We took a short break last month during spring break, as we all needed something to revive ourselves from the tedium of the winter months and to give us a kickstart to get our butts off the couch.
It wasn’t planned well in advance, like I normally do. We used ChatGPT to plan a driving route and just booked some Airbnbs along the way wherever we thought made sense.
This is what our route looked like.
Day 1: Drive to Chester Zoo (about 2 hours drive), and spend the whole day. This was on the boy’s wishlist for a really long time, so we made it a priority. We spent the night at Chester (such a pretty town, I wish I had known earlier, we would have stayed longer).
Day 2: Drove to Conwy Castle, and just spent the most glorious day exploring the castle, going up the Great Orme, and then hanging out on the waterfront in Llandudno. This was the best day for the weather. We stayed at a small place near Conwy – very conveniently close to the shore and to many tourist attractions. I am so glad we booked this place for two nights.
Day 3: Drove to Anglesey. The weather was really mixed – bright and sunny, then freezing cold, then howling wind, and then back to normal again. Because of the weather, we couldn’t really do much outdoors, but the place is so beautiful; I wish we’d been there longer. It’s one of those slow travel places – not something to be done in a one-day road trip.
Day 4: Checked out of Conwy and headed down to Snowdonia. On the way, we stopped at Caernarfon Castle. It was supposed to be a brief stop to see from the outside, but because it looked so impressive, we paid up and went in. And it was well worth it! One of the highlights of our trip! The weather was good too, so once we finished Caernarfon, we decided to book the train that goes to the summit of Yr Wyddfa. Big mistake! The weather turned suddenly with gale-force winds and hail near the summit. Because of the weather, the train stopped about 3/4th of the way up. Despite the unpromising weather, we got out and took a few snaps, but it was so windy that we were scared we’d get blown off the mountain
Day 5: We explored the other side of Snowdonia – descending into Beddgelert village, and exploring the copper mines, the osprey sanctuary, and just chilling, enjoying the views all around us. Unfortunately, we might have lingered a bit too long, and we had to drive very fast and for a very long time to make it to our stay. On the way, we passed Harlech Castle, majestic and forbidding in the rain. Sadly, it was closed by the time we reached; otherwise, we might have made a very unwise visit inside (considering the weather, the winding roads, and how far we still had to drive).
Day 6: This was the last day of the trip, and consisted mostly of a long drive back home. On the way, we stopped at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and walked along the aqueduct, enjoying the magnificent views, before continuing our drive back home.
Thoughts on the itinerary
ChatGPT really did me a solid. Before turning to AI, I had done a lot of googling, reading a bunch of travel blogs, watching videos, etc., but I really couldn’t get a handle on driving conditions, places to stay, and weather. Most of the resources focused on hiking and/or other sports, and, if not that, on luxury travel, neither of which we were interested in.
There were some interesting ideas and suggestions, and I used those as a starting point or inspiration while planning our itinerary on ChatGPT. I also gave it some details about us – age ranges, genders, interests, health issues (so it didn’t recommend the multi-day treks). And with this information, it spat out a beautiful, reasonably priced itinerary that worked for the entire family.
The Airbnb recommendations were ace, and overall, I think this is what I am going to do for any future travel – use LLMs to plan the trip.
Bye-bye Google, hello ChatGPT.
More travel posts and pictures to come. There’s so much, I am going to focus mostly on the highlights – the various castles, Llandudno, Anglesey, and the amazing beauty of Snowdonia. LOL, just realized that’s pretty much the entire trip!
