Using AI to Plan (and Debug) a 15-Day EV Road Trip

I had some time on my hands, along with my son’s summer holidays - and decided that it was a great time to run my EV through its paces and go on a road trip. However, we didn’t want to go to the usual hill stations around Delhi, as the traffic during summers is horrendous and my wife gets severe motion sickness.

So, I decided to experiment and handed over the planning to AI (Gemini and Claude). Not as a travel agent. As a technical collaborator that could hold all the constraints simultaneously and run the math when I asked it to.

TLDR

Used Claude and Gemini as a planning tool for 15-day EV road trip, Gurgaon to Central India and back — fed them hard constraints (no mountains, EV range math, MPT properties throughout, specific family requirements), iterated three times until the route stopped looking like a temple tour, then used the same thread to pivot mid-trip when Jabalpur’s boat activities were suspended overnight after a boat accident.

2,931km. ₹9,125 all-in electricity (₹3.11/km). Eight paid DC stops, mostly during lunch enroute - so didn’t waste much time.

The trip was amazing, and we visited places that I would not have otherwise visited. We kept things flexible and changed itineraries as they suited us.

Was it perfect - Like everything else in life - No Would I do it again - Yes

The Initial Constraints

I gave both Gemini and Claude the initial constraints in one message (didn’t use the RCTA framework though):

You're my expert travel adviser - I want to go for a 10-15 day drive from Gurgaon on June 16 with my son and wife. I want to keep the budget low, and the experience rather than the destination is what we're looking for. We don't like extreme temperatures, stay should be comfortable, though not too fancy. Will be driving my Mahindra BE6 Pack 3 (79kWh) - so a range of ~400km before we need to stop for charging. Ask me 5 questions that would help you suggest 3 routes and then we can focus on one based on my preferences.

There was a back-and forth where the AIs asked for preferences and clarifications - specifically landscape preference (forests/wildlife/heritage), son’s age and travel style, pacing preference, physical constraints, and EV charging comfort level.

The answer about my wife’s motion sickness was the critical one. That single constraint ruled out Himachal, Uttarakhand, Western Ghats, and everything with winding mountain roads. The model correctly used it to eliminate entire route categories rather than just avoid individual roads.

Both came back with suggested routes:

1. Claude
   • Bundelkhand and Bastar Loop: Orchha, Khajuraho, Jabalpur, Nagpur, Raipur
   • Ganga Ghats and Odisha Circuits: Varanasi, Ranchi, Puri, Jonark, Bhubaneshwar
   • Corbett, UP Heritage & Ganga Loop: Jim Corbett, Lucknow, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Orchha, Gwalior
2. Gemini
   • Gujarat Tech, Innovation & Rivers Loop: Ahmedabad, Kevadia, Vadodara
   • Indian Rivers, Palaces & Wildlife Loop: Orchha, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Kanha
   • Rajashtan Royal Adventure & Forest Loop: Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner

Three Rounds to Get the Route Right

The first set of three routes it proposed was technically fine. But when it showed the detailed breakdown for each stop, the problem was obvious - religious sites everywhere. Every location had 3-4 temples, ghats, or pilgrimage spots as primary activities. I pushed back:

The ideas are good, but most of the options centre around something religious.
Tone down the amount so that there are 3 max religious places to visit,
so choose which ones to visit wisely.

Better. But the second version had a different problem - too much history. Forts, palaces, Mughal architecture, museums. I pushed back again: max 5 history stops per route. The third iteration finally looked like an actual trip I’d want to take - waterfalls, wildlife, caves, cliff jumping, ironcraft workshops, fossil sites.

Worth knowing upfront if you do this: the first output will be a generically “good” itinerary. You have to push it toward your actual preferences explicitly.

We decided on going to MP, as that was one area that we had never traveled to, and given that it was peak summers - the traffic and number of tourists in the area would be low (a very high priority for us). Further, both Gemini and Claude, had mentioned adventure activities that could be done here. There were a few more iterations with both Gemini, and Claude where I asked for hotel recommendations

Here's the final itinerary that I'm considering. Please plan around this. 
Date Location Activities 
16-Jun Orchha Drive to Orchha, Betwa river, Ram Raja Temple  
17-Jun Orchha Orchha Fort (what options are there instead of biking), Flat Water Rafting / Kayaking 
18-Jun Khajurao Drive and Western Group of Temples, evening light show 
19-Jun Khajurao Raneh Falls, Gharial Sanctuary Boat 
20-Jun Jabalpur Drive to Jabalpur 
21-Jun Jabalpur Dhuandar Falls, Cable Car, Rowboat tour 
22-Jun Jabalpur Balancing Rock, Dumna Nature Reserve 
23-Jun Jabalpur Zip-line, Gorge Swimming & Cliff Jumping 
24-Jun Amarkantak Tiger Reserve, Sri Yantra Mandir, what else? 
25-Jun Jabalpur Fossil Walk, Sagar
26-Jun Chanderi Kati Ghati, Battisi Baoli stepwell, Pranpur Craft Village 
27-Jun Gwalior Drive to Gwalior, Old Bazaar Food Walk 
28-Jun Gwalior Gwalior Fort, Jai Vilas Palace Museum 
29-Jun Agra Agra Fort, Taj Mahal, Night on full moon 
30-Jun Gurgaon Drive Back

Please map out with recommended hotels, activities, and places to eat and charge

Both Gemini and Claude prepared detailed itineraries, Gemini and Claude suggested MPT hotels for most of the locations, and I went ahead with booking the same. Booked Safari and Taj day view tickets as well (as suggested by the AI cohort). Taj night view tickets can only be booked one week in advance, so needed to be done during the trip.

The route we finally landed on after discussions and a lot of manual research for routes, charging infrastructure, and further suggestions from AI:

~2,900km. All flat or gently rolling terrain. The plan was to rest in the hotels during the peak heat, and roam around during early mornings, and evenings.

The Route and Booking Check

Just on a whim, I decided to ask the AIs to check my bookings if I had missed anything, and I’m glad I did, because I had made a major faux pas.

I uploaded all the booking PDF into Gemini, and asked:

I've made the attached bookings - please review once if I've got everything. Provide links for other suggested activities that I can book

The Catch (that saved me from waking at 2:00 AM before the Safari)

Received the following response from Gemini:

• The Issue: Your forest safari permit for the morning of June 24 is confirmed for the Kanha Zone via the Katiya Entry Gate. However, your hotel stay for the night of June 23 is booked at MPT Safari Lodge Mukki.
• The Problem: Katiya and Mukki are on completely opposite sides of the tiger reserve. The driving distance between them around the park boundaries is roughly 75–80km over dark, winding forest-buffer roads. It takes nearly 2.5 to 3 hours to transit. Because your safari starts at 5:30 AM, your family would have to check out and hit the road by 2:30 AM in the pitch black. This completely defeats the “slow-cooked” purpose of the trip and will heavily trigger your wife’s motion sickness.
• The Fix: You should modify this immediately. Your best bet is to change your June 23 accommodation from the Mukki lodge to an MPT property right at the Katiya gate, such as MPT Baghira Log Huts (Kisli) or MPT Jungle Resort (Katiya).

I immediately canceled the MPT Safari Lodge, and booked the MPT Baghira (whew) and asked Gemini to re-check.

Finally, I asked Claude to prepare a PDF with all the day-by-day activities that we could print and review while on the trip. Claude came back with a beautifully formatted PDF with all the details (including charging stops).

![[/images/Screenshot 2026-07-04 at 9.46.41 AM.png]]

The Mid-Trip Hiccups: Orchha, Amarkantak

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, had passed an official directive (September 2025) strictly banning the sale, serving, and consumption of meat and liquor in holy towns along the Narmada River. This meant that we could not get non-veg; had to drive out of Orchha to get non-veg, and settle for veg in Amarkantak.

The Mid-Trip Hiccups: Jabalpur

While we were in Jabalpur (Bhedaghat), all water activities were shut down due to the aftermath of the Narmada Queen tragedy - a cruise boat that capsized at Bargi Dam on April 30, killing 13 people. The Bhedaghat rowboats, the Narmada gorge swim, the cliff jumping - all suspended. Our entire Bhedaghat core activity list disappeared - and we were in Jabalpur for three days - without anything to do. So decided to pick Gemini and Claude’s brains:

I opened the same chat thread, gave it the current context, and asked for alternatives.

We're in Jabalpur, and all the boating and water activities have been stopped due to the recent boat accident here. Suggest some alternate options, including interesting day trips from here.

What came back:

• Roopnath Dham (~65km north on NH-30): 232 BCE Ashokan rock edicts carved into a rock face in a natural volcanic landscape. My son navigated a labyrinth of rock splits to reach them - delivered the physical engagement of a trek without any altitude. Not on any tourist checklist.
• Go-karting at Naya Gaon: adrenaline gap filled, no further commentary needed.
• Sadar Bazaar, Jabalpur: mutton seekh kebabs that have nothing to do with tourist infrastructure.
• Pench Tiger Reserve (~90km): completely different terrain from Kanha - mixed teak forest, the landscape Kipling used for Jungle Book. Closes June 30 so the window was tight.
• Lamheta Ghat fossil walk: moved from the return leg to now, which also lightened the long June 25 driving day.

None of these options worked for us - we liked the Go-Karting - but that was within the Jabalpur Army Cantt - and only accessible to Army veterans. Instead we decided to spend a day at an adventure camp in Jabalpur - did some sky cycling, zip-lining, bowling. The second day, we spent visiting the small fort in Jabalpur, alongwith the balancing rock; and relaxing in the hotel. It was a relaxing stay, and given that the whole intent of the trip was to unwind, we didn’t mind.

The Mid-Trip Hiccups: Sagar

While going through the itinerary, I realised that both the AIs, and the three of us had missed one critical day. The trip from Amarkantak to Sagar meant a 9 hour drive, alongwith a fossil walk - this was simply too much, and I didn’t want to do this. So back to the AI I went:

See attached PDF, the drive on Day 10 is too long and the day would become extremely hectic. Suggest alternatives, so that we can relax

After multiple iterations, we decided to skip Sagar altogether, and stopped at Jabalpur for the night (as had been originally suggested by the AIs, and we had pushed back)

Fine Tuning the Drives

While our PDF had all the information required for the drives, I decided to play safe, and before the drive, I would use Ask Maps on Google Maps about the drive. An example prompt was

Traveling to Gwalior tomorrow morning - will leave around 11. Suggest a mid-way lunch (non-veg) and charging stop

This allowed me to fine-tune the drive and stop at restaurants near charging stops if needed - it also use the live status for the charging stops to fine tune. At first glance, this seems to restrict our options, but I was happy with all the eating options that we came across, a few were simply outstanding:

1. Chulhewala in Jhansi had a 25kW Tata Power charger that allowed us to top up while having lunch - Amazing lunch (by the way)
2. Taste of Egg near the BPCL Station in Sagar (60kW) - absolutely amazing food.
3. A small roadside dhabha near BPCL, Dindori (60kW) - great food, and value for money

What Actually Worked

It was an amazing trip - I would never have planned something like this if I had not asked the AIs. Going through MP would not have occurred to us at all. Furthermore, we went with an open mind - weren’t too tied in to the activities or plans - kept things flexible instead. I’ll be writing a separate post about the EV-specific planning - TLDR - almost no hiccups.

The actual Claude & Gemini sessions ran across about 50+ conversations and covered route design, EV charging logistics, hotel confirmations, Kanha zone selection, Taj ticket booking windows, backup charging guides, laundry facilities, and a real-time activity pivot. The full thread reads like a project management log more than a travel chat. Which is exactly what it was.

1. Constraint handling - feeding the AIs non-negotiables upfront (no mountains, EV range, MPT-only, June heat) meant it filtered options correctly from the start rather than proposing things I’d have to manually eliminate.
2. The iteration loop - it took three rounds to get the religion/history balance right, but the final output was better than I’d have planned manually. The key was being explicit: “max 3 religious stops, max 5 history stops, fill the gaps with adventure and water.”
3. The charging math - it ran range calculations per leg and flagged the genuinely hard days. The Amarkantak-Sagar leg was correctly identified as the tightest day; the Day 1 Agra stop was flagged but turned out not to be needed (early morning departure closed the gap). Two out of two - one was necessary on the day, one wasn’t. Still better than discovering either problem at the roadside.
4. The Kanha gate catch - this alone was worth the exercise.
5. MPT properties are genuinely underrated for this kind of trip - clean, well located, secure parking, and the breakfasts keep the day-to-day food budget manageable.
6. Fine Tuning the Routes: The Ask Maps feature in Google Maps was extremely helpful, allowing us to fine tune on a daily basis - it took into account the charging stops, eating joints, etc.

The Final Trip (actual stays and activities):

While the initial planning by the AIs was really good and we were happy to follow along; however, based on mood, we made changes every day. We had kept ourselves flexible and did not want to go overboard, or get too tired. The itinerary as it finally came up was:

A few photos