Plan a two-week Taiwan and Hong Kong trip with a toddler using Gemini and Ask Maps
- Posted
- by New York Times personal tech columnist (via CNA Luxury)
- Last checked
- Method:
- How we verify
Evidence: Article or interviewA newsletter, journalist or interview account of what happened.
Outcome
A New York Times personal tech columnist used Gemini (with personal data from Gmail) and Google Maps' Ask Maps to plan a 14-day Taiwan and Hong Kong trip with their wife and 20-month-old. The columnist says activity planning took only about 30 minutes; Gemini drafted family-friendly daily plans that accounted for jet lag, to-do and packing lists, and found a cheap data plan. But the packing list left out the columnist's own socks and underwear, and in Hong Kong it suggested restaurants near the previous hotel in Taiwan; Ask Maps handled real-time requests better.
Agent
Prompt Recreated prompt
The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.
Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about anything important that's missing below. Keep them quick. Then do the task, checking in with me at the key points. Goal: Help me plan a family trip with a young child: daily plans, packing list and pre-trip tasks. What I can give you (ask for whatever's missing): - Destinations, dates and hotels - Child's age and nap or routine needs - What we enjoy Rules: - Ask 1-3 questions about our pace first. - Plan gentle first days for jet lag and include breaks. - Make packing lists for each person, including basics for adults. - Add a pre-trip checklist (passports, data plan, bookings). - If a site asks for a login, a CAPTCHA or payment details, stop and hand control back to me. - Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. Output: Daily plans, packing lists and a pre-trip checklist. You'll know it worked when: we follow the plan without missing essentials or overtiring the child.
Try this in:
Sends the Recreated prompt shown above. ChatGPT and Grok open with it filled in, and ChatGPT may send it straight away. Gemini opens empty, so we copy the prompt for you to paste. Every button also copies it.
Opens in a new tab. We don't see what you send.
These links are only a shortcut. We're not affiliated with OpenAI, Google or xAI, and your results may not match the source.
Optional stronger version
Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.
Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about anything important that's missing below. Keep them quick. Then do the task, checking in with me at the key points. Goal: Help me plan a family trip with a young child: daily plans, packing list and pre-trip tasks. What I can give you (ask for whatever's missing): - Destinations, dates and hotels - Child's age and nap or routine needs - What we enjoy Rules: - Ask 1-3 questions about our pace first. - Plan gentle first days for jet lag and include breaks. - Make packing lists for each person, including basics for adults. - Add a pre-trip checklist (passports, data plan, bookings). - If a site asks for a login, a CAPTCHA or payment details, stop and hand control back to me. - Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. - On the ground, double-check that recommendations are near where you are now. Output: Daily plans, packing lists and a pre-trip checklist. You'll know it worked when: we follow the plan without missing essentials or overtiring the child. Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.
Source
https://cnaluxury.channelnewsasia.com/experiences/ai-travel-plan-gemini-vacation-293626
Related cases
Over two weeks in Vietnam, Android Police's Parth Shah used Gemini to check weather by region, which showed he'd need warm clothes for Ba Na Hills and Sa Pa, and to build packing lists, shopping hotspots and a list of pure vegetarian restaurants he saved in Google Keep. On the trip it helped him check snacks for eggs and hidden allergens and explained the history behind temples and old towns.
Gemini · Travel · Source date:
- Plan a four-day family trip to London with ChatGPT, then have hotel concierges catch what it got wrong (partial)Recreated promptEvidence: Article or interviewPartialBeginner-friendly
Carley Thornell, a working parent, spent a few hours going back and forth with ChatGPT to plan a four-day London trip with their 6-year-old, ending up with a spreadsheet itinerary. On the ground, hotel concierges caught what it missed: a V&A exhibit sold out since day one with no walk-ups, a way into the British Museum's Egypt wing when general tickets were gone, a nut-free restaurant pick (Ping Pong) that had closed the previous year despite a 'permanently closed' flag on Google, and suggested bus routes 11 and 15 that don't go to the Science Museum or Hamleys. A rail strike the week they were there wasn't something ChatGPT could know. Some of its dining picks still worked out for the family.
ChatGPT · Travel · Source date:
- Plan a Hong Kong trip with Gemini, Grok and ChatGPT (some addresses were made up)Recreated promptEvidence: Described by posterPartial
A traveller planned a Hong Kong trip mainly with Gemini, using Grok and ChatGPT as extras, to organise locations, build itineraries, make packing lists and turn store addresses into Google Maps links. The traveller says routes were logical and personalised, but the AIs sometimes produced convincing addresses that didn't exist, and got names, opening hours or whether shops were still open wrong. Next time they'd verify every important detail on maps and official sites.
Gemini, Grok, ChatGPT · Travel · Source date: