Go ahead! Dream With AI, but Plan With People Who Know You.

I have been hearing quite a bit lately about artificial intelligence replacing travel advisors. Apparently, AI is coming for my job.

I'm not losing sleep over it.

In fact, at The Joy of Travel, we use AI ourselves—and we use it often. It is a terrific brainstorming partner. It can introduce us to a little-known village, suggest an unusual museum or help us look at a familiar destination in a new way.

But we never confuse a suggestion with a recommendation.

AI can create a beautiful itinerary in seconds, filled with romantic cobblestone streets, hidden restaurants and charming hotels. What it may not understand is that those cobblestones can be murder on an injured knee—or that the “short walk” to the hotel includes 73 steps and a hill that feels suspiciously like Everest.

That is where we come in.

Please bring us your AI discoveries

If you have been talking to ChatGPT, Claude or another AI tool about your next trip, please do not hide it from us. We will not gasp, clutch our pearls or add your name to a list of travel-advisor traitors.

Bring us what you found. Show us the itinerary that excited you, the hotel that caught your attention or the place you had never considered before. Those ideas help us understand what is calling to you.

Then we ask the questions that turn an appealing list of possibilities into a trip that truly fits.

Is the location as convenient as it appears? Is the schedule realistic? Does the itinerary allow time to experience a place? Is the hotel charming—or “charming” in the tiny-room, no-elevator, no A/C sense of the word?

Most importantly: Is it right for you?

AI knows destinations. We know our travelers.

AI may know that a museum is famous. We may know that you would rather wander through a market, talk with a local guide or sit at a café watching everyday life unfold.

It may suggest six countries in twelve days because it is technically possible. We may know that you want to come home with stories—not just luggage tags and a desperate need for a two day nap.

We consider your dreams, your preferred pace, your physical abilities and limitations, and the needs of everyone traveling with you. We also consider your budget: where spending more will genuinely improve the experience and where saving money will not diminish what matters.

AI cannot automatically know that one traveler considers a five-mile hike exhilarating while another considers the walk from the breakfast buffet to the omelet station sufficient morning exercise.

Technology plus human judgment

We combine AI with firsthand experience, professional relationships, continuing education and feedback from real travelers. We investigate, verify and question. We look at how all the pieces work together—not merely whether each piece looks attractive on its own.

We also know that travel does not always behave itself. Flights change, weather interferes and carefully planned connections unravel. When that happens, a chatbot can offer general advice. Your travel advisor understands your actual trip and can help determine what needs to happen next.

AI is a useful tool, and we are excited about the ways it helps us work more efficiently and explore more possibilities. But it has never watched your face light up when you talk about seeing elephants in the wild. It does not know why visiting your grandparents’ homeland matters or why this particular family trip feels so important.

Travel is personal because people are personal.

So go ahead—dream with AI. Ask wild questions. Explore destinations you cannot yet pronounce. Discover what makes you stop and think, “I want to see that.”

Then bring those ideas to us.

Together, we will shape them into a journey that works for your interests, your body, your budget and your life—because the goal is not to create a trip that merely sounds wonderful.

The goal is to create one that will actually be wonderful for you.

Use the internet and AI to dream as widely as you like. Then bring those dreams to us. We’ll help you separate what merely sounds wonderful from what will actually be wonderful for you.

Your Globetrotting Friend,
Joy