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GuardTrails

Method

How long does a tour skeleton take by hand?

By Matthieu Silbermann

Carte routière dépliée, un tracé au stylo, carnet de notes
Carte routière dépliée, un tracé au stylo, carnet de notes · © photographed on 16 January 2017 by rawpixel.com — CC0, Wikimedia Commons

In one sentence

Our current benchmark, measurement under way: about 4 h 30 of preparatory work by hand for an 8-day tour (13 stages, 12 legs), against 5 to 10 minutes of calculation, excluding booking; about 8 h 30 if everything is checked.

For an 8-day tour, our current benchmark is about 4 h 30 of preparatory work by hand. It is an estimate and the measurement is under way: we give it as a benchmark, not as a result.

Those hours do not come from one hard task. They come from the number of small tasks, each reasonable, that a tour multiplies.

What a tour asks for, task by task

Five levels, from the whole tour down to the activity.

  • Per tour: climate of the zone and the month, the country's travel advice, the possible shapes of the trip, the duration needed, arrival and departure gateways, cost, comparison with the market.
  • Per stage: placing the spot, finding nearby lodging, setting the number of nights, looking at climate during activity hours, finding a royalty-free photo, locating the trail. Nights are counted by zone, not by bed: see stage or lodging.
  • Per leg: real distance and time, feasibility, stops and detours.
  • Per day: composing the day, preparing a weather plan B, estimating the driving time actually lived.
  • Per activity: the exact place, a realistic duration, season and opening, interest, detour.

This list is a method definition, not a measurement: it is the one we follow, and you can compare it with yours.

How long, and where it goes

Our current benchmark, measurement under way, for an 8-day tour, meaning 13 stages and 12 legs: about 4 h 30 by hand, against 5 to 10 minutes of calculation. Excluding booking. If everything is checked, about 8 h 30.

Per unit: a stage takes about 8 minutes (19 if everything is checked), a leg 3 minutes (4), a day 8 minutes (13). The final review is not counted: it takes the same time on both sides.

Read these figures as an order of magnitude. We say nothing about what operators do on average, and the comparison between working by hand, an AI assistant and an engine is in operator, AI assistant or engine.

What gets skipped when time runs short

Three things usually get skipped: climate stage by stage, the real duration of activities, seasonality. These are per-stage and per-activity tasks: the ones that multiply with the length of the tour.

What is skipped does not disappear, it is paid for later. The cost of not checking an itinerary gives one case, and how to check a tour itinerary lists the checks that follow construction. The shape of a tour is the subject of a tour is not a list of places.

See the result

A published itinerary shows what the calculation gives, with its choices explained: Scotland, 14 days. If you want an existing tour run through the engine, that is the feasibility check, in beta.

If you want to see the calculation on one of your tours

The beta form on /pro puts you on the list, or you can ask for a demonstration.

What we do not know

This benchmark comes from an estimate on one 8-day tour, 13 stages and 12 legs. Measurement is under way: we do not yet know how the times vary with the length of the tour or the habits of whoever builds it.

The task list is ours. Your method may count fewer tasks or more.

Booking and the final review are not counted.

Task list: method definition. Time: estimate, our current benchmark, measurement under way.

A figure looks wrong to you, or does your own time say something else? Write to us — corrections are published.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to build an 8-day tour by hand?
Our current benchmark, measurement under way: about 4 h 30 of preparatory work for an 8-day tour, meaning 13 stages and 12 legs, excluding booking. About 8 h 30 if everything is checked. It is an estimate, not a measurement.
How long does each task take?
Per unit, on our current benchmark: a stage takes about 8 minutes (19 if everything is checked), a leg 3 minutes (4), a day 8 minutes (13). The final review is not counted.
What gets skipped when time runs short?
Usually climate stage by stage, the real duration of activities and seasonality. These are per-stage and per-activity tasks, the ones that multiply with the length of the tour.
Does that time include booking?
No. The benchmark excludes booking, and the final review is not counted: it takes the same time by hand and with the calculation.

Method — The task list is a method definition, per tour, stage, leg, day and activity. The time is an estimate: our current benchmark, measurement under way, excluding booking; the final review is not counted.