I have always had a bit of a “love-hate” relationship with AI since it has become more accessible to the masses. 

Even though AI has been influencing our lives for many years, the last few seem like an explosion of AI-generated content and images, and it’s getting harder to distinguish whether what you are seeing is real or if the correspondence you are having is with a BOT or a person.

Don’t get me wrong, AI has its place (que evil mastermind chuckle), just like most inventions, it was primarily, I guess, developed to help us, but like any invention, it can also be used against us.

Yep, I use it too, to nut out ideas, go over my shocking spelling and grammar, and remove a lot of the unnecessary words I tend to use or insert the correct “the” or “and” as I tend to leave a lot of these, what I think to be unessential words, out. It’s quick to generate Social Media content from an idea when otherwise it could take hours, and I love how it helps me create spreadsheets! I am even going to get old Chat to run its eye over this copy (I wonder what it will think?)

But AI can be wrong. Always get whatever AI platform you use to check its own facts, especially if you have that gut feeling it may not be 100% correct.

But what I want to get to is how this is impacting how we view and experience the world in our travels?

Wanting to create an itinerary or packing list?

Well, yes, AI has got you covered and does help reduce the overwhelm of organising your trip, but it does not know you!

Use this as a guideline, but please still do your own research. Even searching via Google has changed with the AI model; rather than letting you in the “library” to give you options of what you want to read, it is now picking those books for you based on your past searches (using a library as a metaphor). So the opportunity to stumble across something new and different outside your normal realm is getting smaller, and that is also what makes travel so wonderful…experiencing the “unknown” or experiencing something you normally would never have chosen.

It may not know you hate crowds or hot climates. It may not know you are craving rest over activities, or a desire to be pushed out of your comfort zone.

We already know where we are going before we get there.

Through social media, we are able to experience a destination without leaving the comfort of our homes. This has been wonderful on so many levels, but now, what is truly authentic or overly curated or AI-generated?

And with AI-generated itineraries and SM must-do prompts, we are not experiencing an opportunity to just “get lost”, or take that extra turn and discover that incredible cafe, gallery, or hidden gem. We go to the highlight reel we see on SM and tick those things off, sometimes being disappointed as it wasn’t quite like the image you saw on SM, with queues of people and no opportunity to actually take a place in. Some of the best experiences I have,  ironically, have come from getting lost. Disclaimer: Please do use a good offline map when traveling, as I don’t want you to totally, truly get lost!

Through the media, you can not take in all the other senses traveling bombards you with…the smells that may linger (good and bad), the heat, the sweat sticking to your hair. The way the sun hits things at a certain time of day, and the tastes of different countries, which delight the senses. The noise and sometimes the silence. The sore feet and back from hours of travel, the red eyes from lack of sleep. The exhilaration and rushing blood of trying a new exciting activity, and the warm moments of human connection. This is something AI can never truly replace.

Remember, AI is a great tool to add to your travel “tool-kit”.

Like any good toolkit, you need more than one tool. This is the same when it comes to what you use to research and help you in your travels. Using AI to help you, like:

• Building a rough itinerary
• Comparing tour company offerings
• Packing list for the country of your destination
• Checklists
• Flight option comparisons

But always compare and do due diligence  on any important information, such as:

• Entry requirements to a country (make sure you use the official immigration site-not 3rd parties, and make the search for the current dates you are traveling).
• Check for public holidays and events for the dates you are traveling, as these could majorly impact your itinerary
• Reviews-check various sources

 In review, travel is a very HUMAN experience.

Each of us will have our own very personal travel experience.

I have seen for myself where you can have two people doing exactly the same activities and seeing the same things, but their views and how they experienced that certain thing can be totally different. What one person may experience isn’t necessarily going to be what you experience, so don’t rely on AI or SM to tell you how it will impact you; that is 100% up to you. But isn’t that a wonderful thing? 

I always tell people, “travel with no expectations, you are then never disappointed” (well, within reason, other than that dodgy accommodation using photos from 20 years ago!). 

Be human, have human interactions with real people, seriously, that is one of the best things about travel ….. the people you meet, and you never know where those interactions may lead!

PS….I actually didn’t run this through AI, only spell check, so if there is an “oopsie,” that’s on me!

*Reference: SM is for Social Media

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