Travel Turtle

I’ve started this thing when I travel, I take pictures of bathroom signs. I somehow forget to do this a lot, so I’ve missed it the past couple of places I’ve traveled to. I still have enough to frame a couple and put them up in my bathroom. Which is where they’re going to go. Because I think it’s funny.

Turks & Caicos. The sign that started it all. I edited this photo a little bit and the yellow isn’t as strong as it is in the original. I just like the drawing of the man and the woman with the background of the beautiful ocean.

Aiken, South Carolina. I only took two pictures of this sign (it’s a little embarrassing to me when I take the pictures, so I snap the picture really quick). The first picture shows more of the sidewalk and thus shows more people, which makes me a little uncomfortable. I like this sign because it’s kind of shaped like a toilet bowl from above..

Shanghai, China. Someone had to jump off their motorcycle to use the toilet. I had run out of film before seeing this picture, so I asked a friend to take it. She took it quickly, which is why it is a little blurry, the chinese characters seem slightly cutoff and it’s dark. I like it though. Again, taking pictures of toilet signs just makes you feel weird.

Beijing, China (specifically the Forbidden City). There are so many reasons to love this sign. First, a tip to those traveling to China. Many parts of the world don’t have restrooms that you may be used to. Instead of toilet bowls, there’s just holes in the ground. Some places have more of a trough. I prefer using a toilet bowl. I love a clean rest-room (I live in Orlando and most places tend to have spotless bathrooms with automatic flush, water, soap, towel dispenser, air… anything you can imagine). In China, many bathrooms aren’t as comfortable as I would be used to. The Beijing Tourism Administration has these signs to let visitors know about the quality of the toilet. The wheelchair sign not only suggests that it’s handicap accessible, but that there is a western style toilet as well. Good thing to see if you have that preference.

A beach in Hong Kong. Our shower is in a separate room from the rest of the bathroom. It’s only fitting that that room has it’s own sign.

So, that’s it. I wonder how this is going to look in my bathroom or if it going to be what I envisioned.

Other bathroom things to consider when traveling:

• Some places don’t have free public bathrooms available. Make sure to always carry change in the local currency just in case.
• Bring toilet paper in your day bag. Some countries don’t provide toilet paper in their bathrooms, some charge for it, and some use tougher or softer paper than you might be used to.
• In some countries, it’s common for locals to put their feet on the toilet bowls and squat over the bowl. So you will see feet marks on the bowl. That’s how they got there.
• I don’t recommend McDonalds when traveling abroad. If you aren’t really happy with the local and typical bathroom situations, though, McDonalds may be your only hope.
• In the U.S., if there’s a long line everyone stands in one line to wait for the next available toilet. In other countries, people stand in front of the stall, like at the grocery store. It’s just one of those things that it’s nice to know in advance.
• There are many ways to flush a toilet. There’s the handle, turning what looks like a screw, a button at the top of the tank, a button to the side of the tank, a foot peddle, a string to pull, a tile to push, or it flushes automatically.
• In Italy a lot of the public bathroom sinks require you to use a foot peddle to get the water flowing. I don’t know if this is the same in other countries. This was definitely hard to figure out when no one was around.

I would love to know about other experiences you have that you feel comfortable sharing. Being able to use the bathroom in another country seems like it would be a seamless experience, but sometimes it’s not. I find it better to keep my expectations where they need to be before I stand in a bathroom for 20 minutes figuring out how to flush the toilet or make the water in the sink work.