The winter break is here, and if you're planning on hitting the road for New Year's Eve, it's a good idea to start thinking about your road trip route now so you can avoid the worst traffic and see the best sights along the way.

A friend sent me a list of artificial intelligence tools they used to make trip planning easier. This list included Curiosio, an AI trip planning tool that provides a map, budget and calculated trip length for you within seconds. My ears perked up, imagining its potential output speed.

How does Curiosio use AI?

My nonnegotiables for an AI trip planner list include a bright and accessible interface, little to no fees and inspiration for my upcoming trip. Curiosio delivered. 

The tool was created by Vas Mylko and Roman Bilusiak to support solo, budget-conscious and multistop travelers seeking personalized road trip experiences that feature cost breakdowns and flexible itineraries.

The free, AI-powered platform offers features like route optimization, detailed itineraries with maps, cost and time breakdowns, and detailed guides to destinations. 

Between its Geek, Travel and Beta modes, Curiosio compiles quite a few tools to help navigate and embellish your getaway, regardless of what kind of adventure you're going on.

Watch this: I Used Google's Gemini Gem to Plan My Trip

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What I particularly enjoyed about Curiosio was the focus on road trips instead of trying to be an all-in-one travel planner. I also enjoyed its country-specific branding, which includes a hot air balloon adorned with each nation's flag, and a typeface reminiscent of an Indiana Jones PC game. With many sleek-yet-sterile tech brands on the market, I thought this gave the website a sweet touch.

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How to plan a road trip with AI   

Let's first break down the three modes within Curiosio: Travel, Geek and Beta. 

Travel Mode is for travelers or busybodies who want a simplified, real-time guide. Needless to say, I fall into this category. Here, you can follow your itinerary with directions and context-aware tips. This is perfect if you want hands-off-the-wheel support. 

There's also Geek Mode, for the detail-driven, perfectionist folks who want control over every detail of their trip. Direct that friend or partner over to this mode so they can put all that energy in Curiosio, and not on you. Here you can customize routing, add filters and use logic to the best of your planning ability. 

And Beta Mode is for the innovative, experimental type who not only thrives off novelty but loves diving into a new thing before anyone else. Here you can get access to AI enhancements (and bugs) but also try out new features. At the time of writing, Curiosio was developing its membership to focus on the travel experience. 

This is how to use Curiosio's travel tool:

1. Head to the website and enter your country. 
2. Once selected, navigate to the top and select Travel to enter your starting point and desired destination(s) for your road trip. Specify dates, duration and your budget preferences.  
3. Let the AI do its thing and create a personalized road trip plan. Curiosio promises that this will not take longer than 100 seconds. For reference, my plans were generated in about 35 seconds. 
4. Review the suggested routes. My output generated four itineraries, ranging in budget and trip length. You can toggle to see the full itinerary breakdown, including a day-by-day itinerary, hotels and budget allocation. 
5. Modify by adding or removing the destination to start over, or adjust the travel dates or budget to better fit your needs. 
6. Once you're satisfied, finalize your itinerary. This is where you can export the plan to your preferred format or integrate with other mapping tools. Head to the upper right corner of your trip itinerary and select Google Maps from the dropdown menu, or copy the link over to your preferred GPS system. 
7. Then use Google Maps or your GPS system to monitor real-time traffic, plus check out any interesting spots between your starting point and your trip's destination. (Though an integrated traffic monitoring system would be a beneficial addition to Curiosio.)

Should you use AI to plan your road trip?

Curiosio is an easy and ideal tool for independent travelers who crave flexibility, customization and a touch of adventure -- especially those planning multistop road trips. 

I see it as a great fit for digital nomads, couples, small groups or anyone taking a chaotic road trip with family who want a streamlined way to create detailed itineraries without relying on prepackaged tours. 

If you're someone who enjoys the planning process but wants help optimizing routes while also discovering hidden gems, Curiosio can be a time-saving, dopamine-boosting tool. It's also particularly useful for travelers who are budget-conscious but still want well-rounded travel experiences with context tailored to the places they're going. I found the tool easy to navigate, and it definitely helped me save time.

Now, Curiosio might not be the best choice for travelers seeking all-inclusive vacations, group tours or spontaneous getaways. If you prefer to book flights and resorts, or if your travel is centered around staying in one city the entire time, the platform's road trip-focused approach may feel unnecessary and somewhat rudimentary. 

It's safe to say that if you're seeking an easy, functional and road trip-focused AI tool to support and speed up your planning process, Curiosio is a simple and functional option.

Planning in seconds is an ideal compromise. Now, if only it could pack for me, too.