Well, I just did and it was amazing..... I typed in my hometown and a destination that I've been to before about 200 miles altogether. I typed in a route that I knew figuring whatever came up. I would at least have some knowledge of.... I am of the older generation – – still prefer paper maps...... I remember maps had the miles written between cities alongside the route – – example. Marysville to Oroville --24 ... In my travel years, I've been in 49 states.... and five European countries...... I desperately miss being able to travel..... especially since I have the money to do so however, mild mobility issues have slowed me down.
ChatGPT results included a coffee shop on the route, noted weather trends, and current road construction. It also noted a seasonal "fall festival" in one of the towns on my route.
I bet there is an place to type in your particular interest categories.
Much to my surprise, later in the day I noticed on my computer a reference to the Best Western rewards club. I belong to had sent me an email.....
Looking forward to reading other travelers experience and opinion of this "modern technology".

I haven't used it, but I've certainly seen some plans developed that way, and they strike me as quite poor in general, geared toward popular destinations rather than ones that might suit one's particular interests and generally allowing too little time at any place for a realistic visit.

If ChatGPT could do the following, I’d be on it in a second:

(1) pack my bags, carefully attending to the list I make, then repacking to double check that I haven’t eliminated anything;

(2) arrange for someone to keep an eye on my garden;

(3) double-check to be certain my hotel reservations are confirmed;

(4) contact my gardener and cleaning company to let them know I will be gone and that I have provided arrangements for them to access the house and garden;

(5) check my itinerary-calendar-schedule to be certain I haven’t forgotten any details;

(6) every time I start to wonder if all my pre-trip anxiety is worth it, remind me to read all my post-trip notes-to-myself which assure me that what I’m feeling is normal for me;

(7) take care of the jet lag that increases with age, and/or somehow invent a way to ameliorate the effects of a 9–hour time change following a 13-hour flight.

I enjoy the planning part, so I have no desire to hand that over.

I used it to plan some time in New Mexico. I did not use it for booking hotels just day trips from a central location. It was great and was used as the base for our planning. it also groups activities that were near each other so there was no backtracking etc. Driving times, best routes to take. What you can see along the way. Gave restaurant suggestions too. I use it quite a bit for planning activities. The more specific you are when asking ChatGPT what you want the better the results.

I haven’t used it but have seen some idiotic Itineraries on Trip Advisor created by ChatGPT and been involved in trying to make sensible and workable amendments to them for prospective visitors.

I think it might be useful if you knew the places you were going to well, and gave it the appropriate queries & prompts. And would be able to tell if it came back with facile nonsense and unworkable suggestions. Just like a Travel Agent with no practical experience, I suppose.

I’ve used it for logistics. I told ChatGPT the places I wanted to go to in Japan using trains and asked it to give me the most efficient route. It did that and also gave me different train times, ticket cost and more. It saved me a lot of time. I did the same for a trip to France with both trains and car and it was just as helpful. I find that the more information you give, the better the results.

I agree Mrs Peel. Just like a travel forum - the more info we give, the more & better quality information we get back.

I for one who has traveled to 49 states, six European countries Mexico and Canada----am impressed.... mainly with the massive information available as long as you know how to "ask for it". AND that the weather in the proposed trip you're making is very up-to-date...... example: I am planning a trip day after tomorrow from eastern Washington to the west side..(Seattle area)... I was informed on ChatGPT to be aware of possible closure Chinook pass --which is the route that I'm taking. " Due to the impact of a series of storm system fueled by an atmospheric river." ... Being a "Local" I always check the weather forecast before I even leave the house... but could be really valuable to somebody not accustomed to our" seasonal mountain passes"

I now use AI a lot to plan trips, even to some of the most out of the way places and some complex itineraries . It saves so much time and what once would take me days or weeks can now be done in hours. The detail you can drill down to is amazing. As with travel forums, the more specific and detailed you are with questions, the better the outcome and you keep on asking until you have all the answers you need.

Another nail in the coffin of travel forums and guidebooks..

I recently used a general Google Search and their "AI" option that popped up... they quoted back something I had written on the topic recently on Trip Advisor -haha!

Thanks Suze. A good lesson & reminder to us all that any Trip Reports & the like that we post on the internet can and will be plagiarised by Ai bots and anyone else who wants.

I'm used to being directed (for example) on a general Google search with links back to my own topics on Trip Advisor, which I find humorous. But having the AI lift my words was even a BIGGER surprise. Guess that's the "artificial" part of "artificial intelligence".

Two year old article but probably things haven't changed much:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/how-to...tion-chat-gpt/

A longer article in which the writer let it plan a 2-day visit to Lisbon.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/chatgp...ng-experience/


I still haven't explicitly used a chatbot for anything. I get AI content when I use Google, which generates the AI summaries at the top. I will read them but often follow through the links and if it's a source I'm not sure about, keep looking.

I use the AI features of some software, such as my photo editing application.

Otherwise, I'm wary of being drawn into the AI hype.

Also, I prefer to research travel locations myself, to learn about places and things I might be interested in. It's slower than getting a nicely packaged itinerary from ChatGPT or some other AI chatbot. But I don't mind the process.

However, over the years, I've gone from travel guide books to online sources, including travel forums where you can get specific answers from other travelers to do my planning and research. I haven't asked for advice on itineraries that you often see on forums like Fodor's or TA but I have searched for sample itineraries of a certain length to get some ideas, which are often travel bloggers or influencers who post itineraries to drive traffic to their sites.

But the way the AI companies are Hoover-ing up information online -- essentially scraping all online content, both copyright and non-copyright content -- to "train" the LLMs which power these AI chatbots, there's a good chance that when you search for answers to questions on forums or itinerary ideas, all that content has been incorporated into the LLMs already. So maybe if you asked a chatbot as opposed to doing a conventional search and browsing the websites, you'd get similar information?

Still prefer to search manually.

"Two year old article but probably things haven't changed much:" You are kidding right? AI has changed immensely in two months, let alone two years!

Try using ChatGPT to design an itinerary. Providing just the basic information, say 15 days in Japan will provide an itinerary in seconds. Request more info e.g interests - culture , food , luxury , basic etc. Refine it still further with types and level of accommodation, further still with costs, route maps , accomodation recommendations , times , costs, restaurants recs, things to do . It can be as detailed as one wants it to be. Responses come in seconds. You will be asked all the pertinent questions, all you need to do is ask and answer the questions. It is like interacting with an ultra intelligent and efficient travel agent (without the knowledge limitations or inherent bias) .

Did you read the articles?

Did you see the criticisms and what the writer found that ChatGPT got wrong?

I did. Did you read my comments?

Like I said, AI has improved exponentially over the last two years. Try it or don't , it's your choice.

In other words, skip step A -- ask ChatGPT -- and go directly to step B, ask locals or other travelers.

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I was putting together an Italy trip relatively last-minute this June (was departing in July)--had my flights, a few hotels, car booked, and a rough idea of a plan, but wanted some help with nitty-gritty details, so did ask ChatGPT here and there. Results very, very mixed.

Example: Chat told me it would take me five minutes by foot to get from my hotel in Ischia Ponte to a restuarant I had booked for dinner. I know where this resto is (in a different town in another part of the island), so I kept asking, are you sure? Five minutes by foot? And Chat kept repeating the same info, same by-foot-directions. Finally I said "Isn't Cantinado in Casmicciola? I'm pretty sure I need to take a bus or taxi." At which point Chat apologized for the error and coughed up bus lines I could take.

As most of the advice I needed was related to driving itineraries and reasonable daytrips by car for hiking in Molise and Abruzzo, I certainly double-checked all advice. Directions were by far the least accurate and food recommendations were pretty basic, even when I specified which sources to avoid (tripadvisor resto recs, etc.).

OTOH, ChatGPT gives a lot of encouragement and positive affirmation lol. So that's something.

That's known as sycophancy in all the LLM chat bots. Probably intentional because the AI companies want to have more engagement and not only are they avoiding alienating users, they suck up to them.

As for directions, yeah I would be surprised if they did directions better than Google Maps or Apple Maps or other mapping programs. They spend billions to develop and maintain all that data about roads so why would AI do better without such infrastructure?

Unless the chat bot is just running the search itself on Google Maps and just spitting out the results back to you as if it knew.

I can’t imagine giving up my reliance on good, comprehensive guidebooks!

I want to know what options exist that I can’t even imagine asking about.

I like having all the info I need to plan a trip in a single place, specifically, a book.

I like learning about the places I’m going to visit and the things that make each and every place listed in a comprehensive guidebook of interest to someone, even if not me.

I want to know enough about the options that suit my interest to choose them, and to be able to call upon that information if I find myself with some extra time or (sigh) if I have to drop something from my plan.

For that matter, I like planning my trips!

Maybe ChatGPT can provide itineraries that some people will find useful. I’m sure many of those who use it will have wonderful trips. I’m not on-board.