喜好個人化服務的老年人。也有許多不喜歡僵化行程的家庭，以及想去一些時髦地方的年輕人。」
幕拉在倫敦生活時架設了www.rentalocalfriend.com網站。當時她的一位部落格讀者要求她介紹一些一般觀光景點以外的地方。
現在這個網站的服務包含紐約、新德里、巴塞隆納、巴黎、上海、柏林與布宜諾斯艾利斯等城市。
儘管和tripadvisor.com等知名網站相比，幕拉的網站名氣小之又小，但她表示，她的生意讓部分顧客與地陪「朋友」在見面之後，成為真正的朋友。
這些導遊的日薪當然也不低，例如：參觀米蘭一天要八十歐元（新台幣三千一百二十元），里約熱內盧一天要七十七美元（新台幣兩千四百六十元），而舊金山一天要九十美元（新台幣兩千八百八十元）。不過她說：「錢不重要，開心才是重點。」
（法新社╱翻譯：吳岱璟）
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