Travel dispatches from a shrinking planet

Travel dispatches from a shrinking planet

TRAVEL BLOG
ASK ROLF
image

How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

Q&A
image

Paul Theroux: Invisible Man on a Ghost Train

Jim Benning asks the author of “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star” about his new book, aging and the challenge of disappearing in the age of the BlackBerry

HOW TO
image

Eat Ceviche in Lima

Grab a Cusqueña and get comfortable. As Nicholas Gill explains, a trip to a Peruvian cevichería can be an all-day immersion in good conversation and raw seafood.

BOOKS
image

Unsentimental Journeys: Wrestling With Paul Theroux

Bronwen Dickey considers “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Great Railway Bazaar”

AUDIO SLIDESHOW
image

My Travels, My Feet

After taking one too many headless torso shots of herself, solo traveler Sophia Dembling started snapping photos of her feet around the world, from the Grand Canyon to Red Square


SPEAKER'S CORNER
image

Affairs to Remember—On-Screen and Off

From “Roman Holiday” to “Before Sunrise,” Hollywood has understood the appeal of the overseas fling. Eva Holland explains the staying power of the big screen Euro-romance.

THE LIST
image

Seven Reasons to Have a Foreign Fling

Sure, having an overseas romance is fun. But Terry Ward points out seven other benefits to cross-border love, mon petit chou.

TRAVEL BLOG
9.17.07

The Sen. Larry Craig Bathroom at the Minneapolis Airport: ‘It’s Become a Tourist Attraction’

imageThis was inevitable. “When tourists ask for the bathroom in the Minneapolis airport lately, it’s usually not because they have to go,” reports the AP. “It’s because they want to see the stall made famous by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest in a sex sting.” Karen Evans, information specialist at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, says it’s become a tourist attraction and that “People are taking pictures.”

Some, like the one above, are taken from the exterior by professional news photographers. Others are taken inside by strangely giddy travelers.

How popular has the bathroom become with tourists? From the AP story:

Just 15 minutes into her shift on Friday, Evans said she had been asked directions to the new tourist attraction four times. Other airport workers field the same question.

“It’s by the Lottery shop, right next to the shoeshine shop,” said newsstand worker Abdalla Said, adding he gets the question daily.

The Royal Zino Shoeshine shop owner’s grandson, Royal Zino, said it has been hectic.

“People have been going inside, taking pictures of the stall, taking pictures outside the bathroom door—man, it’s been crazy,” he said.

Related on World Hum:
* The Death of the Mile-High Club
* The Case of the Disappearing $1 Million Hotel Bathtub

Photo by AP.

Posted by Michael Yessis • 9.17.07
Categories: Weblog'Airworld'Tres Loco

Share this item at del.icio.us PermalinkComments (3)


COMMENTS

Last week my husband and I had to drive down to the Minneapolis Airport to pick up our son, who had been at a Bible Camp in Norway.  Our son’s plane was delayed and at some point my husband had to visit the facilities.  We’d heard all about what goes on in the “facilities” in Minneapolis, so you can imagine how scared both of us were.  My husband was raised as a good Lutheran.  He’s incapable of saying no.  So what do think would happen if “respectable looking” gentlemen, as Sen. Craig certainly seems, were to proposition my husband in a bathroom stall?
Fortuntately, my husband had picked out his own clothes for our trip to Minneapolis.  So no one in their right mind would want to solicit him.
But, as far as I’m concerned, it just isn’t right when a God fearing person has to fear for the sanctity of his privates when answering the call of nature.

By  on  9.18.07  at  07:48 AM

Currently having spent the night here, I can’t imagine why someone would intentionally seek out that particular bathroom.

There are hundreds that all look the same in this airport.

By foxnomad  on  12.4.07  at  05:14 AM

This is hilarious! I always thought that almost anything can be transformed in a tourist attraction. But never thought about… you know… a toilet! :)) OMG! After reading this post I have to check out, no matter what!

By Groomsmen  on  4.24.08  at  03:51 AM


ADD YOUR COMMENT

We reserve the right to remove comments with profanity, personal attacks, spam, overt advertisements or other inappropriate material.

Name:
Email:
Location:
URL:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see here:



WEBLOG CATEGORIES

Adventure Travel
Afghanistan
Air Travel
'Airworld'
Africa
Alaska
Albania
Antarctica
Architecture and Travel
Argentina
Asia
Audio/Video
Australia
Bali
Bookstore Tourism
Belize
Ben's Place of the Week
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Brand That Nation!
Budget Travel
Burma
California
Cambodia
Canada
Caribbean
Celebrity Travel Watch
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cruising
Cuba
Denmark
Czech Republic
Dominican Republic
Dubai
Eco-Travel
Ecuador
England
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
Ethiopia
Europe
Family Travel
Fiji
Finland
Florida
Food: The Moveable Feast
France
Geography for Fun and Profit
Germany
Georgia
Global Village
Ghana
Greece
Greenland
Guatemala
Guest Blogger: Thomas Swick
Guest Blogger: Michael Shapiro
Haiti
Hawaii
History Travel
Holland
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hot Americans on Television Botching Geography Questions
Hotels
Iceland
Icons: Ernest Hemingway
Icons: Che Guevara
Icons: Jack Kerouac
Icons: Mark Twain
In the News
India
Indonesia
Iowa
Iraq
Iran
Ireland
Islands
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kenya
Kosovo
Las Vegas
Latvia
Life of a Travel Writer
Lebanon
Libya
Literary Travel
Los Angeles
London
Malaysia
Mali
Media Addict
Mexico
Moldova
Mongolia
Morocco
Moscow
Movies and Travel
Music
Nation Branding
Nepal
New Orleans
New Travel Books
New York
New Zealand
9.11.01
Nicaragua
North America
North Korea
Norway
Outdoors
Page Turner
Pakistan
Paris
Peru
Planet Theme Park
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
R.I.P.
Road Trips
Romania
Russia
San Diego
San Francisco
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Shameless Self-Promotion
Shanghai
Shrinking Planet Statistic of the Day
Singapore
Somalia
South Africa
South America
South Korea
Space Travel
Spain
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tanzania
Technology and Travel
Thailand
The Critics
Thomas Swick on Travel Writing
Three Great Books
Three Travel Books
Tibet
Tokyo
Top 30 Travel Books
Train Travel
Travel and Security
Travel Disease du Jour
Travel Fashion
Travel Headline of the Day
Travel Lexicon
Travel Photography
Travel-Terror Fatigue Index
Travel Tips
Travel Writer Book Tours
Tres Loco
Turkey
Ukraine
United States
Venezuela
Vietnam
Voluntourism
War and Travel
Washington D.C.
What We Loved This Week
What Would Edward Abbey Think?
Where in the World Are You?
Why We Travel
World Hum Travel Zeitgeist
Zambia