Artificial Intelligence, my unexpected daily travel companion

I was beginning to doubt this would ever happen, but I finally found a regular and useful use for AI: the vanlife travel planner.

I’m not a student and I don’t program. But I’m 48 today Bus tour across Europe With my wife and dog. We travel without a set itinerary, chasing the wind and the sun while working 9-to-5 jobs. AI’s mastery of travel planning has made it an unlikely but irreplaceable expert. So much so that we’ve become increasingly reliant on the free versions of Gemini and ChatGPT to help choose our next destination.

It all started with a simple query. Feeling tired after walking 25 kilometers and with only a few hours of daylight left, I decided to skip the usual slog through Google search results and opened the Gemini app on my iPhone instead. “Is there a charming village near Plitvice Lakes National Park,” is the question I wrote. Here’s Gemini’s predictably peppy reaction:

definitely! There is a particularly charming village very close to Plitvice Lakes National Park called Rastock.

It is often described as a “fairy village” or “watermill village” and is often referred to as “Little Plitvice” because it shares a similar natural phenomenon, albeit on a smaller scale.

So, we took a chance and drove 20 minutes to Rastock, Croatia, and this is what we found:

Using the same query in a Google search would have led me to Rastoke, eventually, but it would have taken longer and with more effort. First, I have to click on the top results, which include Facebook, TripAdvisor, and a site I’ve never heard of before. Island.com. Next, I have to click through the cookie banners and newsletter offers, then parse the walls of text to find that recommended village. In comparison, Gemini’s score was fast, concise, confident, and text-based (no spoilers!) – exactly what I wanted.

With Rastoke exceeding our highest expectations, we tried the AI ​​again a few days later after visiting Ravenna, Italy — a city recommended by real humans using word of mouth. Only this time we used ChatGPT and added a new parameter to the query since our 6m device is too large for the medieval streets inside walled villages.

“Find a charming village near Ravenna with easy RV parking.”

Here’s ChatGPT’s response:

Bricigella

• It is a beautiful medieval mountain village, often listed among the most beautiful Italian villages.

• There is a camping area in Brisigella on Via Giuseppe Pelli, a ten-minute walk from the historic centre, with a service (Carico/Scarico).

This is what we found:

Brisigella, Italy, is probably the most beautiful village I have ever seen in Europe, and parking was as easy as described. Yet, somehow, I had never heard of it before. Thanks, AI!

A Google search using the same prompt that led to Brisighella’s recommendation at ChatGPT yielded nothing of value. The first three links started with a Tripadvisor article titled “The 10 Best Campgrounds in Ravenna for 2025 (With Prices), a link from Expedia titled “RV Campgrounds Ravenna from $90,” and something from a site called agricamper.com Titled “Emilia-Romagna on the Road: 8 Motorhome Stops and…”

Artificial intelligence has proven itself adept at providing answers quickly. But here’s the rub: AI can only produce these results because humans have previously posted about “enchanted,” “cute,” “weird,” or “fairy villages” online. When no one has a reason to visit travel sites and blogs, they will die – the economic model that drove the World Wide Web It doesn’t work without search traffic and clicks. And when humans stop posting travel content, what will AI models do to maintain their relevance?

As a founder edge As an editor, my contribution to “Google Zero” — the point at which AI summaries no longer require users to click through to a website — has left me conflicted. It’s clear that in certain circumstances, AI tools can be more effective and provide a better experience than traditional search and websites. It is also clear that it will exacerbate the problems that drive me and many others away from research. As clicks decline, websites will need to show more ads to make up the revenue and include more pop-ups asking for my email address so I can come back. This sludge will make the web experience worse, which will cause more people to return to AI.

The other challenge here is trust. So far, the AI ​​results we have obtained have been very reliable. But stories abound of travelers stranded after failing to verify that AI had given them accurate information. That’s why I keep coming back to those automatically generated suggestions using Google Maps and Park 4 Night.

AI weather models keep improving, So we started adding weather parameters to our searches to help find places to windsurf when the winds pick up. Wind forecasts are notoriously unreliable for more than a few days, so we use these results as more of an indicator of where we are. may Go, with our most trusted wind monitoring apps.

For this query about a place where we could kite with sunny skies and 15+ knot winds, Gemini suggested Noli, providing a summary of the conditions and wind forecast, which was very helpful in narrowing down our search for the area.

This kind of response goes beyond anything a Google search can produce — even AI overview summaries lack weather integration. The best a Google search can do is confirm that people are windsurfing in Noli. Gemini and ChatGPT have also proven useful for finding routes and destinations that avoid rain and snow, which we continue to double-check with reliable sources.

Gemini and ChatGPT are now the first tools we turn to every day to help plan our travel. Neither is much better than the other, it’s nice to get a second opinion – but both are much better than Google search results or browsing travel sites. It’s not even close. Armed with such a knowledgeable advisor maximized our enjoyment, allowing us to spend less time planning and more time experimenting.

I was skeptical about AI’s ability to benefit my daily life before using it as a travel companion. Now I’m converting. There is no better way I have found to give the shell a goose in the right direction quickly and effortlessly. The only question is how long it can last if there is no one left to feed the machine.