What we take for granted

One of my favorite things about traveling is coming face to face with all the assumptions I make. I don’t know I’m doing it, but when you live your life around the same people in the same place most of the time, you start to think, “This is just how this is.”

 

I’m in a town right outside of Munich, and three things jumped out at me as “not like home.” Two I knew to expect, and one was a surprise.

 

The first two are these: So. Many. Bicycles. Everyone rides a bike to get around. Young and old, they’re all on their bikes. Also, cigarettes. Way more people smoking than I would see at home, and there are cigarette vending machines on the (residential) streets.

 

Okay, I knew about the bicycles and the cigarettes. Here’s what I didn’t know—no one here is on their phone. I walked around for hours yesterday and didn’t see anyone checking their phone. Not in line at the store, not while sitting at a cafe, not while they were pedaling their bikes. I had dinner for two and a half hours with a group of eight, and no phones were on the table. (Or hidden in people’s laps while they texted.)

 

This blows me away. What do you think the difference is?

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