When you've gotta go (A potty story)

One thing to know before traveling to the United Kingdom is that most public toilets in parks, on beaches and in train stations are pay-per-use.

Sometimes there will be an attendant that you have to pay to enter, but more than likely you will need to insert change into a turnstile to enter. In Glasgow's train stations, the cost to use the facilities is 30 pence. Which shouldn't be a problem to have on you most of the time, right?

Where we ran into trouble was that Queen Street Station and Central Station both require the 30 pence to be made up of certain coins - either a 20 pence coin plus a 10 pence coin,or three 10 pence coins. And we were sadly lacking in the 10 pence coin department. Lots of 5s, 1s, 2s, 20s, and 50s, but absolutely no 10s.

Ryan was outraged by this, mostly because he was the one who desperately needed to pee in this case. His quote, accompanied by a wild-eyed and frantic expression: "30 pence is 30 pence! This is ridiculous." and it was repeated multiple times before we found a pub (and non-pay toilet) and settled in for another pint or two ... which led to another need for the public toilet back at the train station later. 

Fortunately, we got a 10 pence piece as change from our dinner, so all was good this time. 

Ah, relief.* 

The moral of this story? Horde those 10 pence coins when traveling in great Britain. You never know when you'll really need to go!


* Three other people walked out before Ryan, and I'm sure they thought I was crazy or a perv for taking pictures outside the public toilets.