This spring break, I will be heading to Spain. As you know, if you’ve been following this blog, my daughter, Macey, is doing a study abroad program there.
This blog is seeking information from you. When you travel, do you research and book everything yourself? Or do you use a travel agent?
The last time I traveled to Europe, Italy with Macey to celebrate her high school graduation, I tried to research and book things myself. I subscribed to blogs. I questioned friends that had been to Italy. I used the Internet. I joined groups on Facebook. I soon became overwhelmed with all of the information.
I ended up contacting a local travel agency, who forwarded me to an affiliate agent. Working with a travel agent was not without its issues. Mainly the issue was me. Trusting someone I had never met to plan a perfect trip for my daughter’s graduation celebration to a foreign country, was a giant leap for me.
With this trip to Spain, I’m feeling more confident. I’ve been to Europe before so I have an idea of what to expect. Macey is already there and knows a lot of the “things” so what I don’t know hopefully she will. There is this amazing thing called ChatGPT that will help plan your trip.
I subscribed to Facebook Spain travel groups. I’ve joined travel Spain blogs. I asked ChatGPT for help planning. Everything was going just fine. It was going fine until I gave ChatGPT this prompt:
I was once again bombarded with information. Plane information, train information, potential itineraries, and pricing. People book their trips using AI all of the time now, but I honestly have no idea how they do it! I ended up contacting the travel agent that I used for our trip to Italy. That was fifteen days ago. Aside from the initial response of “yes, I would love to help book your trip to Spain.” I have heard nothing else. Is this unusual for a travel agent? Are my expectations too high when I hope to hear from them with an update every now and again?
Molly just traveled to Spain to visit Macey and used ChatGPT to plan her trip. Her travel from Grand Rapids to Spain, and back, went smoothly, so I know it can be done. What are your thoughts? Do you prefer to use a travel agent? Research and book yourself? or are you embracing AI to handle the details?
Sorry, this blog is a tad late. Okay, really late. I set a goal for myself to read 50 books in 2025, and when I realized that I was a bit behind on my goal, I spent all of my extra time reading instead of writing. One benefit of this reading binge is a future blog, list, and reviews of my 2025 reads. If you are an avid reader like I am, check out Thrift Books. I’ve found some great deals!
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