Please sign in to post.

England 30 day plan - AI vs. Me - with this Forum's help

Posted by (Seattle, WA) on

Interesting. As I am closing in on a travel plan for next May, just for grins I asked Trip Advisor's AI bot the following:

30 days in England with 7 nights in London, two leisure cycle tours, historic houses and gardens.

It came up with:

  • Days 1–4: London (4 nights) — parks + palaces + gardens
  • Days 5–10: Cornwall (6 nights) — Leisure e‑bike tour #1: Camel Trail + a
    blockbuster garden
  • Days 11–16: Bath + Cotswolds edge (6 nights)
    — Leisure e‑bike tour #2 + classic landscaped estates Bike Cotswolds manor-country.
  • Days 17–22: York + North Yorkshire (6 nights) — abbeys + grand estates + gardens
  • Days 23–25: Peak District (3 nights) — England’s great stately home day
  • Days 26–30: London (3 nights) [QUERY - Can AI count? The nights of Days 26, 27, 28 and 29 = 4. But its all good.]

Compared to what I have been looking at, most recently

  • Days 1-7 - London (incl. Greenwich, which AI did not suggest)
  • Days 8-10 - Peak Dist. (incl. Chatsworth)
  • Days 11-15 - Lake Dist. leisure cycle (incl. Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth Houses)
  • Days 16-18 - Stratford and Warwick or Baddsley Clinton
  • Days 19-24 - Cotswolds to Bath Leisure Cycle
  • Day 25 - Bath (2 nights)
  • Day 26 - To Salisbury by Car (Interestingly, AI suggested Stourhead, which has been on my list, as well)
  • Days 27-29 - Sussex and Kent/Canterbury by Car
  • Day 30 - Fly Home (If we add Cambridge/East Anglia, that would add about 3 more days. THAT is a family discussion.)

The Lake District was always on my itinerary; not on AI's. Kent/Sussex is shown in the AI thought process, but did not make the grade at the end.

Quite some time ago, with your help, I added the Peak Dist. and the car trip from Bath to Kent. Months ago, I struck Cornwall and York. You just can't do it all.

My thoughts about this exercise ...

  • I think AI did pretty well, overall. Moreover, I had not identified Cornwall's Camel Trail.
  • I am fine that we added the trip from Bath to Canterbury, even at the expense of Cornwall.
  • Yes we are missing York/Yorkshire, but I am looking forward to the Lake District which was on my radar from the start.
  • In terms of transportation, as well as places to see, I think Stratford/Warwickshire fits well.
  • The idea of splitting up London so that we would spend 4 nights there at the start and 3 nights at the end is worthy of consideration. LATE NOTE: an idea we have embraced.
Posted by
6052 posts

I did something similar a couple of weeks ago using Google's AI for a trip from London to Bamburgh. It was a broad based question and I kept the conversation going with 9 follow-up questions as I took the info it gave me and asked more specific questions. It also did a good job and even referenced this Forum a few times including a question I had asked previously.

Posted by
164 posts

Allan - so good to use the follow-up prompts with AI. AND so interesting it reference the forum!@ OMG It is giving us our advice!

Posted by
2037 posts

Whilst AI has identified the Camel Trail it has given you an answer that, whilst correct, is not actually what you wanted. Understandable I'm guessing if you were not specific about wanting a multi-day cycle tour. The Camel Trail is lovely and in fact I will be on it some time in the next two weeks with my granddaughter, it's only a one day ride on an old railway line along the River Camel estuary

Posted by
12878 posts

I have been using AL on my current trip more than I ever have in the past and it has been invaluable. I used it to find charging stations for my EV in Norway, I actually asked how to charge the car and how to find out what chargers my car can use.

It gave me great info on places that my daughter could run in the morning. She was very pleased with most of recommendation.

I used it to find out information on museums we were going to. And asked it to help me with the drive through Norway so that we did not go over any really high switchback roads up in the mountains. The routes it gave me were very beautiful and very scenic, and I felt comfortable through almost all of them. Some were very high but AI was quick to tell me that they were not the steep drop offs that I am really afraid of. And it was correct.

Posted by
2211 posts

I find AI really useful. I’ve been using it for day trips. Say I want to visit a National Trust property I’ll ask what else is around and get it to suggest a nice 1-2 hour walk as well. Makes planning a good day out in an unfamiliar location so easy.

Posted by
3986 posts

Just piping in to say that I have been using it as well and finding it very useful!

Posted by
10378 posts

We did a four week drive tour of England and S. Wales in 2017 and loved the British countryside. We didn't do London at all.

I disagree with your skipping York and Yorkshire. York was our favorite city on our trip. Also, we loved driving over the Yorkshire Moors to Tenby.
We did 3 days in the Lake District and enjoyed it, but sorry, we loved the Yorkshire Moors MORE.
The Lake District is great for hiking an outdoor stuff, but check the weather in May, it will be cool.

Also, why say no to Cornwall and Devon which has fantastic scenic views. It can be crowded, but plan carefully. We did a Rabbies Tour there and our guide knew how to avoid major traffic delays.

You aren't visiting Winchester or Stonehenge?? Check them out.
Warwick was good, but not as good as Winchester.
Also, consider adding Durham.
You mentioned Stratford, hope that is Stratford upon Avon. If you liked Shakespeare it is wonderful. Go to Shakespeare's birth place and sign up for the four site tour.

Posted by
982 posts

geovagriffith

You can never do it all is part of “why”.

Part of it is two four-day/five-night leisure cycle tours that won’t be too hilly (Lake Dist and Cotswolds). Stonehenge will be on our hit parade. And yes, Stratford-on-Avon (3-nights with a day trip, perhaps by bike to Baddesley Clinton for its history. Anne Vaux & Father Henry Garnet. And hopefully some cycling in the Peak District. That could get us up to 10 or 11 days cycling, which is important to my wife.

Cambridge and East Anglia has squeaked its way back into our plan (3 nights), as well as Salisbury (1 night) on our way to Kent (our one journey by car, 3-nights in Turnbridge Wells, via Portsmouth and with a day trip to Canterbury). Total trip time 31 nights, 30 full days in England.

Five full days (4 + 3 nights) in London to see what we’ve missed before when we’ve stayed with friends who lived in Hampstead and Bayswater.

You can never do it all and Cornwall and York fell off my initial plan that had included them.

Four trips to France since 1999, for a total of two months, and we’ve not made it to Normandy, Carcassonne, the Pyrenees, the French Alps or the Riviera. We’re in our 70s and our first-ever trip to Yellowstone NP is planned for September, if climate change and wildfire season don’t get in the way.

Posted by
37145 posts

on your visit to Baddesley Clinton - a really good choice, especially for the history - you might also go just down the road a couple of miles and pop into Packwood House. I was there just day before yesterday and they are as always on fine form.

Be careful - I know you will be - cycling around there. The roads are quite narrow, lots of sharp bends, and there is more traffic than you might expect. Locals are used to cyclists but you do need to have your wits about you.

Baddesley Clinton used to be my "local" National Trust property.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.