I Launched a Small Tool for European Travelers with ChatGPT

I've been building a neverending web app/community app targeted at European Travelers for what feels like FOREVER.

I never seem to finish the tasks I am working on and then lose focus or motivation when combined with my 9-5, family responsibilities, extracurricular activities, and other responsibilities. It gets very demoralizing.

Yesterday I switched gears and said "I am going to pick a new tiny feature and just LAUNCH IT warts and all as quickly as possible.

So i chose to build a Schengen Visa travel day calculator: https://eurotripr.com/schengen-calculator

If you are are an American (and a number of other nationalities outside of Europe) you might be familiar with the Schengen Visa that allows travelers to visit parts of Europe for up to 90 days within a rolling 180-day window.

For first-ime travelers this is something that confuses them and causes them worry if they are going for longer trips than the typical 2-3 week vacation.

So I built a small tool to help travelers determine which dates and countries they visit count down their 90 day allottment and when their 180-day window starts and ends from their first entry into the Schengen Zone.

It has some edge case flaws still, and a non-traveling friend said he was overly confused using it, but as someone who obsesses over long-term budget European Travel, I think it is pretty useful for those travelers that are confused about the Schengen Visa travel requirements in general.

I hope I can get it in front of actual travelers as all the Reddit subs I tried to post it in told me I could not - i asked moderators of multiple subs FIRST. Oh well.

A couple things still need to be fixed/added like text explaining the Schengen Vis and zone countries, and clear descriptions and disclaimers about how to use the tool. But for an small tool built in a couple hours with help from ChatGPT, i think it is a pretty solid first pass.

And it felt great to just finish something in a single evening and see it live and useable by the public - even if no one knows it exists that could be helped by it.

(Just realized this is probably my first post and visit to IH since the Podcast went dark. Glad to be back!)