Tourist Guide Helps Those Who've Really Got to Go
01.07.2009, 13:45
Travel pro Arthur Frommer lists free, relief-ready restrooms across U.S.
HealthDay News -- Somewhere between the pounding surf at Malibu, the roaring torrent of Niagara Falls, and Yellowstone's spouting Old Faithful, it suddenly hits you: Where's the bathroom?
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Finally, a quick answer to that most urgent of travel questions may be at hand -- especially for the estimated one in six adult Americans plagued by urinary incontinence.
Personally researched and edited by travel guru Arthur Frommer (of the popular Frommer series of guidebooks), Where to Stop & Where to Go: A Guide to Traveling with Overactive Bladder in the United States should help thousands of worried wanderers reach rapid relief.
"I think it's going to be a godsend to people," Frommer said of the first-of-its-kind guide.
Funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the free, 75-page booklet covers the 19 cities deemed by travel experts to be the top tourist draws in the country, along with four major national parks -- Grand Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone and Yosemite.
"We put out this little booklet to tell people who are going to these 23 locations where they can quickly and easily find a restroom that won't charge them anything, that will be easily available and well-maintained, and where they don't have to undergo any embarrassment in order to persuade someone to let them use it," Frommer said.
Frommer -- publisher of America's most widely read line of guidebooks, numbering more than 300 -- said he initially balked at putting his name on a book focused on potty proximity.
"When I was first approached about the project I shied away from it," he admitted. "Then I thought, 'My gosh, this is a basic human need -- none of us should be embarrassed to discuss it and bring it out in the open.' It's a fundamental travel problem that has to be addressed."
Another expert agreed. "We should take this issue very seriously," said Dr. Pamela Ellsworth, chief of the division of urology at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
She said that for many of the 33 million Americans affected by an overactive bladder, the problem interferes with activities of daily living and certainly with travel plans.
"Many are simply not going to travel and then have to worry about where the bathrooms are, because when they have that sense of urgency, they just never know what might happen," she said. While knowing the location of restrooms beforehand can give comfort when it comes to travel in familiar locales, many people affected by bladder control issues rule out spontaneous excursions to lesser-known spots.
Ellsworth cited a hypothetical invitation for a summer drive from Boston to Cape Cod as an example.
"That trip takes, on a good day, maybe three to four hours. What happens if you are sitting in traffic -- you voided before you left, but what if you're stuck?" she said. For many, the answer to such a travel invitation would be a polite, awkward "No."
"They don't want to tell people the real reason why, of course, so they come up with excuses as to why they can't go places and do things. It really limits their activities," Ellsworth added.
"Some people won't even go to the downtown section of the city they live in because they worry they're going to be in an embarrassing situation," Frommer said.
He and Ellsworth hope the new guide -- available free by calling 1-877-STOP-GO-5, or via the Web at www.WheretoStopWheretoGo.com -- will give peace of mind and renewed mobility to millions of Americans.
The guide covers 19 cities -- Baltimore; Boston; Branson, Miss.; Chicago; Denver; Fort Lauderdale; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami/Miami Beach; Nashville; New Orleans; New York City; Orlando; Philadelphia; Phoenix; San Antonio; San Francisco; Seattle and Washington, D.C. Frommer's team gives a brief overview of each city or park's tourist hot spots, with a special emphasis on free, easily accessed toilet facilities nearby.
Frommer said one big, national resource for bladder-challenged travelers is available almost everywhere: major chain restaurants and bookstores.
"Certain nationwide chains have a policy of maintaining [public] restroom facilities," Frommer said. "McDonald's, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores -- with very few exceptions, if you keep those places in mind, in many cities you're always within a block or two of a facility," he said. Purchases are not necessary to use the restrooms at these chains, he added.
Another tip: the bigger the business, the more likely free, no-hassle washrooms are going to be available.
"If you're ever outside a big department store, you know there are going to be restrooms there," Frommer said. "Large hotels have no objection to the public wandering in and using [lobby] restrooms, either. In fact, I wandered over to the Four Seasons hotel in New York City -- one of the most expensive hotels on Earth -- and went right up to the counter to ask where their restroom was. The guy pointed the way, and there was this beautiful marble-lined bathroom, complete with fresh flowers."
Overall, though, Frommer said New York City ranks as the toughest destination for tourists seeking quick relief.
In the Big Apple, Frommer said, "people tend to be suspicious of folks just coming in off the street. I wrote that 'When in New York, be sure to carry an emergency $5 bill with you at all times.' That way, if worst comes to worst and you can't find a free restroom, you can at least dart into a bar, order a drink and then say, 'Where is your restroom? '"
Across the country, smaller restaurants and bars often post forbidding signs warning visitors that "Restrooms are for Customers Only," Frommer noted.
"The legality of those notices is questionable," he said, since plumbing ordinances in all U.S. states except Louisiana now mandate that businesses maintain washrooms available for use at no charge by public "visitors."
Still, Frommer realizes that most people aren't going to be in any position to argue the legal merits of their case when nature is urgently calling.
"So, in the meantime, you've got this little book," he said.