Temporary Regulars
Eater had an article recommending that you become a temporary regular when you go on vacation somewhere. Instead of trying as many new places as possible, go deep with one place. They pose it as a way to cut down on decision fatigue — find one place you like and stick with it — and build deeper relationships with staff that may recognize you if you keep returning.
This is always my impulse when we travel. Back in graduate school, when I went on trips, I would find a cafe or bar, and return there every afternoon. My friend and I would choose one restaurant and eat there every night. Josh likes to try new things, so we do a blend of both. Many times at one restaurant and a single time at many different restaurants.
I like my way better. I may miss out on other things I would have loved, but I like being a regular and deeply knowing one place. Which way to do travel?
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My vacations tend to be a lot more mobile than that. I go and stay a few days here, a few days there, and then I go home. There’s not really time to be a temporary regular, except at the hotel breakfast.
We became a temporary regular at a restaurant in Puglia, and were – on our last night – given treats that they said are for “locals” only. It was really special. Of course, we were there for a month, so we got to try other places too.
I like doing a mix of new places and repeats, depending on where or what we are doing. We have often returned to restaurants more than once for convenience – if they are near our hotels, if there were other things on the menu we wanted to try, if decision fatigue was too high, etc.
I like a mix too. When we went to a family reunion in Iowa in 2016, we got settled in our hotel and then went to a restaurant across the parking lot for some lunch… it was so good that we went back several times that weekend. We did have dinner with the entire family at another restaurant nearby, but otherwise we stuck to our old reliable. 😉
On my first trip to Halifax in 1997, I had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant right on the waterfront… I was delighted when I returned with dh in 2010 and it was still there (and it’s still there now!). On that same trip, there was a little coffee shop across the way from our hotel, and we had several breakfasts, lunches and snacks there. Very convenient and reasonably priced too.