is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years.
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I was starting to doubt it would ever happen, but I finally found a regular, helpful use for AI: vanlife travel planner.
I’m not a student and I don’t code. I am, however, on day 48 of my van tour through Europe with my wife and dog. We travel without a specific itinerary, chasing the wind and sun while working our 9 to 5 jobs. AI’s mastery of travel planning has made it an unexpected but irreplaceable expert. So much so that we’ve grown increasingly dependent upon the free versions of Gemini and ChatGPT to help choose our next destination.
It all started with a simple query. Tired after a 25km hike with only a few hours left of daylight, 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 query I typed.
Here’s Gemini’s predictably peppy response:
Absolutely! There is a particularly charming village very close to Plitvice Lakes National Park called Rastoke. It is often described as a “fairy-tale” or “watermill village” and is frequently referred to as “Little Plitvice” because it shares a similar natural phenomenon, though on a smaller scale.
So, we took a chance and drove 20 minutes to Rastoke, Croatia, and this is what we found:
Rastoke, Croatia, is truly a fairy tale village. Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
Using the same query in Google search would have led me to Rastoke, eventually, but it would have taken me longer and with more effort. First I’d have to click into the top results, which included Facebook, Tripadvisor, and a site I’d never heard of called islands.com. Next I’d have to click away cookie banners and newsletter offers, and then parse walls of text to find that recommended village. By comparison, Gemini’s result was fast, concise, confident, and text based (no spoilers!) — exactly what I wanted.
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