As I head into the weekend, I’m prepping for my second work trip of the year. First up was Orlando, back in January.

While we often don’t have a ton of free time in some of the cities we hit for our licensing boot camps, my colleague and I usually have a bit free, and in particular, have time for specific dining options.

San Diego is a funny one, because while I usually have a set of places I like to go to when we travel to this same set of cities over and over, here, my colleague has what has to be one of his favorite places – Chocolat, in downtown. As a fan of both dark chocolate and gelato, it is always on his hit list every year we visit.

It got me thinking about how I tend to hit the same places over and over… I find comfort in a thing, and then don’t want to miss it/try something new out of fear that it might not be as good as the thing I’ve created this neural investment in.

I’ve got such a regimented routine in some of these cities now; I feel like I need to try and come up with new and unique things to see and do while traveling, even for work, to make sure I’m really experiencing everything I can, rather than seeing the same things over and over again.