How to Add Travel Time in Google Calendar (And Why Other Tools Fall Short)

Option 1: Google Calendar's Built-In Travel Time (Use It or Not)

If you've ever clicked the little map icon in a Google Calendar event, you know it links to Google Maps and lets you add a "travel time" block automatically.

Handy? Sure. But:

It's a manual step every time.
You're still doing the work, choosing start point, route, transport mode.
If anything changes, late departure, traffic update, you're on your own.
Useful as a quick hack, but not scalable when you're hopping between 5-7 jobs in a day.

Option 2: Clockwise, Machine Learning, Sort Of

Clockwise tries to step in: use ML to detect external meetings, auto-block travel time, and even shuffle things around so your schedule stays neat. Sounds futuristic.

But let's be honest:

ML isn't magic. If your event name or location doesn't match what the model expects, it fails, like forgetting to tag "off-site meeting" in the title.
Defaulting errors: if you don't set your work location, Clockwise guesses a generic 30-minute buffer, and yes, it's wrong almost every time.
All that "smartness"? It's just noise when all you needed was travel time between meetings.

So yes, Clockwise can auto-add travel, but it's still guessing, and you're left babysitting it.

Option 3: Travel Time, Straight to the Point

We invented Travel Time for one reason: we were tired of gimmicks. You don't need machine learning to block travel, you need logic and accuracy.

Here's how Travel Time actually delivers:

Smart Routing: Starts from your last meeting, no dumb, default "home base" fallback.
Transport Modes: Car, public transit, bike, walking, select what fits your day.
Custom Buffer Time: Want prep time before the meeting or a cool-down after? You choose.
Multiple Calendars: Work + personal + side hustle = no cross-schedule chaos.
Google Maps Powered: Real traffic, real route, real-time accuracy, not guessing.

It's the intelligent, no-frills solution professionals who move every day actually need.

Feature Face-Off: Travel Time vs. Built-In vs. Clockwise

Feature	Travel Time	Google Calendar	Clockwise
Auto-add travel events	✅ Always	❌ Manual	⚠️ Sometimes
Where it works	✅ Everywhere	❌ Desktop only	⚠️ Web app only
Route from previous meeting	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No
Transport mode	✅ Yes	⚠️ Manual	❌ No
Buffer before/after	✅ Full control	❌ No	⚠️ Limited
Pricing	⚠️ $3/mo	✅ Free	❌ From $7/mo

Auto-add travel events

Travel Time:✅ Always

Google Calendar:❌ Manual

Clockwise:⚠️ Sometimes

Where it works

Travel Time:✅ Everywhere

Google Calendar:❌ Desktop only

Clockwise:⚠️ Web app only

Route from previous meeting

Travel Time:✅ Yes

Google Calendar:❌ No

Clockwise:❌ No

Transport mode

Travel Time:✅ Yes

Google Calendar:⚠️ Manual

Clockwise:❌ No

Buffer before/after

Travel Time:✅ Full control

Google Calendar:❌ No

Clockwise:⚠️ Limited

Pricing

Travel Time:⚠️ $3/mo

Google Calendar:✅ Free

Clockwise:❌ From $7/mo

TL;DR (Because You're Busy)

🚀 Travel Time

Smart, simple, accurate. No ML fluff. Just real routes, realistic buffers, and a calendar that keeps you on the road (and on time).

📅 Google Calendar

Better than nothing, but manual and annoying. Free.

🤖 Clockwise

Flashy AI, but still guessing, often wrong, and bloated if all you want is travel time. ~$7/month.