On the whole, travelling is a very enjoyable experience, but there are some parts of being away from the comforts of home that can prove to be tricky. One such situation is the issue of clean clothes or, more specifically, lack thereof when your trip progresses and the number of your clean clothes dwindle.
So here are our tips for handling washing on the road.
Washing
There are two ways to approach this step of the cleaning process: the shower or the sink. While it’s quick and relatively pain free to wash small items such as underwear in the shower each day, larger items can prove to be more difficult. So this is when the bathroom sink comes in handy.
While you can bring some liquid detergent from home, a bar of soap will also suffice – or even shampoo or conditioner if that’s all you have.
Make sure you give the items a good scrub, and separate light and dark colours as you would at home to avoid any (bleeding) heartbreak.
If you are washing your items in the sink or bath, the second step is to replicate the spin cycle of your washing by swirling the items around.
Rinse
It’s very important to makes sure you give your clothes a good rinse with clean water to remove all the soap – whether you’re in the shower or using the sink. Then gently ring your clothes to remove excess water, being careful with your delicate items.
Dry
The towel is your best friend when it comes to drying your clothes as quickly as possible. Once you’ve given you clothes an initial, gentle, squeeze dry, lay a towel flat on the ground and place the first item of clothing on top. Roll the towel as tight as you can with the item inside, to soak up the water from your clothes.
Repeat this with each item. You may find you need a few extra towels – you’d be surprised how much water the towels will absorb!
Once you’re done, either hang up the items to dry or blast them on a medium heat setting with a hairdryer if you can’t wait that long.
If these steps make you want to wear dirty clothes instead, option B is to outsource this chore. Most hotels offer a washing service or can help point you in the right direction, but remember you are parting with your clothes at your own risk!
Still not convinced? There’s always the Scrubba, aka the world’s smallest washing machine.
Do you have any tips give you a helping hand for dealing with washing while travelling?
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How to remove stains and un-shrink clothes
A regular travel contributor to YourLifeChoices, SJ is in search of the world’s best Margarita most Monday nights.
