Confessions of a Repeat Offender: The 'Boring' Travel Habits I Finally Stopped Apologizing For

For years, I performed a version of myself on vacation. The version who always found the hidden gem, never repeated a restaurant, and treated every destination like a checkbox to be conquered before the flight home.

That version was exhausted.

The truth is, I have travel habits that would make a listicle writer wince. And once I stopped hiding them—and started designing trips around them—travel got genuinely, ridiculously fun again. So here's my confession list. Read it, judge me gently, and then tell me yours in the comments, because I know you have them too.

Quirk #1: I Visit the Same Town Every Single Year

Three summers running, I've gone back to the same small lake town in upstate New York. Same cabin. Same breakfast spot. Same evening walk past the same porch with the same wind chimes.

I used to describe this trip apologetically—"it's just easy," I'd mumble, as if ease were a character flaw. But there's a name for what I'm doing: it's a tradition. The town has become less of a destination and more of an annual reset button. I know where the good bench is. The barista remembers my order. Nobody needs a map, including me.

Repeat trips aren't a failure of imagination. They're a relationship.

Quirk #2: I Schedule a Laundry Day in the Middle of Every Trip

Day four of any trip longer than a week, you'll find me in a laundromat, quarters in hand, watching the world go by. My partner thinks it's deranged to spend vacation hours doing chores.

I think it's genius. First, it halves the packing list—who needs eight shirts when you can wash three? Second, a laundromat is the single best people-watching venue on Earth, and third, it forces a slow morning. No itinerary, no tickets, no rush. Some of my clearest-headed travel moments have happened waiting on a spin cycle in Asheville.

Quirk #3: I Eat the Same Breakfast Every Day of a Trip

New city, dozens of bakeries and brunch spots, and I will find one breakfast place on day one and return to it daily until departure. The ladies at the bakery near my old Portland hotel knew me by day three. By day five, they were asking about my sightseeing plans.

Here's what the repeat breakfast buys you: a home base. A familiar anchor in an unfamiliar place. Every great trip needs one small thing you don't have to decide.

Quirk #4: I Plan One 'Nothing' Afternoon Per Trip

Every itinerary I make now includes a block of scheduled emptiness. Not "free time to explore"—actual nothing. Sit on the hotel bed. Read. Stare at a fountain. I used to fill every hour because idle time felt like wasted money. Now I know it's the glue that holds the good stuff together.

Quirk #5: I Take Photos of Completely Useless Things

Doorways. Manhole covers. My lunch. A stranger's very good dog. My camera roll from Munich is 4% architecture and 96% nonsense, and I regret nothing. The "important" landmarks are on every postcard in town. The nonsense is mine alone.

Your Turn: What's Your Travel Personality?

Here's my theory: the travel advice industrial complex wants us all to be the same kind of traveler—efficient, adventurous, always optimizing. But joy doesn't come from traveling "correctly." It comes from traveling like yourself.

So, are you a repeat offender like me? A breakfast loyalist? A laundry-day planner? A noon-napper with zero shame? Drop your most unfashionable travel habit in the comments—I promise this is a no-judgment zone, and I'm genuinely collecting new quirks to try.