Using AI to Plan Trips Without Killing the Surprise
AI is great at itineraries and terrible at serendipity. Here's the balance I landed on for my last three trips.
I used to over-plan trips and come home tired of my own spreadsheet. Then I tried the other extreme and wasted two days finding food. AI helped me find a middle path, but only after I stopped asking it to plan my whole vacation.
Now I use it for the logistics I hate: the rough daily skeleton, opening times, which neighborhoods are actually walkable, where not to book a hotel. That part is genuinely good and saves me an hour I'd have spent on ten tabs.
The mistake is letting it fill every gap. A model will happily schedule you from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. with zero downtime, because it doesn't get tired. I delete at least a third of its suggestions and protect empty afternoons.
For food, I ask for a short list with one line on why each place fits, then I pick by walking past. The walk-past step is the part no tool can do for me, and it's the part I enjoy.
If you try this, give it constraints instead of a blank check. Tell it you want slow mornings, or one nature day, or no tourist traps. The more opinion you bring, the less generic the plan.