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COOL TRAVEL MAIL'S
TRAVEL TIPS
Tips & Advice for the Seasoned and Armchair Traveler Alike!
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http://www.CoolTravelMail.com
April 15, 2008
Travel is about adventure.
It's about seeing new sights, experiencing new things and
learning about how people from other cultures live their
lives.
Many travelers, however, are surprised to find that the
adventure often extends into the bathroom.
This week's edition includes:
* WHERE YOU GO WHEN YOU'RE ON THE GO
* KEEPING YOUR HANDS CLEAN
* AVOIDABLE ADVENTURES
P.S. If you're interested you can now post comments on this
and recent issues on our forum at... Travel Tips Forum
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WHERE YOU GO WHEN YOU'RE ON THE GO
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Public restrooms.
The very phrase makes the hair on some people's necks stand
on end.
It's something the average person can generally avoid when
they're not traveling. Unless, of course, they have too many
draft beers at a sporting event or get confused navigating
the local Super Wal-Mart and still have a half-empty cart
when their bladder alarm goes off.
But when you're on the road, the public restroom becomes the
great equalizer. Everyone, whether they live on a sprawling
estate or in a trailer park double-wide, uses the same
facilities.
Personally, I like that aspect of public restrooms. What I
don't like is that all these people - rich, poor and middle
class - leave some of their germs behind.
So, how do you cope? Here are some tips:
* Check your diary
Disgust with public restrooms led to the creation of a user
-produced database of toilets called The Bathroom Diaries
(http://www.thebathroomdiaries.com)
This site rates more than 12,000 restrooms in 110 countries,
ranging from places as mundane as a QuikTrip gas station in
Des Moines to more exotic excretory venues, such as a bamboo
hut in the middle of a Balinese goldfish pond.
Every year it bestows the Golden Plunger Award for the
highest-rated public restroom. Last year's winner was the
ladies room at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson, Mo. It
includes a fountain, fixtures carved from black Italian
marble and gold, Donald Trump-like chandeliers and live
orchids at every granite and onyx pedestal sink.
The ratings are based primarily on cleanliness, although
points are also given for safety, handicapped accessibility
and the inclusion of baby changing tables.
So the thing to do is print out a list of all the public
restrooms rated for the area you are visiting, and basically
plan your day around getting to an acceptable toilet at
about the same time you figure you'll have to go.
This is fine for people like my wife, who would rather cramp
up in pain than use a dirty bathroom. I'm not willing to
suffer like that. Sometimes, you've just got to roll the
restroom dice.
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KEEPING YOUR HANDS CLEAN
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* Look ma, no hands
Touch as little with your bare skin as possible. Whenever
there are automatic sensors on the sink faucets or paper
towel dispensers, my inner Monk does a silent, celebratory
cartwheel.
In situations where you've got to touch something AFTER
you've washed your hands, you might want to rip off a piece
of paper towel to act as a buffer between you and germs.
That's a bit too much work for me, so I usually just use
the sleeve of my jacket to knock a faucet handle back into
the off position, and my elbow to hit the "on" button of
the electric hand dryer.
Crank-style paper towel dispensers seem to be the most
contradictory. You finish scrubbing strangers' bathroom
germs off your fingers only to use those clean digits to
grasp the same dispenser handle everyone else has touched
on their way out.
Scope out the paper towel situation when you walk in. If
there's a crank, get yourself a little piece of paper to
act as a handle shield BEFORE you go to pee.
* Carry hand sanitizer
This is a good idea whenever you're spending time in public
places like museums, train stations or hotels, where
hundreds of hands run along the same railings and grab the
same door handles.
It's also pretty useful for public restroom trips that
leave you feeling a little less than fresh and germ-free.
Some people will carry anti-bacterial towelettes in their
purses to scrub down toilet seats or sink handles.
* B.Y.O.T.P.
In much of the world, toilet paper is not considered as
essential as visitors from the U.S., Canada, western
Europe and other countries might like. The scarcer a
country's resources are, the less likely it is to make
unlimited supplies of toilet tissue available in public
restrooms.
If you know you're traveling in an area where the TP
dispenser - if it exists - is likely to be empty, carry
a travel pack of facial tissues with you. You can also
pack squares of toilet paper into a zip lock plastic
baggie, or bring a well-used roll of toilet paper that's
been slimmed down to a handy carrying size.
The moist towelettes I mentioned earlier, can also serve
this purpose. No sense to double pack. That would be
paranoid.
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AVOIDABLE ADVENTURES
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* Aim for restaurants
In my experience, restrooms in restaurants are generally
the best maintained anywhere.
Every time you stop to eat a meal, have a cup of coffee
or grab a snack, make sure you go. If you shudder at the
thought of dirty toilets, you're probably better off
taking a short break for a midday latte or an afternoon
drink, just so you can use the restroom.
The same is true of your hotel bathroom, which is likely
to be the cleanest you experience on your trip. It's the
same, simple rule parents have given their children for
years: Go before you go.
* Be alert
There's a reason why women don't like to go to the ladies
room alone. One safety expert recently told me that public
restrooms are the second-likeliest place for a woman to be
attacked and robbed - or worse. The first are parking lots.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times, and keep your
purse with you constantly. If you're alone, pick the stall
closest to the door, and make sure a traveling partner is
waiting for you just outside. Start conversations with
strangers simply to discourage a would-be attacker from
thinking you are alone. If the restroom is dark, postpone
your business and look for another toilet.
* Carry coins
In many places in Europe, pay toilets are still common.
Make sure you've got some loose change on you at all times.
* Change your expectations
If you're traveling beyond your normal cultural boundaries,
don’t expect the world to conform to you. If the people
who live in the place you're visiting all accept a
different sanitary standard than you're accustomed to, do
not be shocked when they don't get excited over a dirty
bathroom floor or an empty paper towel dispenser.
Just hold your breath, focus on the hand sanitizer waiting
at the end of your bathroom trip, do what you have to do
and leave.
Travel is, after all, an adventure.
Well, that's it for this week, group. Thanks again for
reading, and please keep those comments, complaints and
questions coming in.
You can send me an e-mail message at: Email Pierce
Until next week, thanks for reading.
Your Tipmeister,
Pierce
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