Cameron Hewitt, who co-authors our Croatia & Slovenia guidebook, is part of our film crew for this 20-day, three-episode shoot in “Ex-Yugoslavia,” as people call it here. We were talking about showers and bathrooms and he told a good “cord” story. Showers in Europe come with an emergency cord to pull if you fall and can’t get up. While working as a tour guide, Cameron was checking into a hotel with one of our tour groups. Everyone on the tour was settling into their rooms. He was at the reception desk watching lights flash on, as tour members throughout the hotel were pulling their emergency cords. The hotel staff just shrugged, ignoring what could be calls for help, knowing it was just clueless tourists. I wondered what happens when someone actually does fall and can’t get up.
My staff knows I think design is a key to being successful in our business. Even in top-end hotels, I find some showers horribly designed. I just used a particularly narrow shower stall in which the hot/cold lever stuck directly into the center, making the already limited standing space even tighter. If I nudged it accidently while washing, it would either scald or freeze me. And to make a tough shower stall even worst, they didn’t give it a soap dish. There was no place to put shampoo or soap but on the floor or to balance it precariously atop the sliding door.
Hoteliers don’t appreciate an activist guidebook researcher. One of the rare suggestions I give to hotel owners is to actually take a shower in the rooms they rent and then show some compassion to people who do so every night…and invest in soap dishes.
An almost daily part of travel — packing up to check out of a room — is a kind of ritual for me. It takes time and is tinged with the risk of leaving something behind. My toiletries kit is so small that if I’m missing something there’s a big gap in it. My alarm clock is the final piece of that puzzle. Putting on my socks, I wonder if I really need to wear them again, considering my laundry level like checking a battery or a gas tank. I spread out the cover of my bed so nothing gets lost in a big wrinkle. I corral stuff scattered around the room onto the bed before tucking everything into my bag. For a one- or two-night stop, I rarely use the closet or drawers, so they don’t need to be checked. I carefully survey the electrical outlets to be sure I didn’t leave some recharging cord behind. I physically feel my security pouch to confirm that my passport — the only item easy to feel without opening it — is in there. As nearly every hotel has me leave it for awhile at the check-in desk, it is conceivable that I could forget to pick it up.
One advantage of packing light — you rarely leave something behind. I can’t remember forgetting anything in a hotel for years.
By the way, I was interviewed by Michael Duffy, assistant managing editor and Washington bureau chief of Time Magazine, recently. They sent a hotshot photographer to shoot me in Florence a couple weeks ago. And this week his article about me, my work, and the new Travel as a Political Act book is appearing worldwide in Time. Apparently I came one newsy, Supreme Court nominee story away from making it on the cover. It was a quiet news week…but not quite quiet enough. That would have been quite a break. Check it out.
Ah, Rick, we used the same shower! I scalded myself! I also fell out of bathtub/shower as the tub had sloped slippery sides. Travel tales!
I thank you, Rick, for helping me teach my family how to pack light. My mother,who used to be accustomed to traveling with everything sans the kitchen sink,(hat box included!) can now travel out of a backpack—I’m so proud of her!
Ah yes, the “nowhere to put anything” shower. So annoying! And it doesn’t seem to be related to how much the hotel room costs, either. The other common problem is over-friendly shower curtains – I’d almost rather have no curtain – you can always move the stuff that shouldn’t get wet. Ever since I managed to leave my first-aid kit in a hotel in Novgorod, I’ve done a final check, maybe two, before leaving a hotel room – bathroom, drawers, shelves, etc.
I always check thoroughtly–all the drawers, under the bed, etc. But the hardest thing is to remember the adaptor plug. The one we have now was given to us by a nice bed and breakfast person in Ireland, after we left the previous one somewhere.
Don’t worry, Rick. You may yet make the cover as Man of the Year!
Rick – Nice article about your business in Time. The most interesting quote is, “He has spurned offers to expand his business beyond Europe to include Asia, Africa or Latin America.” That is definitely where Andy and Jackie can make some inroads. I’m heading to Cartagena, Colombia soon. Fodor’s describes Cartagena in ONE PAGE (out of 300 in its South America Guidebook), and Lonely Planet describes it in about 20 pages. A little “Steves’ Touch” south of the border would be nice!
So, I’m not the only one who noticed the lack of soap dishes or other surfaces to hold things. Anyone ever encountered some of the more exotic shower drains? In Bulgaria, I shall never forget this experience. The tub drained directly onto the bathroom floor, and from there, went into a drain in the middle of the room. I discovered this curious arrangement AFTER I left my clean clothes and towel on the floor!
Congrats Steve on your great Time article! It triggered a “Rick Steves” memory from 2006. I was at Versailles with my daughter,son in law and seven year old grandson. We had decided to schlepp our lunch in ,in our back packs.When noontime came we found a low wall near an out of the way garden space where we unpacked our yoghurt,fruit,salame and rolls and proceeded to eat while sitting on the ground. Noting no one else was picknicking I began to feel a bit uneasy when a sweet-faced French teacher with his students in tow put my mind to rest with a big smile and a “Bon Appetit”!
I wish someone could explain to me the theory behind the “half door” showers I’ve run into in Europe. Unless you hug the wall directly under the shower head, you end up splashing water all over the bathroom floor.
It makes you wish that ‘shower design’ was an actual profession in the tourism industry. Andy @ andyhayes.com
Andy Steves is working on his degree in Design. Perhaps he can design a European shower! :-)
My favorite is the kind with the half moon shower bar with the shower curtain wrapped around it. Usually there are one or two rings missing and the curtain falls outside the tub soaking the floor. But I guess that’s why they put the drain in the floor!
Two Comments. 1. Small showers are terrible but I am glad to have been able to use them. 2. Packing light. I can’t beliee I am doing this but I am taking a trip to Galcier National park in Montana,and Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons // in Wyoming tomorrow and am bringing the least amount of gear in history. This is gonna be sparse but I would rather be swift and light than weighed down by crap I won’t use. Oh and when in Europe I bring 1 bag as well. Works wonders.
Well, I can always make a shower…fit two. Lots of giggles and fun memories.
One thing to consider is that in MOST of the rooms in these old European buildings were never intended to have bathrooms; so they’ve been retrofitted in whatever way made the most sense given the space available (i.e. a closet). In trying to fit all of the amenities a traveler would expect, some crazy designs have obviously been built!
You can’t fully comprehend how small some of the showers in Europe are until you try to shave your legs in one. I’m contemplating taking gymnastics before my next European trip so I can do the splits standing up in the shower :-)
I thought the TIME article was great! But what I really want to know is the name of the “charming steak place in Montepulciano!?”
Enjoyed the Time article very much. Should help the travel business during a tough year fraught with economic distress, flu, media scares and airline crashes. I wonder whether it was the camera lens, the background, the food, the lack of exercise, the close or all five which makes Rick look increasingly “broadly” traveled? Makes me almost a tiny bit glad I couldn’t eat for a day or two during my last trip.
Having scalded myself, having dropped the soap in a skinny shower smaller than a phone booth which required a step out of the shower to bend down to pick it up while slipping on the slick bathroom floor, and all other sorts of shower mishaps, I was thrilled to discover a thing called a Goob Tube that comes with a suction cup attached. They are a bit pricey but are well worth it for a klutz who spends much time in European showers. You should be able to find it at most travel stores.
I once had to use a bathroom that was so small, I had to drop my pants in the hallway and back in.
Speaking of forgetting things in hotel rooms, I saw these cool Driinn Cell Phone Charging Ledge’s at SeaTac my last trip…the bright color would help identify something that could easily be left behind…I think I will get one for my next trip.
I just returned 5 days ago from Europe (including a one week tour of Basque Country with ETBD tours). I enjoyed the article Rick and hey, you were having a very good hair day!
Your shower comments are right on. We just came back from an extended stay in the Meditteranean. In Rome the room we got was for the handicapped (not one we needed but one we were told was the only one left). The “shower” was in the middle of the wall between the toilet and the bidet. No walls separating it from the rest of the room, just a contraption like an umbrella holding the 2 foot wide shower curtain and a drain in the floor. Since the floor was marble we were taking our lives in our hands every day we took a shower. In Venice the room was lovely and the shower adequate but the emergemcy pull cord had been tied up and was now at the top of the 9 foot wall, a bit out of reach for my 5’2″ height. Glad I didn’t need it. I might have had an emergency trying to reach it.
Rick,just what do you carry in your super small toiletries kit ?
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Hi Rick, You may find my ‘Stikcups’ product helpful, check it out at http://www.inhouseinnovation.com
Rick, I am about to build a shower at home. I googled europe showers and your blog turned up.all this travel experience has convinced me to keep it simple. also wanted to say that keith Bowden, the river man in Laredo is a friend. thanks for all the great info!!