With all the swine flu news lately, a lot more travelers are a lot more germ conscious.
So it’s good to know that more airports around the country are equipping their restrooms with toilet seats that have plastic-seat covers that change automatically.
In an article I wrote for MSNBC.com in October, 2008 (Fresh amenities for pooped out travelers ), I mentioned the self-changing seat covers in the restrooms at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and a company that had installed this amenity at Iowa’s Des Moines International Airport and a few others.
Last week the folks who make Brill seats got in touch to remind me that germ-phobic travelers will also find toilets with self-changing toilet seat covers at:
Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City
New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport
Bluegrass Airport ( Lexington, Kentucky)
Burlington International Airport (Vermont)
North West Arkansas Regional Airport
Portland International Jet Port (Maine)
Gulf Port Biloxi Regional Airport (Mississippi)
Quad City Airport in Moline, Illinois
Stuart Jet Center in Stuart, Florida
And, coming this summer, at Newport News National Airport in Virginia.
Of course, airports aren’t the only place where travelers will need to seek out clean restrooms, so be sure to visit WorldToilet.info, one of the Web sites featured this quarter at the Museum of Online Museums.
WorldToilet.info includes photos, descriptions, and instructions for how to ask for and use restrooms in airports, restaurants, and tourist attractions around the world.
The loo-reviews also include comments. For example, under the photo and description of the restrooms at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, it says: “It is what is known as an automatic toilet seat cover! What an extreme cleanliness taste! That is going too far.”
Speaking of going too far – be sure to check out the restroom at the Mumin Papa Café in Japan: it’s built into an aquarium.
There are other scenic lavs in this article featuring some of the restrooms from Luke Barclay’s book Loo with a View.