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Best places to travel if you have UC?

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Posted 8/22/2014 2:27 AM (GMT 0)
One of the worst things about having UC aside from the physical effects, is the disappointment of not being able to enjoy certain things in life that others take for granted. One of those joys for me is travel - I loved it before I got UC and try as best I can to still enjoy it, just have to do it carefully.

I wanted to share what I think is the best country I've been to in terms of public toilet availability: Japan. It's probably got a lot to do with the fact that people there live longer and much of the country is elderly, but the place (particularly Tokyo) is heaven if you've got UC:

- the shuttle from the airport into town (1 hour) had a bathroom on it
- there's a 7-11 or similar alternative on just about every block and each of them have a public bathroom you can use
- the subway stations are vast and have multiple bathrooms, and the subway trains themselves have bathrooms in the cars! (basically the opposite of NYC where I live)
- plenty of restaurants everywhere with bathrooms

.. add these to the fact that Japan has amazing culture, delicious food, very friendly and honest people (seriously it's the only country I've visited where I felt like no one was trying to scam me or take me for a ride in any way), great temples and sites to visit, and it becomes a very compelling place to visit. I highly recommend it. (note: I'm not Japanese and am not being paid by their office of tourism ;)

Anyone else have similar countries they'd recommend?
Posted 8/22/2014 11:15 AM (GMT 0)
Good to know! I love traveling too, but haven't done much since UC. I'd say one of the worst countries is England. Love the people and culture, but you have to pay for access to some bathrooms which slows you down, only some trains have toilets, their toilets are shaped so that you can't see your poo after you go and there aren't a lot of gas stations or fast food places you can easily duck into. That has been my experience up north anyway.
Posted 8/22/2014 1:05 PM (GMT 0)
Singapore. And on top of it, Singapore is the safest country for women. Women can walk alone at all hours of the night and not fear for their safety.

Sue
Posted 8/22/2014 2:12 PM (GMT 0)
Las Vegas! Okay, not a country, but there are nice clean bathrooms everywhere in all the casinos. The airport shuttle won't have a toilet but the airport is only about 5 minutes from all the hotels.
Posted 8/22/2014 2:26 PM (GMT 0)
Gosh, when I am dealing with active UC, the only place I want to visit is my couch and my bathroom.
Posted 8/22/2014 3:22 PM (GMT 0)

notsosicklygirl said...
Gosh, when I am dealing with active UC, the only place I want to visit is my couch and my bathroom.


LOL

Germany has lots of bathrooms where you pay. So not necessarily a good place to visit. At most bakeries and restaurants you have to be a customer in order to use their restroom. If you want to get the euro key or already have it, you are good to go but it may be a hassle when you're not a European citizen.

When I came to the US I found that the public restrooms (starting with the ones at the airport) are a lot cleaner. I can use the restroom almost everywhere. When you're not in the US and like to visit, it is a good place to visit with UC in my opinion :-)
Posted 8/22/2014 3:23 PM (GMT 0)
I was going to say you can go to a fancy bathroom somewhere, since that's all I could do when my UC was active. But I would feel bad for soiling a nice bathroom lol
Posted 8/22/2014 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
I never feel bad for soiling a nice bathroom, that's what it's for! :)

I love upscale hotel and department store bathrooms. The stalls are so big and clean.

Japan sounds good with toilets on the subways. I can't think of anywhere I've been that is especially toilet friendly. Las Vegas is true, lots of big accessible bathrooms there - too bad I don't like it there. I like to stay put when I am not well. Pointless to go away and worry about toilets the whole time. I'd rather wait until I am well and go wherever i want without worry.
Posted 8/22/2014 5:49 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the info about Japan, would never have known this.

Does anyone know how France ranks in toilet access?
That is my dream trip, traveling by train from city to city.

Before I had UC we went to Italy and it was not great for toileting. I'll never forget outside the Vatican (the Vatican!) the toilet available for tourists was disgusting, not only did I pay but the man collecting money (a man in the women's toilet facility!) followed me in and looked like he was peeping.

Later had the joy of using a hole in the floor (yes paid there too) in Lucca (guessing the city it was 10+ years ago) at the train station.

I agree that the US is great for UC, always a McD's or Burger King or Wendy's nearby.
And in a big city you can usually find a big hotel has downstairs toilets available to all.

Some cities however are spread out and tourist facilities are not planned well. Anchorage for example had distant and hard to find restrooms in the tourist area.

The ultimate choice for UCers who are afraid to travel is to take a cruise. Bathrooms on every level, geared to older people who need them too.
Posted 8/22/2014 10:11 PM (GMT 0)
Just wear depends and you can go anywhere! J/k
Posted 8/23/2014 3:07 AM (GMT 0)
I would say Denmark had quite many public toilets when I was there, and most importantly - they were FREE! Sweden is horrible. If you, against all odds, do find a public WC it will not be a free one...
Posted 8/23/2014 3:57 AM (GMT 0)

TrinitySierra said...
Just wear depends and you can go anywhere! J/k


That's what my MIL said. She didn't consider the pain I was in though... :/
Posted 8/23/2014 2:57 PM (GMT 0)
I'm just home from vacation in the USA and I'm currently having a bad flare. I was so upset as I had booked the trip 9 months before the flare started. It turned out fine! I did visit many toilets and even endured a week in a national park where there were 4 toilet stalls shared between all the women staying in tent cabins. I had been dreaming about the trip for years and it surpassed my expectations in spite of the flare :)

I feel 10 times worse now I'm home :/

France and Italy are definitely not UC friendly!
Posted 8/23/2014 5:32 PM (GMT 0)
I know common sense would say to just stay home when you're flaring, but for some of us there's no black and white on this. I'm not "flaring" to the point I'm going ten plus times a day, but some days I do go multiple times and I don't seem to have a lot of warning when I have to go. I won't get in to it but I guess for some people the symptoms linger and you need toilet acces more so than the normal person. I've been like this for a long time...even before I ended up in ER getting scoped. I think waiting to travel until you're 100% symptom free might be impossible for some of us.

In my travels I've found that most touristy things have bathrooms. Most tour busses have bathrooms. It helps to stay in a major centre, this way your hotel is close by if you end up having a bad day and need to cut things short. USA and Canada seem to have easy access to bathrooms. I find it most difficult in some of the less developed countries I've been to like Mexico, Belize, West Indies etc. in Mexico there was a fee to use the toilet, then a washroom attendant who stayed in there the whole time and she rationed out the tp to people before they went in to the stalls!! I've found cruising to be a good way to travel. The ship has many bathrooms. You dock and wander off right in the heart of touristy places and almost always have many bathrooms. You also have the ship close at hand, again, if you realize you're going to have an off day. I had issues in England and Ireland, few washrooms and limited access.
Posted 8/24/2014 5:30 AM (GMT 0)
Imagardener2, check out the TGV routes in France on Rail Europe. You should be comfortable staying in modern chain hotels in the cities & traveling between them on the express or higher speed trains, which have good bathrooms. I was pleasantly surprised by train facilities there, especially compared to Amtrak cars in the USA. The worst public toilet I ever encountered in France was at Tarascon: just holes in floor, flies coming thru open window, smelly, ugh! 2nd worst was at Monaco! (In June ...) RE Italy: in Santa Lucia station in Venice I paid to use a private toilet room which was also designed with ample wash-up space at modern sink. Probably I took more time than the young male attendant expected because he did knock on the door after ca. 10 minutes to inquire if I was all right. LOL. / Old Hat (33 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Post Edited (Old Hat) : 8/23/2014 11:33:46 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 8/24/2014 1:05 PM (GMT 0)
A couple of years ago I found a website where people posted photos of restrooms, some of them awful. Now of course I can't find that link but found these apps for iPad and iPhone (I have neither).

www.148apps.com/news/favorite-bathroom-finders/

3 are free and one costs 99 cents.

I'll keep looking for the website stored in my mind and post if/when I find it.
Posted 8/25/2014 4:34 PM (GMT 0)
I'm hoping to start traveling again now that I no longer have a colon. Before I couldn't even consider traveling while flaring but during remission I never really worried about traveling in the US but I normally wouldn't travel Internationally.

Besides the restrooms you also have to consider the Water Quality and the Food of a destination. Stupid me onetime I went to Cabo San Lucas and I thought that I'd be safe staying at an American Resort but I went site-seeing and I paid the price....ugh, I couldn't wait to get back to the US after I got a bug; luckily it was just a bug and didn't cause me to flare.
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