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So I'm like "Yeah, I'm going to Belgium and France", and a friend is like "really? Aren't you scared about the bathroom?"

Me: "Scared?"

Them: "Yeah, I hear they have no doors on their toilets and you have to pee into a hole in the floor."

Me: "You mean a squatter? Yeah I know France has a few... but I think most of Paris has Sanisettes which are quite normal."

Them: "What's a sanisette?"

Me "It's like a public phone booth but it's a toilet"

Them: "I think I'll stay here in America."

So I've heard this argument over and over again. I'll admit sometimes the fears of going to new place and adjusting to new customs are a bit threatening. It is however not enough to keep me from going to Europe as it is for some people I talk to. I suppose it's a phobia of foreign bathrooms. For some they just fear leaving their little patch of the world.

I see London, I see France... I see Livvy's underpants.



Some of it's true though. Like bathroom attendants. I get it, they clean, replace the t.p. and read tons of magazines while they scare the crap out of you with their stare down. (though I confess it could be they just suffer from a case of Graves Ophthalmopathy) There was one attendant at the Tower of London who must have been 700lbs who ran her little portion of London like a jail. I swear I just wanted to get in, wash my hands before I got tackled by her for using too much toilet paper.

Now it's my understanding that in other parts of Europe, attendants are to be tipped. Tipped? They're not wiping my rear.... so ahem.... remind me again why I need to tip you?

I remember in Tijuana, and even in some toilets in London having to pay before entering. In T.J. a woman sat cross-legged with a can in front of the toilet. In London they use a turnstile carnival apparatus that took 40 or so pence to get in.



The toilets are always packed yet somehow more efficient here in the states. I'll admit though, carrying a pocket full of coins just to use the toilet seems somewhat counter-intuitive to the human experience. On the other hand I'd rather have somewhere to go than no where at all.... as in Belgium which I'm told has quite a scarcity of public toilets. Paris on the hand in recent year has put on many of the previously mentioned "Superloos" (Sanisettes) all over the city.



Curiously though, Brussels airport does have urinals for women. Though I'm not quite sure, even with a pictorial explanation how that's all going to work out. I'll be sure to use the "Lav" in the giant red white and blue airplane I'm flying in on before I land.



I must admit, I am highly looking forward to bideting at the hotel. I think?



Which brings me to hotels. In America, as we mentioned; there can be minor differences between the star ratings of hotels. In Europe, (according to my handy National Geographic book,) the stars are a determinant factor in whether your hotel room will have a toilet, a shower, or nothing but a bed inside the room. When I was booking the hotel in Paris, I found one room that had a shower in it but no toilet. This is when Shan suggests... suppose you could just crap in the shower if you had to. Wow, that was American we both thought.... but don't lie to me... you'd think it too... worse yet, I'm betting someone has done it. In the end we decided upon a 3 star with a "en suite". Don't you love that? "en suite"? I knew what that was from watching House Hunters International on HGTV. It means it has a crapper and shower. YES! But it comes at a price. $150 a night for a place to crap, a bed to sleep and a shower to wash in. The alternative was to sleep outside under the stars in Champ Du Mars and hope it doesn't rain.... in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

I'm still recovering from having to pay 50p to use the London Paddington toilets. They really are taking the piss!!!
Soon the council will be wondering why people are peeing on the streets.

Always makes me laugh when the councils lock all the public toilets before the pubs close and then complain that there are drunks on the streets peeing.

We have a similar situation at a local park here. The locals refuse to let non-locals take advantage of the use of the toilets or water fountain so they shut it off.... which of course means we can't use it when we're walking the dog....

At least they're not charging for the toilets on the trains yet. (or are they?)

Yeah... I'm going to start digging up all the British coinage I can find around the house this next week. We're crap out of luck since we have no Euro coinage built up...

I haven't seen any charges for train toiilets yet

Not on the trains but, as Smiler says, on the stations. That really pissed me off last time I was there. I had banknotes but no change. I had an hour to wait for the train and I got on the train cross legged and had to hop to the toilet.

It sounds like your friend is stuck in the 60's. Squatters were fairly common in France then as were unisex toilets - with men's urinals and mixed sex stalls all in one room, often supervised by a ubiquitous old woman in a black dress.

Now you only find squatters (a la Turque) in campsites. Elsewhere they have normal toilets - except for Germany which has unique no-splash toilets. They have a dry shelf where the turds land. When you've finished and inspected the output for any parasites, or rings you may have swallowed, you flush it away



You tip attendants for the same reason you tip waitresses (no - not because you want to impress your date) it's because they have a crap job and don't get paid much. I don't mind tipping to use a clean bathroom, with paper and towels. It's having to find 50p in coins to use a busy and not very clean one on a station when you have just paid £75 for a ticket that rankles

I had to post this... some nutter is charging 3€ for a map of the public toilets in Paris called paris pause-pipi guide. Feel free to Google the site.... I can't believe people are paying for this since it''s FREE!:

Sanisettes Paris


Puce solidarités 36 public toilets (free entry) :



- 12 Sanisette open from 6 am to 22 pm

- 24 lavatories open from 10 am to 12 am and 13 am to 18 h15.


Puce solidarités1st district


- Street Coquilliere angle rue du Louvre DVT Manufrance - Sanisette
- Rue de l'Arbre Sec, corner Wharf Megisserie - Sanisette
- Place du Châtelet (M ° Châtelet) - (lavatory)
- Place du Palais-Royal (M ° Palais Royal) - (lavatory)
- Face 2, quai du Louvre (M ° Pont-Neuf) - (lavatory)

Puce solidarités2nd district


- Place de la Bourse DVT - Sanisette
- 15, bd St Denis (M ° Strasbourg Saint-Denis) (lavatory)


Puce solidarités4th district



- Face 5, Place de la Bastille (M ° Bastille, exit rue Saint-Antoine) - (lavatory)
- Place Edmond Michelet (near the Georges Pompidou Center) - (lavatory)
- Place de l'Hotel de Ville (M ° Hotel de Ville) - (lavatory)
- Place du Parvis Notre-Dame - Side Charlemagne statue (M ° Notre-Dame) - (lavatory)
- Square of the Tour Saint-Jacques - Face 6, rue Saint-Martin - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités5th district



- Boulevard Saint-Germain (M ° Cluny) - (lavatory)
- Face 47, bd Saint-Germain (M ° Maubert) - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités6th arrondissement



- 149, boulevard Saint-Germain (St. Germain parking) - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités7th district



- Avenue Joseph Bouvard (Martius) - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités8th district



- Corner of Avenue George V and Avenue Montaigne (M ° Alma Marceau) - (lavatory)
- Avenue des Champs-Elysees next space Cardin - (Lavatory - chalet necessary Ambassadors)
- 16 place de la Madeleine (M ° Madeleine) - (lavatory)
- Angle avenue Marceau Champs Elysees - (M ° Etoile) - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités9th arrondissement



- Face 38, bd Haussmann - (M ° Havre Caumartin) - (lavatory)
- Opposite 53, bd Haussmann - (M ° Havre-Caumartin) - (lavatory)
- Angle of Italians and bd bd Haussmann - (M ° Richelieu-Drouot) - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités10th district


- Square-Henri Christine (Republic) - Sanisette
- 85 bis boulevard de Magenta - Sanisette
- Satragne Alban Square (opposite 107ter, rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis) - (Sanisette)

Puce solidarités11th district


- Bd Ménilmontant, facing No. 41 - Sanisette
- Angle bd bd Richard Lenoir and Voltaire - Sanisette

Puce solidarités13th district


- Place de l'Abbé-G .- Henocque DVT No. 4 - Sanisette
- Bobillot Street, corner Martin St-Bernard - Sanisette
- Boulevard de l'Hôpital, entrance to the courtyard of the Gare d'Austerlitz - Sanisette

Puce solidarités14th district



- Before the 147, rue Vercingetorix - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités15th arrondissement



- Avenue Ernest Renan (M ° Porte de Versailles) - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités16th district



- Avenue du President Wilson (M ° Trocadéro) - (lavatory)


Puce solidarités18th district


- Boulevard Barbès DVT No. 34 - Sanisette


Puce solidarités19th district


- Rue de Belleville face No. 4 - Sanisette

BTW That toilet

is not European - it's a typical Japanese public toilet.

French/European ones look like this

Egypt was the worse for me. Given one sheet of paper and shown into a right (expletive) hole and then the attendant holds their hand out for the cash.

I am a hoverer by nature in public but it would appear to me trying to balance, aim, and keep clothing free would become quite challenging.... especially in the case of the Euro model.

The important thing is to secure the contents of your pockets

I failed to do that in a public squatter in Istanbul and lost a large quantity of coins and a pair of sunglasses - lost is too strong, they were sitting in the pile and quite accessible, but even as a poor student it just wasn't worth it.

There's nothing wrong with a squatter if they are kept clean - and they are easier to clean, just need a hose and a brush on a pole

To put it in perspective, one of the dirtiest toilets I have been in was at a gas station on a bad area of Houston. After seeing in there I decided that I could wait, since I was not going to sit on the seat and I didn't want to stand on it as the previous occupants had apparently done.

Travelling from Texas to Oklahoma I was surprised to encounter lockable cubicles with urinals at a reststop and then the next reststop on route had toilets with only 2/3 high doors so people could watch you having a crap. Privacy one stop and none at the next. Any thoughts?

Well my understanding is a lot of men's toilets lack doors etc due to efforts to reduce homosexual sex. (or so I've been told.)

Women sort of need to have some privacy, at least western women.

and I thought it was so you could see who was coming into the toilets at quiet reststops- for safety

Remember, when in London - and pregnant - it's not OK to pee in a policeman's helmet.

There are exceptions to the laws restricting urinating in a public place for pregnant women and girls under 6 - but despite what you may have heard that does not imply a right to pee in a bobby's helmet.

Besides they have ventilation holes in them.

smiler125 wrote: I thought it was so you could see who was coming

Is that some awful double entendre?

I like this one:

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter

The Scots would probably charge you more than Paddington Station

Wonder what's cheaper... catheterizing yourself or Paddington Station.....

Liv wrote:Wonder what's cheaper... catheterizing yourself or Paddington Station.....

A skirt, no knickers and a pair of Wellingtons

Unfortunately I'm taking jeans. If I had a body like that maybe you could get away with pissing on yourself.... but they'd just lock me up.

Okay, I've got some insider information for everyone on Paddington's toilets. How to avoid the 30p. Second floor, there's a place called Cafe Sloe that cooks a killer full English breakfast has 3 non-pay toilets (mens, womens, disabled). They have coffee and baked good to buy if you don't need a meal and don't want to be rude. Great leather couches to sit on and departure and arrival screens right there with a balcony that overlook the lower terminal. Definitely worth a stop, and much better than paying to pee.