Travelling with Incontinence 4

This is a subject hardly anyone wants to discuss , but considering around 40% of menopausal women have incontinence and around a third of women over 60 years old are incontinent, it is something that needs to be considered when you are travelling with an Elderly Traveller.


When you travel and have urinary incontinence or other bladder control problems, you may need to do extra preparations.
Taking certain precautions and doing some research as you make your travel plans can make a big difference in how well you manage your Elderly Travellers urinary incontinence while away from home. 
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AWAY 

So you've read the posts on getting ready and you flew to somewhere exotic or just plain foreign. Now What

Know what you want 
Well hopefully you took the advice on  Tips - Travelling with Incontinence 1
and have printed out Incontinence pads in the language you require.

I also find out the word for toilets in as many languages as required as well.
Туалет  Russian
banho   
baño  
ห้องน้ำ Thai   etc

So I know how to ask for a restroom, I don't just print it out, Mum and I learn the foreign words for "toilet" and how to pronounce them.

 In Asian countries I have a  picture I made, that I keep on my phone that I can show people. Feel free to download it if you like it

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I also have on my phone
a Toilet Finder  or Bathroom locator app
Finding a bathroom fast when you are out and about is one of the challenges of travelling with older people(or kids). In fact, you might think twice about venturing out to far with your Elderly Traveller; if you don't know where the closest bathrooms are located.



However, pinpointing restrooms (preferably clean ones) has gotten much easier with app technology. So download one (or more) bathroom locator apps, and you won't get caught short next time you've got to go when you're on the go.





ToiletFinder  : the biggest world public toilet database. More than 60000 toilet places all over the world.

Bathroom Scout : 700,000 restrooms worldwide, including public bathrooms and those in restaurants and other facilities. Turn-by-turn navigation can lead you directly to blessed relief.

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 Carry some change.
Public toilets, even in the most developed countries, are often not as accessible or as well marked as you would think and many of them are not free, so be sure to always have small change in the local currency on hand.
Also bring tissues etc as they often do not have toilet paper, you are expected to either supply your own or buy from the bathroom attendant.
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Recently in a Baltic country the only toilets for a mile were  pay-to-go-in- auto-door toilets with one Ladies and one Mens in a small vestibule. We were a group of 14, men and women, two women with mobility issues.
 The first one in each toilet paid,  then the rest of us held the hugely heavy magnetic doors ajar so the rest of us didn't have to find the change. As there were only 3 men and 11 women, the last man then held the door for women to use the men's. much to a local man's astonishment when he came over to uses the mens bathroom and a woman walked out.
We weren't being cheap, this was only only stop in this country on a cruise ship and no one had any coins as money changers or ATM only give notes and the toilets only took coins.


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Toilets themselves
Well you've found one, paid to go in and bought loo paper.
The most amazing thing we have found and the most puzzling – the absence of toilet seats.
Living in Australia, there a few creature comforts you take for granted but I never imagined that a place to sit while going to the bathroom would be one of them.
This isn't dodgy back street cafes or strange public toilets , this has been at  Museums, Galleries, big business and global chains. I have no idea what the reason is behind this, maybe toilet seats are  just an extra expense for cost-cutting businesses?

Lastly many restrooms in Europe have their overhead lights on a timer.
 In other words, you turn a little dial in the bathroom where the light switch would normally be to turn on the lights or as you open the door the light turns on for an automatic time.
Rather than relieving yourself with the confidence that you will not suddenly be plunged into darkness, you race against the clock to finish your work before you’re left to fumble around in a little pitch black toilet chamber.
Other than opening and closing the door and restarting the lights there is nothing you can do. Depending on the timer setting this is rarely enough time for an  Elderly Traveller to get organised let alone do what they came into do.

Once Mum couldn't even find the door handle in a toilet to let her self out,  as it was a totally dark sealed system with a 3 minute light.