When I took my first getaway outside of this country, I did not stay in a tourist resort area, then i stayed right in the city.
Granted, there were a lot of expats living there, but there were also a lot of native people.
That is when I discovered just how spoiled I easily am. I, of course, guess that our familiar of living in this country is higher than in several venues, but truly observing makes all the difference in understanding, I think, and anyway, there were several people who did not even have what I would consider a familiar dining room with a sink, but somehow they made do. When I discovered that only the wealthiest native population had a/c, I was quite shocked. Last year, I went to a different country altogether, plus I discovered they all the people there did have a/c, but no one had ever even heard of central heating plus cooling unless they had lived here. Instead, most folks used mini-split a/c. WE are just now starting to use this style of temperature control, plus I guess it has a number of advantages, and first of all, there are no ducts. Instead, there is an outdoor device plus a small indoor device that hangs on the wall. They are linked only by thin piping. Also, they are energy efficient, which helps the planet plus the pocketbook, but most lovely of all, in my opinion, as that they are the quietest air conditioners ever. Mini-split a/c is common in other countries plus is becoming more popular here.