Device helps women on the go “go” in the woods or elsewhere

If you’re a woman traveler, you’ve probably been in a quandary at one time or another wondering how and where you might pee. Gazing about, it seems that no bush is big enough. Trees seem skinny. Where is the best angle to squat to be the most discrete in case someone unexpectedly rounds a corner?

If in a vehicle and nature calls, the nearest gas station or fast food place may seem like the only solution.

For a guy, it’s a different story. I mean, really–don’t guys just seem to go any old place?

Here’s a new solution for women that’s better than the portable toilet that Catherine wrote about two years ago–no offense to the portable toilet. It may be a swell idea for a car trip, but it’s not as if you’ll lug one along on a hike.

The GoGirl, however, looks practical. According to the description of how it works in Hilary Howard’s New York Times article , it could be fun. The contraption allows women to pee in “an arc-like penile stream” while standing up.

Sarah Dillon, the president and founder of GoGirl, is currently focusing on the women hikers and women traveling with young children market. Another market Dillon might consider tapping into big time is women who are traveling to countries where squat toilets are widely used. Squat toilets create another dilemma.

Squatting and peeing straight down takes practice. GoGirl might be a perfect solution to keeping shoes pee free. With its small size and affordable price of $6.99, GoGirl could be easily added to Annie’s Top 10 things not to forget on a trip. For women, make the list a Top 11 list for peace of mind.

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Will closing rest stops be a trend?

If you’re driving through Virginia struggling to stay awake or needing some bladder relief, bear in mind that almost half the rest stops are now closed due to budget cuts. Jeremy Korzeniewski pointed that out at Autoblog.

As a person fond of rest stops, I think it’s a darned shame that they’re possibly becoming something of the past. If you know anything about the history of the interstate highway system, you know that rest stops factored into the system’s growth and safety. They helped entice motorists to travel.

Perhaps, Virginia has grown dense enough with commercial businesses that there are enough truck stops, fast food establishments and gas stations with their quick eats that rest stops aren’t so needed.

I know of other states, Ohio being one, where there are enough stretches of highway between toilets that if there wasn’t a rest stop, our son would be making yellow snow in the winter and watering weeds at other times of the year. Of course, if you’re out west there are stretches of highway with not a car in sight. In that case, if you gotta go, you gotta go. For modesty sake, consider the portable toilet..

Catherine wrote about the portable toilet some time ago. Perhaps she saw this day coming.

Here’s another point about those rest stops. What about all those tourist brochures advertising those attractions that only get face time once you cross into a state’s borders? Perhaps McDonald’s and Burger King’s play lands could have racks of brochures for parents and caregivers looking for something to do while their kids are burning off steam.

I’m also wondering about those trucks that make a person nervous every time they weave ever so slightly? What happens if those trucks don’t have adequate places to pull to the side of the road. How much do wrecks cost a state?

Plane makes a crappy landing in Washington state

Apologies for the attempt at humor in the title of this story. Yesterday, a pilot took off from Thun Field in Washington state in his Cessna 182 when his engine failed. He made it about 150 feet into the air, tried to turn around for a “normal” emergency landing, but didn’t quite make it.

Instead, he hit a fence, then bounced off a storage yard filled with portable toilets.

The plane did not make it through the ordeal undamaged, but the pilot was able to get out of his plane and walk away, all thanks to the cushioning effect of the portapotty.

Bolshoi in Russia: Taking a cubicle to a whole new level

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means “Big” in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Nothing in Moscow is free. Not even toilets. Worse than that, not even portable toilets. They charge anywhere from 15 rubles – 30 rubles (about 70 cents – $1.3) to use them. And no, you really don’t pay for them to be clean. You pay so they can employ a person to collect money from you. See how that works?

This is my favorite part. They usually use one of the portable toilets as an “office” for somebody who collects cash from people. Think about that every time you complain about your life in a cubicle, OK?

From Russia, with love.

Peeing on the go: new portable toilet for your car

Yes, more toilet talk here at Gadling. We seem to be obsessed with bodily functions, don’t we? Well, here’s another toilet option that you can actually add to your travel gear: a portable toilet for your car.

Japan’s Kaneko Sangyo Co., which manufactures plastic toys, has come up with a small toilet you can put together as needed. If you’re stuck in traffic and can’t wait, simply assemble the cardboard toilet bowl and fit a water-absorbent sheet inside. The toilet comes with a curtain large enough to conceal users and a plastic bag to collect waste, and can fit inside a suitcase. Just politely pull the curtain closed and you’re ready to go! Sounds like something I’d take on a long bus or train ride through India rather than in my car.

You’ll have to hold it until November 15, when the company will begin selling the new product online.

[via Reuters]