A Local Experience of Arts, Culture, and Music, all in one #Ottawamap
The Alternative Travel Guide – Ottawa is a map that describes the City of Ottawa from a Locals’s point-of-view. It covers everything from culture in the capital, to pub crawls, music and nightlife, public transportation, great eats, and so much more.
“[As a person travelling to Ottawa from from Glasgow, Scotland] I’ve seen the ByWard Market, I’ve been to [Irish Pub that shall remain nameless]. I wanted the Local Experience,” said Katrina Mitchell, founder of the #Ottawamap project. She described how the idea came about: “I was walking in the Chinatown area one day and I quite liked it. New to Ottawa, I wanted to discover it; I took an alternative path out of Chinatown, walking down Gladstone. That’s where I spotted this place, Pressed? I thought ‘That looks like an interesting spot’ and I went in. It felt like a cool spot, so I asked the staff what other places I should see.”
Side note: as a person that has worked in the Tourism industry, I couldn’t agree more with Katrina on this process of discovering cool places.
“When I was in Glasgow, I worked in the Tourism industry. Hostels had these maps that gave backpackers the local flavour of the city. The maps here (in Ottawa) are rubbish!” Mitchell expressed in her Scottish accent. “That’s when I got the idea to bring [the Alternative Travel Guide] to Ottawa.”
When asked where she sees this project going in the future, Katrina responded: “I hope to have this map revised on a yearly basis to keep it up-to-date. I’d also love to see others spawning off from this idea to make their own maps!”
At the time of publication of this article, the maps have been printed and are in the process of being distributed in major hostels in Ottawa. Some will be available at the Official Crowdfunding Campaign Launch on Thursday May 8th at 10:30 PM at Babylon Nightclub. We’ll be there and invite you to do the same – support local!
For more details on the initiative:
THE MAP
Official site: The Alternative Travel Guide – Ottawa
Facebook: The Alternative Travel Guide – Ottawa on Facebook
Crowdfunding Launch:#Ottawamap
