Hi, I’m Ishu.
I’m a Chicago-based Data Scientist and the founder of Your Next Itinerary. I was born and raised in Chandigarh, in northern India, and moved to the United States in 2016. In the years since, I’ve been quietly obsessed with exploring this country and the world beyond it — one weekend, one road trip, one flight at a time.
I love organizing a trip down to the last detail. I love finding the restaurant that locals actually go to. I love knowing which trail has the best view at sunrise, which line to avoid, and what time of year a place is genuinely worth visiting versus when it’s overrun.
But when I started doing that research myself, I kept running into the same frustration: the information was everywhere and organized nowhere.
Ten tabs open. Three different blogs. A Reddit thread from 2019. A TripAdvisor review with no context. And still no clear answer to the simple question: What should I actually do with the time I have here?
That’s why I built this site.
What You’ll Find Here
Every post on Your Next Itinerary is written to answer the questions I actually had when I was planning:
- What are the must-sees — and which ones are overhyped?
- How do I get from point A to point B, and how far is it really?
- What should I eat, and where do locals go?
- How do I plan this if I only have a weekend?
- What do I need to know that no one bothers to mention?
I write from personal experience. I don’t publish places I haven’t been, tips I haven’t tested, or advice I wouldn’t follow myself.
The Background
By day, I work in data science — which means I tend to approach travel the same way I approach a dataset: systematically, with attention to patterns, and a healthy skepticism of things that don’t add up.
By night (and weekends), I’m usually planning the next trip, recovering from the last one, or writing about both.
I’ve spent years exploring the American Midwest — Michigan, Wisconsin, the Colorado Rockies — as well as Italy, India, and the American South. I’m most interested in places where the landscape and the food are both worth talking about.
Wishing you the best of travels. I hope something here makes your next one easier — or more interesting, or both.
— Ishu