VOYA

VOYA is the all-in-one travel app with AI itineraries, hotels, tours, events, eSIMs and local tips. Everything in one place to plan, book and share your trip with ease.

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Inspiration

VOYA was born during one of the most uncomfortable weeks of my life. I was dealing with a bad case of dry socket after a dental procedure and sleep was almost impossible. My nights were filled with reading, binge-watching series, and endless YouTube rabbit holes. One day, I had to plan a quick trip to Chongqing, China for a visa run. I used ChatGPT to create the itinerary, but couldn’t get it to export directly to an .ics calendar file. Instead, I had him generate a CSV, then converted it online. That small win felt great, but it also made me think: Why isn’t there a seamless tool that just does this for you? At 3 AM, still in pain, I watched a YouTube video about how one of the first calorie-tracking apps was just a ChatGPT wrapper. The creator rebuilt it in the video with Windsurf, and that’s when it clicked: Why not do the same for itineraries? From there, the concept evolved into collaborative trip planning, social features, and a central hub for everything you need when traveling.

What it does

VOYA is my AI-powered travel planner that turns your trip ideas into beautifully organized, shareable itineraries in seconds.

  • Generates complete, day-by-day plans tailored to advanced preferences (start time, breakfast-at-hotel, pace, interests, walking tolerance, and more) so each itinerary truly matches the traveler.
  • Creates ready-to-import .ics calendar files. After learning many stock calendar apps don’t reliably handle .ics anymore, I also built direct export to Apple Calendar (iOS) and Google Calendar. No converters, no inconsistencies.
  • Lets friends collaborate in real-time, and chat inside each trip.
  • Offers a curated Explore section with pre-made itineraries.
  • Connects to a bunch of API's in order to get live events, hotel prices, and even tours, and book them at the distance of a tap.
  • Includes user and trip stats so travelers can see patterns over time (e.g., days, categories, pace) and reflect on how they travel, and even compare with friends.

How I built it

I built VOYA using Flutter for a smooth cross-platform experience, Supabase for authentication, data storage, and real-time features, and the Google Places API for location data. AI trip generation uses a combination of OpenAI GPT and Google Gemini, with logic to switch or blend models for optimal results. RevenueCat powers subscription management, ensuring a clean in-app upgrade experience across iOS and Android. The backend is designed to handle caching, API cost optimization, and scalable content delivery. I also added a custom calendar pipeline: first supporting .ics, then implementing direct Apple Calendar and Google Calendar export when I discovered .ics limitations in stock apps.

Challenges I ran into

  • Optimizing AI prompts to produce itineraries that feel personal, balanced, and practical — without requiring endless retries.
  • Managing Google Places API costs while keeping image quality high.
  • Implementing .ics generation directly from the itinerary flow, then building a brand-new direct export system for iOS and Google Calendar when .ics support proved unreliable.
  • Handling real-time trip collaboration without performance trade-offs.
  • Learning Flutter, Dart, and modern app architecture from scratch while shipping production-ready features.

Accomplishments that I’m proud of

  • Built a fully functioning cross-platform app from essentially zero prior Flutter experience.
  • Created a seamless itinerary-to-calendar export workflow, including direct export to Apple Calendar and Google Calendar.
  • On-device ticket / reservation scanning that facilitates trip generation with minimal user input.
  • Designed a clean, modern UI that works equally well on iOS and Android.
  • Integrated social collaboration tools directly into the travel planning experience.
  • Implemented advanced preferences for truly personalized itineraries and added travel stats to make trips more insightful.
  • Optimized AI calls to cut generation time significantly while controlling API costs.
  • Managed to secure parnerships with big companies like Airalo, Agoda and Viator.

What I learned

  • Pretty much everything, I had zero experience making apps / flutter / dart etc
  • The importance of starting small, shipping fast, and refining in real user hands, many improvements were made since the first release.
  • How to integrate multiple APIs efficiently while keeping the experience smooth.
  • How to design prompts that consistently deliver high-quality AI output.
  • The value of community feedback in shaping product direction.

What’s next for VOYA

  • Launch Google Play store
  • Expand AI personalization using traveler profiles and more granular advanced preferences.
  • Integrate with booking platforms for flights, trains, etc to further the goal of being and end to end travel app.
  • Add an annual Travel Wrapped feature to show users their year in trips.
  • Build partnerships for local recommendations
  • Always-on calendar sync, richer notifications, and deeper stats.
  • AI assistant Chat that's able to control the generated itinerary and make changes to it
  • Localize the app
  • Instagram story like UI in chat, where you can see friends currently on a trip

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