Using AI to Plan Your Perfect Trip: From Simple Questions to Complete Itineraries

How We Used AI to Plan a 6-Week National Parks Adventure

Introduction

Last February (2024), my wife and I embarked on planning an ambitious 5–6 week RV trip through some of America's western national parks. We combined traditional planning methods with AI tools to create our ideal itinerary. This experience taught us valuable lessons about how artificial intelligence can transform travel planning from an overwhelming task into a structured, manageable process. In this post, I'll share both our specific experience and general principles that you can apply to planning any trip.

The Evolution of Our Planning Process

We started with traditional methods—talking to friends, gathering paper travel guides, and conducting web searches. However, the volume of information we had to sort through from Google searches, along with the complexity of coordinating multiple national park visits, RV-friendly routes, as well as activity planning and scheduling, led us to invest more time into AI assistance. ChatGPT had just been released a few months earlier and we were curious. Here's how our planning evolved from basic to comprehensive.

Our Journey to the Perfect AI Chatbot Query

We quickly learned that the quality of AI assistance depends heavily on how well you structure your questions. Back then you also had to be careful how much information you included in your requests as ChatGPT would start to lose track of details. Here’s how our query evolved:

First Query (Too Generic):

"Can you help me plan an RV trip to national parks out west, including Yellowstone, Bryce, and the Grand Tetons?"

The response was generic and raised more questions than answers. We needed to provide more context.

Second Try (Better but turned out to be incomplete):

"I want to plan a 6-week trip in our 23-foot RV from Columbus, OH, to several national parks, including; Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce, Grand Teton, Petrified Forest, Custer State Park, Arches, and Mammoth Cave. We’re traveling in a 23-foot Class C RV and want to leave Columbus, Ohio, on September 3, 2024, taking the northern route to start."

This response provided more specific information but still missed crucial details about our preferences and constraints. There was also no information that could help us decide what we wanted to do in each park or how long we should stay in each park. Back then we continued to refine our query to get all of the information that we needed and we had to break it into segments to keep from overwhelming ChatGPT. Fast forward today where we built a complete query to see what today’s leading bots could do with the same task. The results were better and much easier to achieve.

Updated Detailed Query (January 2025):

After about 10 iterations working with Claude, which was not available in February when we were creating our original trip itinerary , we refined a request that would provide almost all of the information that we needed for the trip. Other than confirming the information Claude and the other AI Chatbots provided, we would still need to do some more research to finalize daily activities. Here's the final version of our Chatbot request:

"I need help planning a 6-week RV trip. Can you provide a day-by-day itinerary? Here are the key details:

Trip Details:

  • Starting date: September 3, 2025

  • Duration: 6 weeks (flexible)

  • Starting and ending location: Columbus, Ohio

About Us:

  • Active travelers who enjoy hiking, biking, and wildlife viewing.

  • Prefer unique natural beauty and are willing to hike or bike to see it.

  • Prioritize spectacular natural views.

  • Spend more time at parks with more spectacular views

Activity Preferences:

  • One strenuous activity per day (10 mile hike or 30 mile bike ride).

  • Can add a short hike or bike ride to strenuous days.

Preferred Accommodations:

  • Stay in national/state park campgrounds.

  • Electrical hookups preferred but not required.

Parks to Visit:
Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Bryce, Arches, Badlands, Zion, Petrified Forest, Mammoth Cave.

Transportation Details:

  • 21-foot Class C RV.

  • Maximum 7–8 hours driving per day.

  • At least 2 nights between long travel days.”

    (End of Query)

    Link to All Chatbot Query Scripts


Snapshot of the Chabot Created Itinerary (Claude output)

Week 6: Zion National Park and Return Journey

Day 28-30 (September 30 - October 2, 2025) - Zion National Park

Travel: Bryce Canyon to Zion (72 miles, 1.5 hours)

Enter through East Entrance

Campground: Watchman Campground (primary), South Campground (secondary)

Activities:

  • Hike Angels Landing Trail (Strenuous, 5.4 miles round trip)

  • Bike Pa'rus Trail (3.5 miles one-way, easy)

  • Hike The Narrows (Moderate to Strenuous, up to 9.4 miles round trip)

    Link to Complete itinerary

Creating Complimentary Documentation

Once we finalized the itinerary, we used the AI Chatbots to create additional documents for better planning:

Trip Summary Table

This table provided a quick reference for dates, locations, and distances.

Here is the query:

“Please create a summary table that has a row for each campground/ park (overnight stay), the dates, the number of days there, a column for the park name, note if the campground is in the destination park, the campground or park address if the campground does not have one,  the miles from last destination, the next park and the miles to it. Transportation mode. This creates a concise view to double check distances and time spent in each destination.”

Summary of the destinations in the itinerary created by AI Chabot, Claude

Itinerary Daily Detailed Summary Table

Next we created a detailed daily summary of the activities from the itinerary created by AI Chabot, Claude. In addition the changing the order or the the information, we suggest that you add a blank “Reservation Confirmation” where you can record the reservation confirmation date and code to help make the logistics of reserving, tracking and checking in on your trip.

Detailed summary of the activities from the itinerary created by AI Chabot, Claude

Here is the query we used to create the table (which is the equivalent of what we used to help us on our trip):

“Please create a table based on the total itinerary you just created. The columns are from left to Right: Date, Weekday, Starting Location, ending city, Destination/Park Name, is the park  Bike Friendly or not, Destination Park Entrance (if applicable), Destination GPS address, Ending Location, the activities for the day, example Hike: Devils Garden Trail to Landscape Arch, miles Traveled, the Primary Campground and accommodations, the primary campground reservation website & phone number, how far in advance you can make reservations for that campground, Backup campground and accommodations. This creates a summary of  your travel and activity itinerary for each day that can be updated (change of location or activities for the day) and used on the trip.”

The equivalent detailed table became indispensable during our travels.

Lessons From Experimenting with Different AI Tools

Do not be afraid to experiment with the content and structure of your requests and make sure that you double check the information provided.

Best Tools:

  • Claude (paid): Exceled at detailed itineraries and consistency. The free version would not complete the task during heavy usage.

  • Perplexity (free): Equally capable and accurate.

Honorable Mention:

  • ChatGPT  (paid): Worked but required continued feedback to provide all of the requested information

Tools to Avoid:

  • Gemini: Struggled with accurate distances and consistency. Unusable

  • Copilot: Struggled with accurate distances and consistency. Would probably work if it was the only choice with a lot of additional effort

The Power of Verification and Refinement

We developed a systematic approach to verify AI-generated information:

  1. Distance Verification: We recommend cross-checking with Google Maps (note: Google Maps limits you to 10 entries including the starting point. You can break the trip into legs as a work around). 

  2. Campground Validation: Confirmed availability, size restrictions, and hookup options. Most of this information is on the Recreation.gov website for the National Parks. State Parks tend to have their own websites.

  3. Activity Assessment: Two points here:

    1. Verified trail conditions and accessibility with AllTrails (paid subscription) and the park websites.

    2. While this is a long trip, that is a lot to see and do at each location. More research is needed to ensure that the activities selected by the Chatbot are the best for you.

Real-World Results: Our Final Itinerary

Our final itinerary balanced activity preferences, driving schedules, and park access. It included:

  • Realistic driving times.

  • Rest days between long drives.

  • Activities for each day that met our criteria with trail ratings

Conclusion

Planning a multi-week trip is no small feat, but AI can transform the process into a manageable and enjoyable experience. By refining your queries and verifying results, you can leverage AI to create a personalized, detailed itinerary that meets your unique needs.

Happy travels!


Resources:

Our original Agenda Table created by working with ChatGPT using trip segments in Feb of 2024

Updated query to generate the complete travel itinerary

The Travel Summary Table 

The Daily Travel Schedule Table 

The New Claude Chatbot Generated 6 week Travel Itinerary (Jan 2025)

Related Content:

Blog: Web Search vs AI Chatbots

Video: Web Search vs AI Chatbots

Blog: Meet the AI Chatbots

Video: Meet the AI Chatbots


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