Where is the best handicapped washroom?

The best handicapped washroom I've ever been in is on one of the new BC Ferries Coastal ships!

Press large buttons to open the door. The door closes automatically behind you. There is a big button on the wall to lock and unlock the door. There is plenty of room for any maneuvering you want to do, and the toilet has lots of hand rails. The sink is totally accessible. Then press the unlock button and the open door button, and try to avoid exclaiming too loudly "This is the best washroom ever!" as you leave the room :)

I didn't really expect to be using my wheelchair onboard the ship, I can still get around with walking sticks - more slowly than most species of turtles, and not for long distances, but it's still easier to maneuver without the wheelchair. But as we were going through the payment booths at the ferry terminal the woman asked "Is that a wheelchair?" We had my manual chair in the backseat of the car because the trunk was full of our luggage. So my spouse said yes, and we got a special handicapped person sign to put on our dashboard and got to go to the front of the line! As we were boarding the ship all of the traffic was stopped and the person directing cars came and asked "What can we do for you?" So we asked to be near the elevator, and he said "Do you need extra room to get out?" So we said "Sure!" and were directed to tell the person who directed us to our spot to make sure we had room. So the person who directed us to our spot laid down traffic cones from where we parked at the front end of the boat back to the elevators so we would have room to get the wheelchair to the elevator.

At this point, we decided there was no way we could leave the chair in the backseat - it would just seem rude!

There's lots of room on this planet! So I have to say the new Coastal class ferries have a vast amount of space on them - for parking, for your butt while sitting in a lounge chair, for wheelchairs in the cafeteria area (every table is accessible), and in the washroom! It's like we've all come from Lilliput to visit!

And the handicapped washroom has got to be the best designed washroom ever!

Are those self-flushing toilets or sea monsters?

I pondered the sanity of self-flushing toilets on boats before now... see this blog post. I'm now wondering if this is more than just an awkward situation.

I think there is at least one child who thinks there are sea monsters in the washrooms on BC Ferries boats.

Whenever you step into a washroom stall, the auto-flush goes off, and you are lucky if it goes off only another 2 times before you are done in the stall. The sucking and popping noises of these toilets are extremely loud. At the beginning of the sailing the washrooms are very busy and many of these toilets go off at once, making it even louder. You can hear the sucking and popping noises from well outside the washrooms.

I was unfortunately in the stall next to a woman and a child. They were not speaking English, but it was clear that the woman kept crying out "it's automatic" and trying to calm the child. Since the toilets go off when they sense movement, it was a non-stop popping festival.

I'm afraid that child will have bad dreams for years! The sea monsters aboard the ship may turn her off boats for life. And being terrified of toilets is not a good thing for a child's normal development!

I really hope the BC Ferries people re-think the self-flushing toilets decision.

Who thought self-flushing toilets on boats was a good idea?

The thing about a boat is, it travels on water. The thing about water is, it moves. Whey you are walking around on a boat - even a very large BC Ferries boat - you are occasionally tipped and rolled to the side. Even when you are sitting down - you are occasionally rolled to the side.

The thing about self-flushing toilets is, they flush on their own. The thing about toilets flushing on their own is, they do it when they sense movement off the toilet.

If you put these two ideas together... you get self-flushing toilets doing their flushing whenever a big wave moves the person sitting on the toilet to the side.

Who thought this was a good idea? I remain confused on this one.