The Season of Germaphobia

For those of us who are a bit germaphobic, traveling in the summer is a super-deluxe icky experience. First, there is the indignity of de-shoeing in the TSA line that requires us to put our bare feet on the nasty floor. Then, there’s the funky people you have to sit next to on airplanes that for some inexplicable reason have not deemed it necessary to wear deodorant or antiperspirant, even though they’re traveling to a place that they know will be 100 degrees (don’t even get me started on the wingnuts who think it is OK to take off their shoes after their feet have been sweating all day). Finally, there’s the horror of the airplane bathroom.

Whether due to budget cuts or criminal insanity, some airlines have stopped providing toilet seat covers. Isn’t it enough that we live in a world of bed bugs, flu strains named after animals and a seemingly endless barrage of investigative reports (all utilizing black light technology) to uncover the nastiness left behind in hotel rooms? I mean do the airlines really expect us to just plop our bare ass on that flimsy little toilet and not concern ourselves with the thousands of other asses that have been there before? My mom says do the hover method. She has clearly never been in an airplane bathroom in turbulence.

If a surcharge must be assessed for a toilet seat cover, I’m happy to pay. Hell, I would even be OK with a toilet seat cover gumball machine. I beg you airlines to re-install the toilet seat cover holder and provide us with a little bit of the piece of mind we flyers deserve.