To pee or not to pee- that is the question when traveling.
by Liv | Published on March 20th, 2010, 2:45 pm | Travel
So I'm like "Yeah, I'm going to Belgium and France", and a friend is like "really? Aren't you scared about the bathroom?"
- Me: "Scared?"
Them: "Yeah, I hear they have no doors on their toilets and you have to pee into a hole in the floor."
Me: "You mean a squatter? Yeah I know France has a few... but I think most of Paris has Sanisettes which are quite normal."
Them: "What's a sanisette?"
Me "It's like a public phone booth but it's a toilet"
Them: "I think I'll stay here in America."
So I've heard this argument over and over again. I'll admit sometimes the fears of going to new place and adjusting to new customs are a bit threatening. It is however not enough to keep me from going to Europe as it is for some people I talk to. I suppose it's a phobia of foreign bathrooms. For some they just fear leaving their little patch of the world.
I see London, I see France... I see Livvy's underpants.
Some of it's true though. Like bathroom attendants. I get it, they clean, replace the t.p. and read tons of magazines while they scare the crap out of you with their stare down. (though I confess it could be they just suffer from a case of Graves Ophthalmopathy) There was one attendant at the Tower of London who must have been 700lbs who ran her little portion of London like a jail. I swear I just wanted to get in, wash my hands before I got tackled by her for using too much toilet paper.
Now it's my understanding that in other parts of Europe, attendants are to be tipped. Tipped? They're not wiping my rear.... so ahem.... remind me again why I need to tip you?
I remember in Tijuana, and even in some toilets in London having to pay before entering. In T.J. a woman sat cross-legged with a can in front of the toilet. In London they use a turnstile carnival apparatus that took 40 or so pence to get in.
The toilets are always packed yet somehow more efficient here in the states. I'll admit though, carrying a pocket full of coins just to use the toilet seems somewhat counter-intuitive to the human experience. On the other hand I'd rather have somewhere to go than no where at all.... as in Belgium which I'm told has quite a scarcity of public toilets. Paris on the hand in recent year has put on many of the previously mentioned "Superloos" (Sanisettes) all over the city.
- womens_urinals.jpg (7.24 KiB) Viewed 1623 times
Curiously though, Brussels airport does have urinals for women. Though I'm not quite sure, even with a pictorial explanation how that's all going to work out. I'll be sure to use the "Lav" in the giant red white and blue airplane I'm flying in on before I land.
- womens_urinals_2.jpg (69.31 KiB) Viewed 1623 times
I must admit, I am highly looking forward to bideting at the hotel. I think?
Which brings me to hotels. In America, as we mentioned; there can be minor differences between the star ratings of hotels. In Europe, (according to my handy National Geographic book,) the stars are a determinant factor in whether your hotel room will have a toilet, a shower, or nothing but a bed inside the room. When I was booking the hotel in Paris, I found one room that had a shower in it but no toilet. This is when Shan suggests... suppose you could just crap in the shower if you had to. Wow, that was American we both thought.... but don't lie to me... you'd think it too... worse yet, I'm betting someone has done it. In the end we decided upon a 3 star with a "en suite". Don't you love that? "en suite"? I knew what that was from watching House Hunters International on HGTV. It means it has a crapper and shower. YES! But it comes at a price. $150 a night for a place to crap, a bed to sleep and a shower to wash in. The alternative was to sleep outside under the stars in Champ Du Mars and hope it doesn't rain.... in both a literal and metaphorical sense.
and don't get paid much. I don't mind tipping to use a clean bathroom, with paper and towels. It's having to find 50p in coins to use a busy and not very clean one on a station when you have just paid £75 for a ticket that rankles
