How to ChatGPT: An AI Holiday
Do you dream of exotic adventure holidays - or revisiting a much-loved spot - but dread the planning process? Picking the perfect place, making the most of your itinerary and staying on budget can feel like a juggling act... enter dozens of open Skyscanner tabs and half-read travel guides. This is where ChatGPT might just come to the rescue.
Wondering how to get started with AI? For a brief intro to all things chatbot, check out our first piece in this series, Dining with AI.
When I used ChatGPT to plan a recent trip Berlin, I was taken aback by its speed, access to information and how receptive it was to my specific requirements (length of stay, budget, travel time, you get the idea). This guide is designed to help you give it a go, too, looking at the three fundamental Ws of a holiday: where to go, what to do (and eat!) and what to bring.
1. WHERE TO GO?
If you’re a seasoned traveller who's ready for your next trip abroad, chances are you want to explore somewhere new - so the starting point is working out where that is. It’s definitely possible to bring this adventurous spirit to ChatGPT, and you can ask questions as open as:
“Where should I travel this month?”
However, as you can see, a general rule of thumb is that the more specific you are in your prompts the better. You could follow up with something more detailed, such as:
“Okay, I’m a fan of city breaks but also love active outdoorsy stuff. I'm open to any destination but I’m budget conscious, and I want to explore somewhere off-the-beaten-track.”
If you like the sound of these suggestions, you can probe deeper into the specific recs or sights it mentions. For example, how you’d go about exploring Georgia’s “‘ancient cave city of Vardzia”.
The key takeaway? Give the chatbot as much information as possible about what you’re into, what your budget is, how long you want to travel for, and anything else that matters to you.
2. WHAT TO DO?
Let’s take a completely different hypothetical trip to Helsinki in Finland (after all, it was ranked the happiest country in the world for the seventh year running). If you’re more into exploring culture than relaxing by a pool (although both options sound pretty dreamy), ChatGPT can make you an action-packed itinerary in no time:
“I’m spending a week in Finland, starting out in Helsinki, can you give me a week-long travel itinerary with food recommendations?”
Something that’s extra neat is that you can change it into a table format which you can easily print off - just ask “Make it into a table format” and ChatGPT will oblige:
3. WHAT TO BRING
Although it’s often overlooked (read: late night panic pack before a 4am flight), bringing the right clothes and gear for the place you’re going can have a pretty big impact on the trip.
To illustrate this, let's go down under to Melbourne in Australia:
“I’m travelling to Melbourne for two weeks to visit a friend, what should I pack?”
Okay - as you can see, it’s important not to be too vague. Let’s try instead:
“I’m travelling to Melbourne for two weeks to visit a friend in winter, and we want to go surfing - what should I pack?”
What ChatGPT can’t do
While ChatGPT can be a holiday gamechanger for all the reasons listed above, there are some things it simply can’t do. It can’t book flights, it won’t provide time-sensitive information like updated visa requirements or recent country-specific travel restrictions, so it’s *always* worth checking these online before booking.
But aside from this, ChatGPT is a great way to streamline the holiday planning process - and as summer slowly but surely rolls around, we wanted to share what we’ve learned with you. And if you have your own chatbot tips for travel planning, let us know! We’d love to hear them.