I love to travel, and do so whenever I can afford it. Several years ago, we traveled to London. This was my first trek out of the continental US, and I was surprised by a lot of things, one being bathrooms.
The bathroom in our hotel (a country inn) was very primitive-looking, with the toilet sitting on a dark wooden box that obviously held the pipes and ran across the entire wall. The toilet in the airport had the tank up high on the wall over the toilet, like we see in Victorian pictures.
Our most eventful bathroom story was when we had a long day of shopping and tried to go to the bathroom in Harrod's. This fine, upscale store, with multiple floors and lavish everything, also had an attendant outside the bathroom and a machine in which to deposit your pound sterling. At that time, a pound was about a dollar and a half, and for the three of us in the group to go would have cost us four fifty. To go to the bathroom!
Two of us begged off from being "scalped" by the bathroom mafia, but one of our group could not wait and paid the pound. After depositing the coin, the attendant smiled and held the door. Inside, he said, was a lavish bathroom with soft hand towels and another attendant standing by to keep the sinks and floors sparkling. Hey, for a dollar and a half, they should have even wiped your butt.
We take many things for granted in America. One is a certain amount of privacy. In other countries, this seems to be a bit more relaxed. Take for example, the VERY public urinals of Amsterdam. Men don't seem bothered by this, and don't ask me what they have for women. I have no idea.
In Japan and Taiwan, they have a very unique style of toilets that look like this:
And this:
It's called a "squat toilet" and I also found instructions on how to use it here.
We Americans take many things for granted, and at age 51, I admit I may have some bathroom hang-ups. I won't go in a bathroom that has no doors on the stalls. I won't go in a toilet that is nasty, no matter how bad I need to.
On the other hand, I have used an outhouse, as my uncle and aunt used to have one. They had a mountain cabin and I guess there were no sewage systems back then on the mountain. All I remember was it was dark, stinky, and had flies. Afterwards, my dad told me I was lucky not to have seen snakes, as they tend to love outhouses. He then recounted how his family used to love to get the Sears & Roebuck catalog because they would use it for toilet paper after everyone was done looking. They also used dried corncobs. Can you imagine? If it's not Angel Soft, I don't want it near my hiney.
So after posting about my granddaughter every post for a month, I thought you all might like to read something a little different, and I guess this qualifies. C'mon, share your favorite bathroom story!
4 comments:
I remember sitting on a city bus in Amsterdam watching men walk up to those things and stand there. I had no idea what they were doing. The ex filled me in and I really took an interest.
They have no such facilities for woman. You have to go and you are a woman you have to hold it. It was very strange to be in the middle of such a beautiful city watching men pee.
The stall without the doors was in France. The first time I used one it was after dark. I walked in the restroom and the lighting was dim and there was no toilet. Only a hole in the floor and places for your feet on each side. The ex had to come in and give me instructions on how to use it.
I didn't see toilet paper in a bathroom in France once. Just holes in the floor, open stalls and nastyness. Nasty people, nasty bathrooms.
Ha! When we were in Rome I kept having to beg Euros off my sister. She is like a camel and can hold water all day. Not me, when I have to go I go. I went in and didn't come out for 10 minutes. She asked what the hell I was doing in there. I told her that for $1.50, I was staying in there as long as possible!
Once my family was flying to New York and I had to go to the bathroom. I was in there for about 10 minutes and the flight attendant knocked on the door. AFter 5 more minutes she started bugging my mom, who just told her, "I don't know what she's doing in there, but she's fine."
Cathy, that is so gross. I had heard France was really nasty, and that the people don't bathe and they smell. Amy, I hate it when bathrooms give time limits. Have they not ever heard of reading Harry Potter in the bathroom? ha.
We used to go camping all the time when I was younger. My mom is a bathroom snob, and lots of times we'd pull into a campground, and my dad would tell the gatekeeper, "Hi, my wife needs to check out your bathrooms before I know if we can stay here." They thought he was kidding, but he was deadly serious. It could be 11 pm at night, we'd been driving all day, and the next campground was 2 hours away, and if that bathroom was nasty my mom would make him keep driving.
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