I never thought I would write about toilets; however, everyone uses them. I heard one lady from the USA say she wouldn’t go to Europe because of the poor toilets; it’s a subject that influences where people go on holiday.
When I went on holiday as a child, I enjoyed finding where the toilet flush handle was. They seemed to hide it in a different place, on the floor, with a chain, a knob behind the toilet, a button hidden on the wall or automatic. However, one thing we can all agree on, we all want our toilets to be nice and clean.
Getting the right word
If you are going on holiday to a place where you can’t read or speak the language, then write down the word for toilet, learn it or use a translation app. Although I manage to get around most countries with gestures and play a kind of charade, this is one thing I am sure most people, including me, won’t be comfortable miming.
Toilet signs in airports and major tourist spots often feature images that are easy to recognise, but in restaurants, towns, and older tourist places, they might be written in the local language.
Next, write down or learn the word for men or women so you know which toilet to use. There can be more than one way to refer to which sex uses which toilet. In the same way, in the UK, we use male, men, men’s, female, women or ladies. There are often a few different words, so you must ensure you cover all the options. If you can’t tell which toilet is correct, then you can wait until you see someone go in, but let’s hope it isn’t too long.
Don’t worry too much if you go into the wrong toilet. My uncle met his wife when she accidentally entered the men’s toilets. However, in countries where men and women do not mix freely, such as the Middle East, do try your best to use the right toilet. When I was in Eastern Europe, I was surprised to find a man chatting in the lady’s toilet, and no one was bothered; in some countries, they are more relaxed about keeping to their own sex toilets.
Squat or sitting toilets
There are two main types of toilets: one that you sit on and one that you squat over.
Squat toilets are holes in the ground that the users squat over, placing one foot on each side of the hole and squatting over it with bent knees. For those who are not used to this method, it can be difficult, especially if you are elderly, disabled or are wearing lots of clothes you have to hold out of the way. I once tried this with a heavy rucksack on my back as the place was too dirty to put my rucksack down, and another time, I was on a moving train, which wasn’t easy. These toilets can use a water seal and are flush toilets or dry toilets.
Squat toilets are generally thought to be better health-wise; squatting is a more natural position than sitting, this means you don’t have to touch a seat someone else has touched. However, there is no proof that contact with the toilet is a health concern.
In Muslim countries, you are likely to find a hose or some sort of tap next to the squat toilet so you can wash your rear end.
Like most people who are used to sitting toilets, I don’t like squatting toilets very much. The good news is that they are slowly being replaced by sitting toilets, which are more comfortable. Twenty-five years ago, the majority of people used squat toilets, but this is no longer the case.
Squat toilets are found mainly in Asia, Africa and Middle East. Occasionally, you can find them in old buildings or public toilets in France and Italy. It is not unusual to find a mixture of squat toilets and toilets you can sit on at public conveniences. If you open a cubical door and find a squat toilet, just open a door further up, and you may find a sitting toilet. Although squat toilets are standard in many countries, hotels usually have toilets you can sit on.
On a recent trip to Istanbul, we came across a row of squat toilets, which my daughter refused to use. However, just outside the ladies’ toilets was a disabled toilet. We peeked inside and found a Western-style toilet. It is worth searching around to see if squat toilets are not for you.
You might not like squat toilets, but people who are used to squat toilets find Western toilets difficult. Some people think you have to squat while standing on the edge of a toilet seat, so signs have been put up showing you mustn’t stand on the toilet seat.
Toilet paper
The moment I rolled up a few sheets of toilet paper and placed them in my jeans’ back pocket was a sign that I was about to go on holiday and have a great adventure.
In many countries, toilet paper is not supplied in public toilets, and you must provide your own. This isn’t normally a problem, as you will find toilet paper in your hotel and can replace your going-out supply each day.
When you go out for the day, having a few small coins is always helpful so you can pay for toilet paper or the toilet if necessary.
In places with poor drainage systems, you should not flush toilet paper down the toilet but put it in a bin beside the toilet. If you see a bin full of toilet paper, you will realise which system to use.
Soap
Soap or even running water seems a luxury in some countries. In remote areas, I am just pleased I have found a toilet with a door that shuts. It’s a good idea to bring a sanitizing gel with you to use when soap isn’t available or for places where the taps look too dirty to touch.
In one place, I mistakenly squirted soap on my hand and then found that every one of the 10 taps didn’t work. Since then, I have tried to make sure I check the taps first, but I still forget sometimes.
Paying for the toilet
You are more likely to be charged to use a toilet in a city or place of high demand. From what I have experienced, paying doesn’t mean you get a cleaner toilet. In Hungary, I had to pay 75p for the toilet; it was just acceptable, and it was the only time I had received a receipt.
Having the right change can be a problem. If you can, get change as soon as you land in a country and tuck it away to be used only for toilets.
In some places, such as parts of Norway and Denmark, you can use a credit or debit card to pay for the toilets, which solves the change problem. In Istanbul, many of the toilets in the tourist area didn’t accept coins. You could pay by your travel card, which is the easiest option. The locals were paying using their phones, but when the young American ladies in front of me tried it, they couldn’t get it to work, so they hopped over the turnstile.
Size of cubicles
I am small, only 5 feet 2 inches tall, and have a medium build, so I don’t normally have problems with small cubicles, but I did once. When we were travelling in a remote area of Mexico, I had trouble sitting on a toilet and closing the door because I was too tall. I wondered what tall people do; then it hit me: I was a tall person; at least, I was tall for a woman in this part of Mexico. I quite enjoyed myself after I realised, I was tall here.
Small cubicles can be an issue for plus-size people. Even on some planes, closing the toilet door can be a squeeze. Plus-size people need to know they may have more problems in countries with short populations. They should also be prepared that they might have issues on boat trips, as tour boats often have small toilets. If possible, use a toilet before you board, and you may need to take a friend to stand guard by the toilet if you need to leave the toilet door open. Larger boats generally do not have these problems.
Warning
Bags are frequently stolen from toilets. People either put bags on the floor just inside of the cubicle or hang them on the hook on the back of the door. A hand then comes over and snatches the bag, and before you can get out, the thief is gone. Leave your bags with a friend or tuck small bags under your arm if possible.
Glass doors on toilet rooms
A growing number of hotel bathrooms have glass doors or doors with slats. This allows light to enter the bathroom and makes the bedroom look bigger, but it also means no privacy. If you are alone, that’s not a problem, but if it makes you feel uncomfortable, research on TripAdvisor.
In China, we found a few hotels with glass doors. One hotel we stayed at had slats in the door, so I could see and hear everything my husband was doing in the bedroom. It would have been awkward if our daughter had shared this room with us.
On TripAdvisor, you can search for the word “toilet” or look at photos of the hotel room. Many people don’t like glass doors and will let others know.
Toilets in the USA
It took me a bit of time to get used to the toilets in the USA. The toilets are generally clean, just like they are in the UK, but the design of the toilet door is too public for my liking.
The toilet door in the USA generally has a large gap at the bottom. This is supposedly so people can crawl out if anyone gets stuck. However, this gap is so large that you can feel very exposed when sitting on the toilet.
If this isn’t enough, there is often a large gap on either side of the door. The gap is not wide enough to see much but big enough to add to the feeling of being on show. I have even been to a few toilets where the top of the door was very low, which reminds me of the toilets specially designed for the kids to use in a local playgroup. The best answer if you find these doors unnerving is to choose a cubicle at the far end of a row. Then, no one will be walking past the door.
The other issue with many of the toilets in the USA is that they don’t have an engaged sign on the door. You can push the door slightly to see if someone is in it, but from watching the American women, it seems quite acceptable to look under the toilet door to see if it is vacant.
I saw one American woman looking under all the toilet doors in the UK. She had no idea that this sort of behaviour is frowned upon in the UK, and we would be shocked to find a stranger peering at us under the door.
The lack of an engaged sign isn’t a problem because if you step far away from the door, you can normally see feet under the high door gap without bending to look under.
Don’t forget that toilets are called restrooms in the USA.
Toilets in China
At one time, the thing most tourists didn’t like about visiting China was its toilets. They were all squat types, were disgusting, and sometimes there was just a row of squat toilets with no dividing walls. Tourists were reported to say they “will never forget the scary toilet experience.”
China heard the complaints, and in 2015, it set a three-year toilet plan. It upgraded 25,000 toilets and built another 33,500 in tourist areas. Then, another 64,000 toilets were built before the end of 2020.
China now has many more toilets that you can sit on, and the standards have improved. You can often find squat toilets and seated toilet options. If you are visiting major cities and tourist sights, you shouldn’t have too many problems, but if you are visiting rural areas, the standards are much lower, and squat toilets might be all that is available, and very occasionally, just a row of toilets.
China now has plans to have smart toilets in over 700 cities. These toilets have sensors to monitor the air quality inside, flush automatically, and scan your face before providing toilet paper. They are spotless, but I am not sure a tourist would recognise them or how easy it would be for a tourist who doesn’t understand the language to use the keypad on the front of the door. I have not used one, so I don’t know.
You will find a squat toilet in a smart toilet, but if you want a Western-style toilet, it can be found in the family room, which also has a baby changing area.
Some toilets in China show star ratings outside them. Four stars are good and will have toilet paper; three stars are reasonable. However, a toilet might get only three stars because it doesn’t have toilet paper. If a toilet is only two or one star, it won’t advertise the fact.
I never had any problems in China except one in a mountain area that had no light and smelled bad. I used the torch on my phone but wished I had used a face mask like I saw a Chinese woman do.
Toilets in Japan
(Toilet in Japan)
The one thing you can say about Japanese toilets is they are very clean, so you don’t need to worry about that score. They have both squat toilets and western toilets. Often, a sign shows which type is in a cubical, but sometimes you can’t tell. If, after queuing up, I find a squat toilet is the next one available, I normally let the person behind me use it. However, after the nodding and the slight bow as we thank each other, I usually accept whichever option comes up next, as clean, squat toilets aren’t that bad.
Japan is the land of extremes, and its toilets are a good example of this. They have some very modern and fun toilets as well as a few basic toilets.
To cover up any noises you might make in the toilet, sensors often play the sounds of birds singing or waves. I loved this. We used to hear birds singing in our bathroom at home. For several years, a bird would nest in the wall where an old pipe had been, and we could hear birds cheeping in their nest. In Japan, I enjoyed listening to the different birds in each hotel toilet and also a few public toilets.
In hotels, the toilets also have a spray to wash you and a setting to dry you, which I tried once and found most peculiar. It doesn’t stop at just that; they have different spray patterns and different strengths of water. Fortunately, at our hotel, they had a card explaining what all the buttons meant.
My favourite toilet also lifted the toilet seat whenever I went near it. One day, I found myself talking to the toilet. I went into the bathroom to clean my teeth, and the toilet lifted its lid as soon as it sensed me. I found myself telling the toilet, “I don’t need you now, but I will be back later.” The toilet, looking rejected, slowly lowered its lid.
In Japan, to keep the rest of the house clean, people often wear special slippers, which they only use in the bathroom. I found it very strange when I had to put on a pair of slippers for a very small toilet room, where the toilet was only a foot away from the door. The room was so small that the sink was on top of the toilet cistern, yet we still needed slippers when all you could do was turn around on the spot.
How to find toilets
Finding a toilet can be a worry if you don’t have a super bladder or need toilets urgently, but there are many options.
- Toilet apps—There are a few apps that list toilets near you. They rely on the general public reporting the details, so they can be out of date, but they are a good starting point.
- Ask on forums if they know where the toilets are at an attraction, or look on TripAdvisor and type in the word “toilet.” People will often mention if there are toilets available.
- Choose a hotel in the middle of the tourist area. You can then relax if you know your hotel toilet is never far away.
- If you travel by mobile home (RV), you will always have a toilet with you wherever you go.
- Restaurants and cafes often have toilets that you can use; however, they normally want you to buy something first. If you buy a large drink, the chances are you will need another toilet again soon.
- McDonald’s and some KFC have toilets. Sometimes, they restrict the toilets to customers, but you could easily pick up a snack to eat later and then ask for the key or passcode, which in some places is already written on the bottom of the receipt. It might be annoying having to buy something you didn’t want, but at least you know these toilets tend to be cleaner when they are restricted.
- Pop into a large hotel; they often have toilets on the ground floor, usually near the restaurant, or you could ask. Large hotels can have very nice toilets, with flowers and lovely scented soap. Hotels have the right to refuse you, but large hotels can’t track who stays there, so they probably won’t realise you are not a guest. After all, you are a tourist, so you probably look just like all their other customers.
- Don’t go out very early or late if you might need a toilet urgently, as many public toilets are closed in the evenings and don’t open very early in the morning. Check out your options beforehand if you have issues.
- Large shopping centres usually have toilets. However, you can’t just make a quick stop to use them; you need to park and walk a bit before you find them.
- Service stations and petrol stations can have toilets, especially if they are on a busy major road. In some places, you need to get a key from the cashier desk, and they might only be for customers, but we have always found we could put more petrol in the tank if we needed to. Some of the petrol station toilets I have used have been a bit dirty. Others, in South Africa, I didn’t use when it was dark because I didn’t feel safe.
Toilets with great views
My favourite hotel toilet has to be a hotel we stayed in the Maldives. Our room was an over-the-water villa. On one side of the toilet was a glass door you could open and feel the breeze as you watched the fish swim underneath. The other wall was also glass, and I looked into the bathroom with a fantastic sea view.
There are toilets worldwide with great views, and they are worth visiting even if you don’t need the toilet.
Once, when we were driving past fields of farmland in South Africa, we stopped at a service station. My husband was very surprised when washing his hands; he looked up through the window and saw rhinos, ostriches, and zebras. We then walked around the building and discovered a water hole that was attracting all the wild animals. It was lovely to see, as I thought we had left all the wild animals behind since leaving the reserves. Unfortunately, it was getting too dark to take any good photos.
At the Hipopo Papa café in Japan, there is an aquarium on three sides of the ladies’ toilets. There are numerous fish and one male turtle. Men can look when it is not busy but cannot use it. However, the ladies might have to queue up longer than usual as many ladies spend time admiring the view.
The men’s toilets in Terminal 1 Changi Airport in Singapore offer a close view of the plane’s landing.
Another men’s toilet on the 49th floor of the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt, Germany, offers a city view.
Try a toilet in Viangchan, Laos, if you prefer a countryside view.
Summary
Some people don’t travel because they like their home comforts. However, a decent toilet is possible abroad. Some airports now have toilets that you might expect to find in 5-star hotels.
Consider a river cruise if you don’t like to travel because you need a toilet frequently. There are often ways of overcoming difficulties and having an enjoyable time.
You never know; you might get ideas on improving your home comforts. Now, what do you think I should do to my bathroom? Install a Japanese toilet or knock a hole in the wall to get a view? One thing I won’t have is a glass wall.
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