I am a huge Foursquare user. I strive to earn badges with check-ins (the Halloween Swarm 2011 badge is so far my favorite) but mayorships?
Those are like gold to me. For those unfamiliar with Foursquare, the person with the most check-ins at one location is named “Mayor”.
Sometimes you get free stuff, sometimes it’s purely bragging rights. At one point, I was Mayor of five locations. I am currently down to one, and it’s my basement, so that doesn’t even count. I don’t know how the people with 20 or more titles keep up with it!
If you recall my first Smartphone Safari post, you know I had a cute little Android Safaricom smartphone in hand while on vacation in Kenya. While the availability of 3G surprised me, just as shocking was the use of Foursquare. I became determined to be Mayor somewhere on this vacation. Even my husband got into the game, reminding me to check-in everywhere and if my phone wasn’t working, use his phone to check-in. Now, truth be told, we were going to places where a lot of Westerners go, which could explain why I would have to check in 16 more times to become the Mayor of the hookah bar or 12 more times for the pool at the hotel.
I figured a time would come where I would try to check-in and the location wouldn’t be loaded into Foursquare. That never happened, even at the restaurant in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. A gas station cafe. In Narok, Kenya. Four visits away from being Mayor. I began to realize my quest may be futile.
I tried to stay steadfast and undeterred. I continued checking in. I had one last hope. On the return to Nairobi, we were going to pass a dormant volcano where you could hike to the top. If there was even service at the top of said volcano, surely no one would have thought to check-in on Foursquare there! I huffed and I puffed and I thought the altitude was going to kill me, but we made it to the crater. Out of breath and stunned by the view, I almost forgot my quest. With a reminder from my co-hiker, I pulled out the smartphone, checked for service (full 3G!) and logged into Foursquare. Not only was the volcano listed, the TOP of the volcano crater was listed. I checked in. I would have to hike the darn thing again to be Mayor.
It was at that moment I realized that my Quest for Mayor was over. I was leaving the country and returning to the U.S. in just about seven hours. I gave it everything I had. I suppose this means I will just have to return and try again someday!