How Travel Reminded Me About Assumptions We Mistake for Facts

Traveling is a great way to check your assumptions about things you think you know.

This week I was in Greece, and it challenged several of my assumptions around dealing with heat and alternative energies.

This last week made me realize how differently we deal with common issues and how we create solutions based on our assumptions. Here are a few examples from my recent travels.

How we deal with heat waves:

As Europe is going through a heat wave, I was surprised by how differently the issue of AC was handled across countries.

• In Paris, very few people have air conditioning, and most people suffer from very high temperatures with a fan or, at best, one air-conditioning unit (all sold out since the first wave this year, in May). There were even riots near a supermarket with a few units left to sell. And many buildings require authorization to even install a unit in a window (because of its visual aspect). Many stores and restaurants use a unit where the hot air hose simply goes through the main door. And culturally, there is significant resistance to even considering buying a unit.

  
  

• In Switzerland, you have to ask for permission to install AC, and my friend mentioned that the authorization may be linked to increasing your own solar panel capacity so you don’t impact the grid.

  
  

• In comparison, Greece, a hot country, has been ahead of the curve: for example, all the hotels, even the cheap ones, have AC, which is not true in Paris. They also adapt to the weather by taking a midday break and using the cooler night to carry out their activities. Dinner at 10 or 11 PM is common, and in the evening, everybody is outside enjoying the slightly cooler air.

  
  

• As an American, another assumption is that you may be cold in places that use AC. In Europe, they use AC minimally, so an air-conditioned room may be at 72°C or above , only noticeable if you come from an 86+°C space.

  
  

Coming from the US, where people have had AC for years, both the reality and the attitude around AC challenged my assumptions about taking things for granted and about how much more environment-focused Europeans are compared to the US.

How to find more opportunities for alternative energy

While the US  has just started to consider solar a simple plug-in idea. In Greece, for years, many small apartment buildings and houses have had a metal barrel on the roof where the water warms for showers, and a small individual plug-in solar unit to meet all their hot water needs. Check the pictures I took in the least expected place, the roof of a building in a small monastery in Crete.

In Crete, they also have large wind turbines to generate electricity for part of the island on the tops of their highest mountains (the White Mountains), taking advantage of the wind in an area where nothing can grow.

Other challenges to random assumptions

As I continued my travels, I noticed more interesting and different ways to do business that challenge my assumptions

• In Greece, in restaurants and even on beaches where they rent chairs and umbrellas, the staff use a communication system to keep things running smoothly and bring you a Greek salad or an ice cream anytime.
  

• Each beach has a changing cabin and a few showers, a simple but so useful service that enhances your beach experience.
  

• As I left Crete for Switzerland, I flew with Edelweiss Air, and to my surprise, they served everyone a free meal and a drink on a 3-hour flight. Not expecting this, I had bought a sandwich and some water for lunch  based on my previous travel experience. I learned that this airline, which focuses on vacationers and offers flights to travel destinations only part of the year, depending on demand, does so to create a great customer experience.  This took me back a few years, to when food on flights was the norm.
  

Traveling was a great reminder of how we make assumptions in our lives and treat them as facts. Travel is a chance to see other ways of living and the benefits of a different world, if we take time to observe and reflect.

As you want to innovate, challenging assumptions is a great way to start.

What have you noticed that challenged your assumptions in your travels? Which assumption(s) have you used to challenge yourself, innovate, and create change?