travel Archives - Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

Weird Holiday: Stay Away From Seattle Day

How to celebrate: visit Seattle. Wait, no…do not visit Seattle.

If you were thinking of visiting the ancestral homeland of Starbucks, grunge music, and Fremont Troll on September 16, you’re going to have to change your plans. That’s because that day is Stay Away From Seattle Day.

Believe it or don’t, this strange “holiday” is real, and actually celebrated by many residents in Seattle, America’s rainiest big city. Much like the citizens of its almost-as-rainy and insular rival city of Portland, Seattleites love sharing their city and economy with visitors…but they love them even more when they leave.

Themed Restaurants

Dining out can get kind of boring. After all, how many times can you have the same old burger at the same old coffee shop? Fortunately, in the last 20 years, themed restaurants have emerged, offering diners not just a meal…but an experience. Although, not all of them succeed, they all make a great story.

The Modern Toilet
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Details: Yes, it’s a toilet-themed restaurant. Diners sit on toilets and eat out of toilet-shaped bowls and plates. The interior of the restaurant is laid out with brightly colored bathroom tile, and the lights are shaped like urinals. The favorite menu item, says owner Eric Wang, is chocolate ice cream—probably because “it looks like the real thing.”

Weird Hotels

Part of the fun of travel is enjoying the local flavor. So on your next trip, eat the local food, see the local sights…and stay at the local jail. Here are a few weird hotels we discovered. What is the weirdest hotel you have ever stayed in?

HOTEL: The Old Jail
LOCATION: Mount Gambier, Australia
DESCRIPTION: The Old Jail offers the accommodations—and decidedly spooky atmosphere—of a huge, 19th-century rural prison. The hotel was once the South Australian State Prison, which operated from 1866 to 1995. Not much has changed when it was converted into a hotel. Showers are still communal and best are still cots, but the cell doors can now be opened from the inside. “Inmates” sleep four to a cell (either with strangers or family) or can pay double for a private, two-person suite.

The Wonderful World of Disneyland

Disneyland facts: amazing things you probably never knew about the Happiest Place on Earth.

• The park has a large security force. It’s mostly undercover…but there are more Disney security officers than there are police officers in the adjacent city of Anaheim.

• Employee slang for being a costumed character: “duck duty.”

• In the Toy Story movies, the toys would all freeze and drop to the ground when their human owner Andy was approaching. If you yell “Andy’s coming!” when costumed Toy Story characters are out and about…they will freeze and drop to the ground.

The Aussie Loo

Greetings, Bathroom Reader fans around the world. BRI Thom here, reporting from the field, which, barring deportation or a fatal shark attack, I shall be doing so henceforth. I’ve flown the bathroom-reading headquarters coop in our sleepy little Oregon hamlet, and am currently reporting from a picnic bench a few yards from the South Pacific Ocean just north of Sydney, Australia—one block or some from my new home. Leaving Uncle John and the crack staff at the BRI was heartbreaking…until I got here. (I mean come on! I practically live on a tropical beach, for goodness’ sake!)

Fortunately Uncle John forgot to change the locks here, and I’ll still be posting on the UJ Blog!

My first exclusive: The Aussie Loo, and how it corresponds almost exactly to Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. Just take a look at this beauty:

The world’s scariest bridges

Very cool photographs of several bridges from all over the world that, if you had to cross them, would definitely have your knees clattering. (Unless you don’t have knees.) Be sure to check out the video…complete with strangely creepy music.