Listen to today’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-travellers-daily/id1842920062
True Travellers Society Podcast — November 18, 2025
Today’s podcast episode was created from the following stories:
Childhood idea sparked a man's journey to visit, document small towns across U.S.: "Every town's got a story"
Historian and publisher Seth Varner has visited every incorporated town in six Midwestern states, documenting local landmarks, eats, and quirks for his Wandermore guides. Funded by book sales, his travels spotlight communities that lack big marketing budgets, preserving their stories for the future and driving real-world interest. With Minnesota now complete, he’s setting sights on Colorado next.
Untitled (kottke.org link)
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Google Extends AI Travel Planning And Agentic Booking In Search
Google is expanding AI Mode with Canvas itineraries on desktop (Labs, U.S.), a global rollout of AI-powered Flight Deals, and broader agentic booking that connects users to partner sites for restaurants, events, and local appointments. The move keeps more of the travel journey inside Search, potentially reducing traffic to publishers and marketplaces. Watch for analytics/attribution updates as Google explores deeper flight and hotel bookings with partners.
Google's AI Mode Wants to Make Custom Travel Planning Cheaper and Easier
Canvas in AI Mode now pulls flight and hotel prices, Maps reviews, and dining details into tailored travel plans you can refine with follow-up questions. Flight Deals is expanding globally, while agentic features are growing beyond restaurants and concerts to help book hotels with minimal intervention. Canvas travel planning is currently U.S.-only, desktop-only, and requires Labs enrollment.
Google Is Building Agentic Travel Booking, Plus Other Travel AI Updates
Google is developing agentic tools to book flights and hotels within AI Mode, partnering with brands like Booking.com, Marriott, and Wyndham. The goal is a full travel hub that guides users from planning through booking, though the project is in early stages. With consumer trust in fully autonomous bookings still nascent, Google is rolling out capabilities gradually and with tight partner integration.
New ways to plan travel with AI in Search
Google’s official update brings Canvas trip planning to AI Mode (desktop, U.S., Labs), a global expansion of Flight Deals to 200+ countries and 60+ languages, and broader agentic booking for restaurants, events, and local appointments. Users can describe their needs, compare options, and click through to finalize with partners like OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Booksy, and more. Next up: completing flight and hotel bookings directly in AI Mode, in collaboration with major travel partners.
Google's new AI travel features whip up itineraries, flight deals
Hands-on demos show Canvas generating day-by-day plans that adapt to extra requests—from ramen-and-pizza tours to nearby gyms—while Flight Deals surfaces flexible, budget-friendly options. Agentic restaurant booking is integrating with existing platforms, though availability varies and collaboration features remain limited. The updates consolidate Google’s travel tools inside AI Mode for added convenience.
Zoox will let public riders use its robotaxis in San Francisco
Zoox is inviting waitlisted riders in San Francisco to hail its fully driverless, purpose-built robotaxis for point-to-point trips across parts of SoMa, the Mission, and the Design District. Rides are free for now under a federal exemption, and the company operates a fleet of about 50 vehicles across SF and Las Vegas. It’s a notable step toward broader autonomous mobility, though timelines for paid service remain unclear.
Google’s AI Mode can now help you visualize your travel plans
Google’s AI Mode lets users “Create with Canvas” to build itineraries that blend flight and hotel data with Maps photos and reviews, all saved to your AI history for ongoing edits. Agentic restaurant booking is rolling out to all U.S. users with links to partners like OpenTable and Resy, while Flight Deals is expanding worldwide. Google is also working with major hotel and booking platforms to bring agentic flight and hotel reservations to AI Mode.
Google AI Mode will help you create travel plans, agentic booking launches
Canvas now powers AI Mode’s travel planning side panel with flights, hotels, and Maps reviews, and plans can be refined via follow-ups and revisited in history (U.S., desktop, Labs). Agentic booking—built on Project Mariner—searches across platforms to surface real-time availability and partner links for restaurants, events, and appointments. Flight Deals is also going global, reaching 200+ countries and territories in more than 60 languages.
Taken together, these stories show how travel is being reshaped at both the high-tech and human levels: AI is streamlining everything from inspiration to booking, while autonomous vehicles inch closer to mainstream service—and storytellers like Seth Varner remind us why we explore in the first place. Whether you’re chasing deals, building smarter itineraries, or catching a driverless ride across town, the future of getting there is becoming more connected, more agentic, and—hopefully—more delightful.
