Stay Flush With Restrooms When On A Trip

You’d just as soon not talk about it. Or read about it. But with the summer travel season upon us, you and millions of other Americans will soon be leaving behind the comforts of home - home plumbing, that is.

Finding a clean and convenient restroom when you need one may not be on the top of your list of hoped-for travel adventures. But it’s a challenge we all face.

In the interest of public comfort, I’ve compiled a list of strategies for negotiating a world with insufficient public restrooms.

My own oddest experience occurred years ago while crossing Afghanistan by bus. Bathroom pauses, as best I could judge, came only at the whim of the driver, who generally chose the open countryside. Stopping in the middle of the highway (thankfully lightly traveled), he waved the men to one side of the road and women to the other.

In any developing country, you are wise to carry your own supply of toilet paper. I’m glad I heeded this rule a while back when I took the overnight train from Moscow to Leningrad. Even in my first-class car, none was provided.

Modern Japan is astonishing visitors with new high-tech toilets that will wash your backside with warm water, and then you can “hit the button that starts the blow-dryer.”

Unfortunately, too many destinations that seek visitors and profit from them do not provide convenient restrooms. America’s cities are major culprits, and you usually can tell right away when public facilities are scarce. All the neighborhood’s bars and cafes carry signs in the window warning “our restrooms are for our customers only.”

But improvements may be on the way. In San Francisco’s popular Fisherman’s Wharf and Embarcadero areas, officials have installed a number of street toilets. To enter, you insert 25 cents into a coin box. A door slides open and then closes behind you. To leave, you press an exit button. Between occupants, toilet and sink are automatically washed and then sprayed with a disinfectant.

Until these new devices become more widespread, how does a traveler find a clean, comfortable restroom with no cultural surprises?

Look for the golden arches.

Throughout America, McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast-food outlets have become primary providers of onthe-road restrooms. They typically are clean, temperature-controlled, unlocked and readily found along major highways. And the management seems not to begrudge their use by anyone. The combination mini-marts and service stations that have sprouted up in recent years also offer restrooms, although they often don’t match the fast-food outlets in cleanliness.

Head for a hotel.

When exploring city streets almost anywhere in the world, a busy hotel is your best bet for finding a comfortable, well-supplied bathroom. Generally, they are near the public telephones, usually down a corridor off the lobby.

Get literary.

In some big U.S. cities, bookstores have become almost as cozy as home, offering magazines to browse, coffee, cakes and clean restrooms. Barnes & Noble, a bookstore chain, is where I head in need in New York City, which is notorious for the scarcity of public facilities.

Go shopping.

Well, not exactly. You really don’t have to buy anything. But you almost always can find a public restroom in any of U.S. or Canadian stores.

Don’t forget the train station.

This isn’t much help in the United States, because so few train stations are still in operation. But Europe is well served by trains, and almost every community of moderate size maintains a train station with wellscrubbed public restrooms.

Step into a bar.

I’ve never come upon a bartender who questioned my use of the establishment’s restroom - even though I had to walk the full length of the bar to get to it and I didn’t stop for a drink on my way out. If I’m aware that someone has noted my presence, I’ll offer a grateful “thank you.

Keep your eyes open.

I tend to explore strange cities on foot, and my path can take me far from ordinary tourist haunts. When in need of a restroom, I look for any public place - a court house, city hall, a university lecture hall, a municipal auditorium, a city park.