A Loo to Remember - A Backpackers Experience

I am female and, like almost every other female on the planet, have a "loo fixation", of sorts. By this I mean that a lot of us have trouble "going" anywhere but at home - we had trouble at school, now we have the same trouble at work, at restaurants and bars, at our boyfriend's houses and worst of all: foreign countries.

I was recently faced with this rather large dilemma when I organised a holiday to go see my new boyfriend in Turkey . Almost as soon as I had booked my ticket and informed him of my impending arrival times my thoughts turned to the loo situation, or to be more precise, the possible lack thereof.

I know that most hotels in Turkey have proper loos but wasn't too sure about residential homes. Would his house be modern enough to have a proper European style loo or would it sport the more traditional hole in the ground type favoured by Arab countries..and.umm. France ? After many hours of brooding over this question I decided that it was hardly something I could ask him so soon in our relationship!

So, as any other woman would do, I set about trying to find out without actually voicing the question, or my fears. After several futile attempts, and much confusion on both sides, I gave up and decided that if worse came worst that I could do "number ones" at home or otherwise would have to "hold it all in" until we left the house each day and hope like hell that wherever we went had a proper loo.

The irony of my situation was not lost on me either - in most public places I will not sit on the seat but have, over the years, mastered the art of delicately balancing over the loo whilst simultaneously being able to hold the door closed with one hand and hike up the legs of my trousers, so they don't touch the usually revolting floor, with the other. But for some reason when faced with the thought of having to "hover" for a week it simply didn't bear thinking about. And even if his loo was of the long-drop variety I consoled myself with the thought that at least it would be clean!

Now, there is something I wish to clarify: I am not being "soft" or a "typical girl" about this. I have experienced the horror of public loos in Turkey before - the smell, ill state of the walls and surrounding floor, the flies - I honestly have no words to describe some of the appalling scenes I have encountered.

We arrived at the house at night-time and despite my intense scrutiny the house looked like any normal house and afforded no clues as to what lay within. So I took a deep breath, and with much trepidation, entered my boyfriend's house...and bathroom.and squealed.

Joy of joys, a real loo! And while it wasn't the most picturesque of bathrooms I knew then that my holiday was off to a flying start.unfortunately at the time I didn't realise how much of a "flying" start - I only wish I had remembered to take along some mozzie spray..

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