Do you want to share Athens' "secrets" and to show others its beauty seen through your eyes, to meet people from around the world, to earn extra money, and offer unique experiences, advice and facilities for tourists? Then become “dopios” in Athens! ("Dopios" - "ντόπιος" - translated from Greek means "local")
This is a community of worldwide Internet users, who through dopios.com website will connect travellers with local residents. The website is preparing for its imminent launch with its first city - Athens.
Every resident who has a profile in dopios.com will present the “adventures” he offers. Such adventures can be: "Walk into the best bars in Gazi and Plaka", "Domestic traditional lunch with your friends/family", "One day excursion to the island of Hydra with a sailboat", "Picking olives” and many others. Through those adventures, the tourist will experience something unique and fun that only a local can offer.
The idea
The idea for this "community" is executed by three Greeks and one Indian - Alexandros Trimis, Manolis Kounelakis, Nikos Sarilakis and Anand Henry - who, having completed their education in the USA, now live and work in San Francisco.
When a friend of Alexandros went last November to visit Athens, she thought how nice it would have been if she knew someone there. This is how she presented the idea to the group and the very next day they began realizing it.
"Because we live in a city like San Francisco, we often have visitors who are able to see the true face of the city and experience a few days as local residents. This experience is quite different if you have someone to take you places. That's what we want to achieve with dopios!” say the founders.
Their aim is to offer unique adventures for all visitors individually and before travelling community members can connect online and share advice.
A fun "give and take"
Through this initiative, the tourist will have the opportunity to explore the city and learn its "secrets" from a local resident and this could not be done if he did not know anybody. On the other hand the local resident (dopios) will be able to share with tourists the beauty of their city, while earning some money.
It's an open market community in which the locals choose the adventures that they will offer and the price per person or per adventure.
A few words about safety
The model of the market community is becoming more and more common. People live for a while in the houses of strangers, borrow their car or seek help for everyday ordinary things from people they do not know.
All this is based on mutual trust, but also on tools that attempt to provide a greater safety. Dppios.com has a Credibility Score category, which is calculated by different parameters such as: how many people you have helped, how many good comments you have, if you have you connected your other social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and many others to your profile. Something similar is expected to be done for local residents as well.
How you can become dopios
The “dopios” initiative starts from Athens and the aim is to develop it in many other cities around the world as well, in order to make every journey a unique and authentic experience for everyone. A trial version is being prepared right now and it will be launched soon. To become one of the first members of the dopios community, please visit www.dopios.com/calling and provide your email address. You will soon receive an invitation to create your account.
More information can be found on the website: www.dopios.com
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