Bill Bryson says:

The author states at the beginning of the story that of all the things he was not very good at, living in the real world was the most outstanding. He quotes an example that many times he goes looking for the lavatory in a cinema hall and ends up standing in an alley on the wrong side of a self-locking door. He also states that it is his speciality to ask for his room number at the hotel desks two to three times a day.