Packing List: If You’re Going to Europe, Bring Your Own Toilet Paper

Via uggboy at Inside Flyer, in advance of today’s New York Jets vs. Miami Dolphins game in London the packing and preparation was meticulous.

The Jets packed 350 rolls of toilet paper.

Or order 350 rolls of toilet paper to replace the thinner version used in England.

“Some may say that’s a little over the top or whatnot, but it didn’t really cost that much, so why not?” Degerness said. “We’re basically trying to replicate everything that we’re doing here over there.”

It turns out this was the idea of a team intern that has ‘been to London many times’ so knows,

‘the toilet paper pin London is] very thin because their plumbing isn’t as good’.
“So, the intern informed the operations staff, and the Jets ordered 350 rolls of toilet paper for the hotel and the stadium.”

Last month there was a discussion on the blog about why hotels (even in the US) use cheap toilet paper. The primary thinking was to avoid clogs, so it’s apparently the same on both sides of the Atlantic (perhaps reinforcing the ‘special relationship‘ between the US and UK).

But in my experience European toilet paper is far worse than American toilet paper, even accounting for hotels trying avoid guest erors trying to put too much in without flushing.

Toilet paper is clearly more bountiful in the US than the rest of the world. Here it’s even been known to fall from the sky.

Some Venezuela hotels have asked guests to bring their own toilet paper, but that’s the result of shortages not quality per se.

Plumbing definitely matters, during the Sochi Olympics guests were advised not to flush

Of course no one has toilet paper that’s as great as as EVA Air’s.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. I had paper in Germany last week that literally would pass for paper towels here.. I make no joke. The paper was like a single ply paper towel roll. Of course I had my own paper. You could clean the windows with this stuff.

  2. I was at Park Hyatt Vendome last week and their toilet paper was like sandpaper. I should have brought my Charmin Ultra Soft rolls.

  3. Regarding the ” dont flush” thing – that is the case in most of the world. I’m surprised that a well-traveled person like yourself finds that newsworthy.

    Only in the US, western Europe (not east nor south!) and (maybe?) parts of Asia allow paper to be flushed.

  4. I know lots of people who bring their own “TP”, Because they are allergic to perfumes, dyes, and bleaches (they are used to make TP white). They bring it with them everywhere they travel!

  5. I find tp in Europe hit or miss, but without question Asia is the worst.
    But, who the hell (other than NFL teams) has room in their luggage for tp?!
    And what’s with “no flush?” This is the first I’ve ever heard of that!

  6. In many parts of China there is no TP. And often where there is, it’s used and then not flushed, but put into the waste basket. I’ve seen this often, even in the New Shanghai Expo Center.

    But it’s hard to beat the UK in the 60’s. TP in public and airport rest rooms were basically wax paper. No possibility of being absorbent.

  7. When I first came to the UK in the early 80s, the paper in public toilets was indeed thin, brown and waxy. In government-owned buildings such as museums, it was even printed with “Property of Her Majesty’s Government.” (Like anyone would want to steal it!) I haven’t seen that kind of paper in at least 20 years, though.

  8. As far as the paper being thin for the plumbing in London, pretty sure that is not the reason. We manage US properties for UK owners and they can’t figure out why there are so many clogs in the U.S. They tell us that you could flush a baby and not clog the toilet in the UK

  9. LOL. Most ridiculous story I’ve read in a long time. Go to Waitrose and buy a premium brand ‘double ply deluxe’ whatever. Really, packing 350 rolls is absurd. You can buy whatever quality your a*** desires here.

  10. @Farnorthtrader It is true, in my experience, that British plumbing is quite robust. I think it had to be, to handle that waxed paper they used to use! These days many of the fancier hotels in London use a type of thick toilet paper that is almost like paper towel material. I would hate to see how my low-flow toilets in the US would handle that stuff.

  11. I would love it if the tp in my office building in the us didn’t turn into fairy dust as soon as you touch it.

  12. Staying at the Hilton across from Wembley right now. No problems with the toilet paper, but my wife wants to send me with a roll for next time anyway.

  13. As far as poor plumbing that means throwing used TP in the trash, I’ve seen that in a number of places. You don’t have to go across the pond, as I encountered it just recently in Guatemala City.

    I’ll never forget the TP that I had to use (and pay for by the square, of course) at a public toilet in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1992. That stuff was brown and literally looked as though it had just been sliced off a tree.

  14. I’ve seen Admirals Club lounges with that same “turns into fairy dust” paper, and that’s kind of a shame (and silly, because when you get so thin, people just use more to compensate).

  15. Ive never been somewhere where you cant flush toilet paper and ive been to eastern Europe, se asia, china, s america, australia. Maybe in the middle east?

  16. Is anyone interested in importing toilet paper to Europe? Get in touch with me please.

Comments are closed.