Context For years I have meticulously researched trips abroad before travelling, sometimes before booking any flights. I know alot about Basel, Switzerland but have never been! I pin these places on Google Maps; cafes, shops, restaurants, good craft beer bars, designs shops etc and more recently car charging points. Google Maps is good at directing you to a place you want to go but isn't great at remembering why you pinned it in the first place.
The Idea So this summer I decided to build my own app, leveraging the concept of pinning places but also integrating AI for recommendations based on my preferences, time of day and location. "John you had Pizza at Enzo's yesterday, why not try Fish for lunch today? Harbour Kitchen is 5min walk away". I liked the idea of my family, especially the 3 kids having a say in what we do on holiday, so they can suggest places which everyone else votes on, altho I still have the final say. Haha I'm not that dumb!
The Outcome I have the guts of the application built as a mobile web app via Lovable, which I found to be better at building mobile-first applications than Cursor. My vacation in France this summer will be the big test. Maybe I'll roll it out to family and friends if it gets a Clerkin family thumbs up.