Travel Advice: Bathrooms 101

On my trips I've noticed that bathrooms are very different wherever you go. Some toilets have a button to pull to flush, while other times you have to pour a bucket of water into the toilet bowl.

As fun as this could be to list out all the differences, no one really cares. However, we do care about the restroom because it is an essential for all of us, yet we all have preconceived notions of what the bathroom is supposed to be like on our trips because of our own experiences from our own bathrooms. So when we're not prepared for other styles, well this can surprise us.

Public bathrooms abroad tend to be holes in the ground or a clean, well-kept bathroom that costs money. It usually only costs 1-2 dollars in their currency, so make sure you have change on you at all times. It's usually worth it, although this is not a guarantee to cleanliness.

Public bathrooms are not very common as they are in the U.S. where you can generally find one near you at all times (except in NYC!). Sooooo whenever you're getting a meal, use the bathroom because no restaurant will let you use one unless your a customer, and it'll be fairly clean. This was a trick that my Mom and I learned on our trip in France.

Always, always, and always bring kleenex and hand sanitizer with you. There may not be toilet paper or soap.

Don't be alarmed if there are other guests in your stall, and I mean bugs or some lizards. In Cambodia, there were geckos (not Geico) that usually hung out in the bathroom stalls because it was a cool, damp place. If you don't bug them, they won't bug you. **I actually did call the lizards, "Geico" until my friends reminded me while laughing that it was "geckos."**


My last final tip is for the ladies, and that would be knowing how to squat. If you've gone rough camping (not glamour camping with plumbing) then you know what I'm talking about. Many public bathrooms don't have a toilet bowl above ground, but rather it's on the floor. So there is nothing for you to sit on, and you'll have to squat. The best clothes for these occasions is dresses and skirts.

Do you have any other tips or stories to share about bathrooms from your own trips abroad?

The Trip that Took Me Outside My Comfort Zone

"This is how it ends!" This was the thought that ran through my head on my trip in Cambodia. My friends and I were on a rocking, wooden boat completely out of our comfort zones. 

I'm not proud to admit that on my trip to Cambodia I struggled. I had traveled internationally before so I thought I would know how to handle the new language, food, and culture just fine, but Cambodia was a whole different experience for me.

I'm not a picky eater but I hate eating meat off the bone. I can do it, but I'd prefer not too, and well......all of the meat we ate in Cambodia had bones in it. Also, it was HOT! Not just hot and dry....hot and sticky because of the humidity. Air conditioning is something they have but not everywhere (usually just in homes and cars). The language also threw me off because English is definitely in the minority, which doesn't make me uncomfortable, but there was always a lot going on and things being said around us that I felt lost. All three of these factors made the first week of the trip a bit of a challenge, but once I embraced these changes I really began to enjoy myself.

One of the stories on our trip that really put my friends and I outside our comfort zone that we will vividly remember forever is when we almost died (not really but we thought we would!). We were at the beach for several days, and one of Voleak's uncles wanted to take us snorkeling. That day it was raining, but in the afternoon the storm was moving away. However, I could still see lightning nearby so I wasn't too enthused to be on the water in a boat. Also, the boat looked like a canoe - bigger but still a canoe. Whenever one of us moved, the boat would tip and rock, although the owner assured us it wouldn't tip over. To even get to the boat, we had to swim out into the ocean, so none of us could bring phones or cameras. It was just us, her uncle and the boat owner.

One of the islands from shore.

We headed to this island that could be seen from shore but not something for you to swim too. Her uncle then took us snorkeling and showed us how to catch sea urchins with a net. What really made this experience our top moment on our trip was when we were in the boat. It was getting rocked by waves at the island. At one point, there was a large swell and the boat tipped so much that I actually prepared myself to jump and start swimming if it flipped. Well, it didn't, but when my friends and I were chuckling over that, I told them that I had thought, "And this his how it ends." We laughed long and hard over that and it is now one of our inside jokes.

A similar boat to what we had.

Overall, this experience was unique and amazing. It took all of us outside our comfort zone as Americans because we were on this wooden boat after a recent storm going to an island and learning how sea urchins are caught. In the U.S. there would have been so many "regulations and rules" on this type of event. It challenged us to do something completely different and out of the norm. I'm not saying to be reckless, but don't let fear or discomfort stop you from doing new things. International traveling is difficult at times, and I had my own shares of struggles in Cambodia, but I now know that I can do it and I would go back in a heartbeat. I grew so much more in those two weeks than if I had just stayed in the U.S. I learned what it feels like to be out of my comfort zone, and I learned how to embrace the new challenges. My comfort zone has expanded and grown, so I won't find these challenges to be as daunting as I did the first time. My trip to Cambodia made me a stronger, better person.