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Tags: Travel Snapshot / Toiletries / Bathrooms / Vending Machines / → All Tags

Look What We Found in The Airport Bathroom for Diez Pesos

Yesterday we were making our way out of Guadalajara and decided to hit up the bathrooms at the airport right before boarding our plane. Having just finished some enchiladas at the Wings restaurant (we passed on the Chili's chain), our breath was feeling less than fresh which is why we were pleased to see this vending machine inside the ladies bathroom.

For diez pesos, which is something like 75 cents, you can buy a Brushito, an "On the Go" toothbrush set complete with a fold-up toothbrush, a flosser and a mini, mini-tube of toothpaste. (If Barbie bought Costco-sized toothpaste, it would look like this.) And it even comes in little plastic balls, like the ones you used to lust after as a kid. You know, at the grocery store where, for 25 cents you'd get one of these plastic balls that held either a spider ring or a wash-off mermaid tattoo.

Even though we had packed a toothbrush and toothpaste in our carry-on, we couldn't resist buying our very own toothbrush ball, despite the unfortunate name of Brushito. Yet we sort of think all restaurant and airport bathrooms should have these. Fresh breath for all!

Related Stories:
· It's Hard to Sign On at Guadalajara Airport [Jaunted]

Tags: Airports / Vending Machines / Gold / Gold Digging / Frankfurt Travel / → All Tags

Thar's Gold In Them German Vending Machines!

Looks like the Germans have lost their faith in paper currency (again) these days. How else to explain the Gold to Go dispensers in the Frankfurt Airport? The Times UK reports:

After inserting your euros in the slot there is a familiar whirring noise as if the machine is readying itself to spit out a can of lemonade or a bar of chocolate. Instead there is a satisfying clunk as a prettily wrapped bar of the world's favourite precious metal thuds into the dispenser.

"It's better value than the bank," Romy Erhardt of TG-Gold-Super-Markt told The Times, "And it's very convenient — no waiting time — you just put in your cash and a minute later you are an investor in gold."

Passengers can buy passengers one gram, five grams or 10 grams of gold starting at about 30 Euros. While the value is better than the bank, passengers will still pay a bit more than market value. C'mon its a gold vending machine. That's expected.

The company has already installed a similar machine in Frankfurt's main train station and plans to put 500 more of the machines throughout the country as well as in Austria and Switzerland. While passengers at the Frankfurt Airport can also get a Maple Leaf Five Canadian dollar coin and a Kangaroo Fifteen Australian dollar coin, we're still tickled by the idea of a vending machine spitting out a real gold bar placed in a metal case that reads, "My Golden Treasure."

Related Stories:
· Germans flock to gold bars vending machine at Frankfurt airport [Times UK]
· Gold Mining Map [Jaunted]
· Gold Super Markt [Official Site, German]

Tags: Culture / Vending Machines / Alcohol / → All Tags

Toilet Paper Vending Machines in Japan

We knew that the Japanese were serious about their vending machines, but we didn't know quite how serious. It's hard to argue with the convenience of having beer or cigarettes in a vending machine--the two are often desired at odd hours of the day or night, but travel insurance? Yup, you can buy it automatically at the airport, according to PhotoMann Travel Photography's site categorizing the Japanese vending machine mania.

Other highlights include: eggs, fishing bait, toilet paper, porn, batteries, "used schoolgirl panties", and rhinoceros beetles. Isn't a toilet paper vending machine necessarily going to be a bit to far from the action? It's perfect if you want to teepee someone's house in a hurry, though.

[Image via Yuki/Flickr]