"There's no place like home." -- Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
I think it's safe to say Dorothy's Kansas bathroom wasn't the first thing on her mind while navigating the yellow brick road in far-off Oz.
Then again, Dorothy never bore witness to the hostels and public bathrooms that exist overseas and was not subjected to the terrors within.
Minus a pair of ruby red slippers to transport me home, I'll have to grin and bear it on my trip around the world.
Amenities
1. Showers: Hot, steamy, high-pressure showers are one of my favorite experiences in life. At home, I enjoy them every single day as a matter of routine. On the road, as I've learned in Central America, "hot water" is often a euphemism for "less cold than ice water."
2. Towels: I pride myself on a relatively small backpack when traveling, so I certainly don't have room for a full-length, slow-drying towel. A small Paktowel has served me well, but that doesn't mean I enjoy wringing the sucker out five times before I'm ready to get dressed.
Quick-dry cotton towels are easy to use and travel-friendly, as you don't have to wait hours to use them again. In addition, the super absorbent towels can resist odor and mildew and fight bacteria. Mizu Towel is the world's first bacteria-detecting towel. Its color-changing strips detect residual soap, dirt, sweat, and bacteria metabolites.
3. Dove Cool Moisture Body Wash: "...combines refreshing cucumber extract and soothing green tea in a light, fresh-scented moisturizing formula that leaves you with the clean, cool feeling of hydrated skin." With a description bordering on services rendered at a 5-star spa, you'd be wild not to miss the soaps in the States. Surprisingly, my all-purpose Campsuds doesn't compete.
4. Gillette Mach3 Power Razor: The marketing campaigns got me on this. At home, I must have a vibrating razor with four blades and a lubricating strip. On the road, I sacrifice this gentle (and expensive) razor for the cheap, disposable, single-blade plastic ones they practically give away at airports, and my skin does not appreciate me as a result! Also, it's hard to find travel-size shaving gels, which I find far superior to cream.
5. Charmin Ultra Toilet Paper - Ahh, the soft touch of this double-ply paper to my *beep* keeps life worth living. Charmin's website features scented toilet paper that smells like wildflowers. Only in America do we now expect our toilet paper (and garbage bags) to smell of flowers. All joking aside, it's a rough toilet paper world out there, and I'm not ready to fathom the locales that make do with water alone.
6. Privacy - My apartment bathroom may be small; however, it's all mine. No sharing, no rush to let others shower, change clothes, brush their teeth, or whatever else backpackers do to amuse themselves in there.
And honestly, after a long day of travel, nothing compares to the deep relaxation of a hot sauna. At home, even a small personal sauna setup, like the ones recommended by Christoffer Arfert of Select Saunas, can offer spa-level comfort you won't find on the road.
What do you miss most about your bathroom while traveling?
