THE INDEPENDENT TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO AI ITINERARY PLANNING
Stop Spending Your Entire Weekend Planning What to Do on Your Next Trip
A step-by-step system for using free AI tools to build personalised day-by-day itineraries you can actually trust — no cookie-cutter suggestions, no made-up places, just the perfect trip for you.
First 50 members receive a personal itinerary review. Gone when spots fill.
SOUND FAMILIAR
You Already Know the Problem
You've spent days planning a single trip. Dozens of browser tabs. Conflicting blog posts. Spreadsheets mapping which attractions are near each other. Hours comparing accommodation across booking sites. And that nagging feeling you're still missing something.
You've probably heard AI can help. Maybe you tried it. You typed something like this:
"Plan 7 days in Italy"
And got a generic tourist checklist that could be for literally anyone. Colosseum, Vatican, gondola ride. The same itinerary every travel blog already gives you for free. So you went back to the manual way. The entire-weekend way.
Here's what most people don't realise: AI travel planning works remarkably well — but only if you know how to give it the right inputs and how to catch the inevitable mistakes before they ruin your trip. That's what this course teaches.
"I've been planning my own trips for years — weeks of research, every detail covered. I tried AI myself and got mediocre results. Then Sharyn showed me her structured prompt framework, and everything changed. I was totally blown away. The difference between asking AI a vague question and working through this system is the difference between a generic response and genuinely actionable intelligence. A game changer — and I've only done the research stage."
THE COMPLETE SYSTEM
What's Inside the Course
6 modules that take you from "AI gives me rubbish results" to a verified, personalised, trip-ready itinerary you can actually trust.
MODULE 1
Foundations
What AI can and can't do. No hype. Includes a 15-minute hands-on challenge so you can test it yourself before investing further.
MODULE 2
Smart Research
AI-accelerated destination research. Build your three lists — must-see, nice-to-have, avoid — that transform generic output into personalised results.
MODULE 3
Your Travel DNA
Define how YOU travel. Build once, update in 15 minutes for every future trip. This is what makes AI plan for you — not generic tourist #47.
MODULE 4
The Prompt & Verification
Assemble everything into a comprehensive prompt. Run verification protocols that catch closed restaurants, outdated prices, and hallucinated attractions.
MODULE 5
Manual Checks & Refinement
The critical 10% AI can't verify itself. What to check manually, how to refine, and how to finalise a plan you can actually trust.
MODULE 6
You're Ready
Your complete toolkit, next steps, and how to execute your plan with confidence. Go plan your trip.
Plus 5 Course Reference Appendices
The course also includes five appendices integral to the methodology — built into the course framework, cross-referenced throughout, and yours to keep:
Appendix 1: AI Platform Comparison Guide — which free tools work best for what, and when to use each one
Appendix 2: Research Prompt Library — deep-dive prompts for complex trips, unusual destinations, and niche needs
Appendix 3: Accommodation Booking Guide — AI for neighbourhood evaluation, platforms for searching and booking
Appendix 4: Getting There & Getting Around — flight routing, intercity transport, rail pass evaluation
Appendix 5: Worked Examples — complete real-world examples of the system in action, from research through to verified itinerary
Bonus Guides — Included
01
Book Smart: The Independent Traveler's Guide to Timing It Right
Secure what matters. Save where you can. Keep the flexibility you need.
You've planned your trip. Now comes the booking dilemma: What do you lock in now? What can wait? What actually sells out — and what just says it does? This guide cuts through the noise. You'll learn which attractions, transport, and restaurants genuinely book out (and how far ahead), the timing patterns that save money on flights and accommodation, the booking tricks experienced travelers use, and the mistakes that cost people money or flexibility. No fluff, no basics you already know. Just practical insights so you book with confidence — securing what matters without over-committing to a rigid schedule.
02
Tour vs Pass vs DIY Decision Guide
Should I book a tour? Get a city pass? Or just figure it out myself?
This guide gives you a framework for making that decision — because the answer depends on your priorities, not a one-size-fits-all rule. It covers guided group tours, private guides, city passes, skip-the-line tickets, audio guide apps, and going fully independent. It includes a cost comparison method and a decision checklist so you stop guessing and start choosing with confidence.
03
The Pre-Departure Checklist: From Booking to Boarding and Beyond
Everything you need to do — from the moment you book to the moment you leave.
You've got your itinerary. Now make sure everything else is sorted before you go. This checklist covers it all — visas, vaccinations, cards, insurance, bookings, home prep, emergency contacts, offline access, packing — organised by when to do it. From the moment you book (passport expiry, visa lead times, housesitter arrangements) through to the morning you leave (what to keep in your carry-on, final home checks). No more 3 am panic about whether you've forgotten something. Work through the timeline, tick the boxes, and leave with confidence.
04
Your Backup Plan: How to Prepare for When Technology Fails
Set up once, travel with confidence — a lost phone doesn't have to mean disaster.
No signal. Dead battery. Lost phone. Any of these can turn a great trip into a stressful scramble — unless you've prepared. This guide shows you how to set up your offline safety net: maps that work without data, confirmations you can access anywhere, physical backups for the essentials, and a recovery plan if your phone disappears. One setup session before you leave. Confidence for the entire trip.
05
One Prompt, One Packing List: Tailored to Your Itinerary
Stop guessing what to pack. Let your itinerary decide
You've built your itinerary. Now let it tell you what to pack. This prompt template generates a packing list tailored to your specific trip — destinations, weather, activities, luggage constraints, and personal needs. No more generic lists. No more forgetting the adapter or overpacking "just in case." Copy the prompt, add your details, and get a checklist you can actually use.
7–9 hrs
First trip using the system
(You're learning the framework)
3-4 hrs
Every trip after (your Travel DNA & basic prompts are already built)
25+ hrs
Typical manual planning time for the same trip
"I've relied on guidebooks for as long as I've been travelling — Rick Steves for Europe, trusted guides for everywhere else. I was skeptical that AI had anything to add. But Sharyn's course showed me how to write the right prompts — and once I could do that myself, everything changed.
Claude found things that weren't in my guidebooks, weren't on travel forums, and weren't in any blog I'd ever read. Including invaluable information on navigating bullet train tickets in Japan that I simply couldn't find anywhere else.
For our next trip to France, I'll use Claude first, then cross-reference with Rick Steves. My guidebooks still come with me. Now Claude does too. I'm in my 70s and I'm just getting started."
★ Foounding Member Access
Everything You Need to Plan Better Trips, Faster.
The complete course package at a genuine early-adopter price — plus a personal itinerary review for the first 50 members. Once those spots fill, that offer is gone permanently.
📚
The Complete Course + All 5 Bonus Guides + 5 Reference Appendices
All 6 modules plus every bonus guide (Book Smart, Tours/Pass/DIY, Pre-Departure Checklist, Your Backup Plan, One Prompt One Packing List) and all five course reference appendices (AI Platform Comparison, Research Prompt Library, Accommodation Booking Guide, Getting There & Getting Around, Worked Examples). Access opens 25 March - work at your own pace alongside your AI tool.
♾
Lifetime Access — Every Update Included
The course will grow: new modules, updated prompts as AI tools evolve, new case studies. Pay once. Get everything forever.
🌍
One Year Free — The AI Itinerary Lab
A private community for independent travelers using the AI itinerary planning system. Share itineraries, get feedback from fellow travelers, troubleshoot together, access ongoing tips as AI tools evolve. After your free year: $9/month — cancel anytime, no obligation.
Founding Members join first and help shape the culture from day one. The community is where the real-world edge cases get solved — unusual destinations, complex multi-country routes, trips with specific needs. It's also where some of your best future travel ideas will come from.
The community launches with the course. The more Founding Members who join, the richer and more active it becomes from the start — which is exactly why this offer exists.
📋
Personal Itinerary Review
After you complete the course and build your first itinerary, submit it directly to Sharyn. She'll review it personally — what you did well, where the gaps are, specific suggestions for your actual trip. Not a template. Not automated. A real review of your real itinerary.
After the first 50 members, this becomes a paid consultancy — priced at a level that will make her want to stay at her computer rather than be out seeing the sights. The first 50 members get it included. When those spots fill, this offer is gone permanently.
🚀
Advanced Course — Early Access & Early-Bird Pricing - COMING SOON!
The next course is already in development. Founding Members get first access at early-bird pricing when it launches. The Advanced Course goes deeper into techniques experienced users want:
· Using AI during your trip — real-time problem solving, alternatives on the fly, translation help
· Zero Trust Verification — super-verification for when you need absolute certainty· Advanced AI techniques — Claude Projects, custom instructions, skills, and workflows
· Post-trip applications — journals, photo organisation, turning travel into content
· Turn your skills into income — using what you've learned as a side hustle, helping others plan
This course is complete without the Advanced Course. It's for those who want to go further.
Core course — 6 modules + 5 appendices
$197
5 bonus guides
$75
Personal itinerary review (First 50 Only)
$97
1 year community access ($9/month)
$108
Total Value
$477
REGULAR PRICE $197
$67
Price is in USD. One-time payment · Instant Access. · Lifetime course access · 1 year free community · 30-day guarantee
⚡ First 50 members receive a personal itinerary review. When those spots fill, that offer is gone permanently.
Who Am I?
I'm Sharyn Nilsen, and I've been planning trips for over 30 years — across 140+ countries and overseas territories, through every iteration of travel technology from paper guidebooks to whatever AI becomes next week. I've planned lazy days in Tbilisi and activity-packed weeks in Lisbon - and I started long before the internet existed to help me. Which either makes me very experienced or very old. Possibly both.
For most of those years, planning a trip properly meant hours of research, cross-referencing sources, and still arriving somewhere to discover the one thing I should have known about. AI didn't just speed that up — it genuinely changed what's possible. My last trip to Hong Kong was proof: the most customised, enjoyable trip I've taken, planned in a fraction of the usual time.
I built this course because the methodology works, and because 30 years of hard-won experience shouldn't have to stay mine.
A Guarantee That Actually Means Something
If you've worked through the course, tried the system on a real trip, and reached out for support — either through the community or directly to me — and still feel it hasn't improved your planning, I'll refund you in full within 30 days. No interrogation. If it didn't work for you, you shouldn't pay for it. Simple as that.
YOU'RE NOT ON YOUR OWN
Support At Every Stage
✍
Personal Itinerary Review
The first 50 members submit their first completed itinerary for direct personal feedback. What's working, what needs refining, specific suggestions for your actual trip.
FIRST 50 MEMBERS
🧪
THE AI Itinerary Lab
A private community for course students — share your itinerary, ask questions, and swap discoveries with fellow travelers who are planning the same way you are.
ALL MEMBERS
📧
Direct Email Access
Email Sharyn directly at any point. Every email is read and answered personally. If something isn't working for you, that's a conversation worth having.
ALL MEMBERS
Common Questions
Do I need to pay for AI subscriptions?
No. The course works entirely with free tools: ChatGPT (free version), Claude, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot.
I've never used AI before. Can I really do this?
Yes. We start from absolute zero — which website to visit, what to type. If you can use Google, you can do this.
Will AI make my itinerary generic?
Only if you give it generic input. By the time you reach Module 4, you'll have specific research, a detailed travel profile, and clear preferences that produce itineraries genuinely tailored to you.
What if AI gives me wrong information?
It will. That's exactly why Modules 4 and 5 exist. You'll learn a verification approach that catches errors before they become problems. AI drafts, you verify. You're the editor, not the passenger.
What support is available if I get stuck?
Three channels. The first 50 members get a personal itinerary review after completing the course — direct feedback on their actual work. All members have access to the AI Lab - A private community for course students where you can share your itinerary, ask questions, and swap discoveries with fellow travelers who are planning the same way you are. And you can email Sharyn directly at any point — every email is read and answered personally.
Is there a refund policy?
Yes. If you've worked through the course, tried the system on a real trip, and reached out for support — through the community or directly by email — and still feel it hasn't improved your itinerary planning, I'll refund you in full within 30 days. If it didn't work for you, you shouldn't pay for it. Simple as that.
Ready to Plan Better Trips
in a Fraction of the Time?
One payment. Instant Access. Everything included — the complete course, five bonus guides, five reference appendices, one year free community access, and lifetime updates. For $67. Price moves to $197 at full release.
Still have questions?
Email directly: Timshazz@catchourtravelbug.com — every email is read and answered personally.
Subscribe here for free