When you have to go, you HAVE TO GO! But too often we’re out of luck in our cities when it comes to finding a clean, neat, safe, graffiti-free, working public restroom - with toilet paper.

Gimpy Guru Jane Brody, of The New York Times, says Sydney, Australia, tops all when it comes to accessible public toilets. But if you can’t hold it till Sydney, click here to read Jane’s suggestions for finding decent restrooms closer to home.

As usual, Jane is informative and on-the-money about this being a public health issue too long overlooked in most cities.

Jane also found this great site called The Bathroom Diaries, which describes and rates restrooms in cities throughout the world, including China, Turkey or South Africa.

She suggests planning ahead for your next trip and printing out the Bathroom Diaries list of public facilities in the cities you plan to visit in the United States, Canada or some far more exotic location.

This delightful New York Times story is about doing nothing in winter at a lazy pace.

Click here if you have the energy.

Always ask your hotel for the “handicapped” room - guaranteed to have a roomier bathroom, a bigger bedroom overall and it sometimes even costs less than a “regular” room.

These first-come first-serve Gimpy rooms are available to anyone with mobility, hearing or vision issues, not just wheelchair users. These rooms usually are nearer the front door of the hotel, so you don’t have so far to go to reach your car, a cab or a restaurant. For the deaf, these rooms have lights, in addition to alarms, to alert you to emergencies, such as a fire.

Cait asked for one at Disney World and got a huge corner suite with a bathroom that was the size of a regular hotel room. The bathroom had marble counters, a bathtub with a lift and a shower with grab bars galore.

Another time, while on the road, Cait pulled into Oxford, Miss., at 11:30 p.m. without reservations, ask for the “handicapped” room and got a lovely, well-appointed room larger than most of the rooms at the hotel.

The only drawback is the bed size. Sometimes the beds are doubles rather than queens or kings. So if bed size is important, ask before you take the room.

Eds Note: To see what we think about the word “Handicapped” click here.

We are not skiers. Our idea of a rousing day on the slopes is sitting by the lodge fireplace with a rum toddy, a good book and a pair of binoculars to watch the skiers.

But many of our friends are skiers, or rather were skiers before they grew averse to risk. Baby Boomers don’t want to end up in physical therapy and so fewer are taking to the slopes, and when they do it’s on flatter runs so crowded it takes the fun out of it.

Now, however, resorts are working to lure back the Boomers with pioneering programs such as “Bumps for Boomers” - which erases the fear and teaches Boomers to confidently ski - of all things - mogul runs! And to do it without needing quick reflexes or extraordinary agility.

“It’s not a gimmick,” Rose Ries, a 51-year-old psychiatrist from Philadelphia told The New York Times. “I was the classic devoted skier who, nonetheless, had no chance in the moguls. Now, tree and mogul runs are the only place I go.”

Learn More

Wisconsin, Minnesota and Vermont are part of a nationwide effort called “Open the Outdoors,” designed to help people with disabilities find accessible cabins, trails, and hunting and fishing opportunities.

In addition, the U.S. National Park Service soon plans to launch a Web site listing accessible trails and programs throughout the United States.

Click here to read more.

The planners of these over-the-top theme parks have thought of every accommodation for Gimpy people.

They’ve tightened their policy on access passes, but for the better, we believe. Now, the truly Gimpy get served versus every group of college kids who used to rent a wheelchair and pass it among themselves to get to the front of the lines.

PassPorter’s Disney For Special Needs: The Take-Along Travel Guide and Planner. This guidebook covers 24 special needs categories and detailed descriptions of every Disney ride and attraction. With insider advice for dining at Disney, tales and tips from special needs travelers, and honest advice so you can feel safe and comfortable.

The links below offer basic information free from the Disney Web sites:

Click here for disability details for Disney World

Click here for disability details for Disneyland

As Baby Boomers retire and U.S. health care costs soar, Mexico is preparing for more American seniors to head south in coming years.

Many have found Mexico’s proximity to the USA, low labor costs and warm climate attractive, though residents caution quality of care varies greatly in an industry that is just getting off the ground.

“If you need help living or coping, this is the place to be,” says former Bandon, Ore., resident Jean Douglas, 74.

In Ajijic, Mexico, Douglas gets a studio apartment, three meals a day, laundry and cleaning service, and 24-hour care from an attentive staff, many of whom speak English, for $1,300 a month - a quarter of what she would pay in the United States.

And she wakes up every morning next to a glimmering mountain lake, and an annual average high temperature of 79 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It’s paradise,” she says.

Learn More and Watch the Video

Disneyland’s newly redesigned “Submarine Voyage” has something not envisioned when it debuted in 1959 — an alternate experience for Gimpy guests.

The “Imagineers” at The Walt Disney Co. couldn’t retrofit the hatches and spiral staircases of the original 52-foot submarines to accommodate wheelchairs. So they did the next best thing. Read the rest of this entry »

New York City touts its subway as one of the largest and the best. That may be true for most riders, but for the Gimpy “it’s one of the worst,” said Michael Harris, a wheelchair user and well-known advocate for New York’s disabled.

The New York City Transit Authority consistently ignores the needs of riders with disabilities and treats “us like second-class citizens,” Harris told the City Council. Harris encountered three broken subway elevators just trying to get to City Hall for the hearing.

New York subways have another problem: the platform gap makes getting on the subway difficult for those in wheelchairs. At some stations, wood boards are being replaced this year with wider boards made of a durable, flexible synthetic, said transit officials.