Laundry. Easy to take for granted when most in the US have a washer and dryer. When long-term traveling, packing just enough clothes for a week, doing laundry becomes a necessity. Some places it’s easier than others. Ideally and most easily, our hotel will do laundry. Unfortunately hotels like to charge per item since most people aren’t traveling long-term, and might only wash a shirt or pair of pants that were dirtied. For us, however, doing all of our weekly laundry, paying per item adds up quickly.
The second best option is finding a laundry spot that will pick up and drop off to our hotel and charges by the kilogram. This was most common in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Other places, we find a laundry where we can drop off and pick up, usually done within 24 hours. Sometimes, contrary to what Google maps indicates, the businesses are no longer there, so its important to have a backup.
The third option is going to a laundromat and doing it ourselves, which can be interesting when the instructions are not in English, though usually there is an employee who will help. All told, going to a laundromat isn’t so bad, it just takes time waiting when we could be exploring (which is something everyone who doesn’t own a washer and dryer, including us, can attest to). After all, we ended up meeting our friend, Panos, at a laundromat in Hong Kong on Chinese New Year.
On occasion, our hotels have had complimentary, self-service, laundry for guests, though we have not encountered this since we were in China. A funny thing about doing our laundry in China is that the hotels would always have a sign posted stating you could not wash your underwear or socks in their machine. But those are the most important things to wash! Where am I supposed to wash those? We ignored the signs and washed away and no one ever said anything. We had read about this before going. It’s common practice due to hygiene concerns (but coughing and spitting are just fine).
We have also learned that just because someone does your laundry, it doesn’t mean that it will be super clean or smell great upon return. Conversely, sometimes it will smell so strong and perfumey that it’s overwhelming. What you can guarantee, however, is that your clothes will be dried on very high heat and fit much more snugly than when you last wore them. It is always a welcome surprise when our clothes come back clean and smelling good, it really is the little things that can brighten up a day.
Traveling in countries where it is exceedingly hot and humid makes us follow this rule: Just because an outfit gets soaked in sweat, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s dirty. Well, it doesn’t necessarily mean it gets thrown in the dirty clothes pile, anyway. Once the item is dry, it gets a sniff test. If it’s objectively offensive, it doesn’t get another wear, otherwise, it likely will. There is certainly a spectrum between “clean” and “dirty” and that is where most of our clothing lives (except underwear of course, c’mon, we are civilized human beings).
I do carry a small container of laundry detergent with us, mostly for quick stain removal. Also, just in case, we are in danger of running out of clean underwear (dread of dreads), I have the ability to hand wash some.
What have I learned?
A good laundry place just makes life better.
To appreciate clean clothes, especially when they smell nice.
Sometimes, I’m going to have to wear something that isn’t 100% clean, and that’s ok. Everything kind of smells.
Clothes can easily be replaced, as there is clothing for sale everywhere. Literally, in the smallest, remotest of towns and areas, there will be vendors selling clothes.
Investing in a few clothing pieces that can last is valuable. For example, I purchased a few merino wool items before setting out for long-term travel. All of my socks are merino wool, which allows a few wears as they are quick dry and don’t hold a stink. I get it, wearing socks multiple times sounds gross but also, whataya gonna do? I also have some merino wool yoga leggings that have worked out very well. I really wish I would have invested in a few merino wool bras before we left. I bought a couple of bamboo bras which have worked out alright but are definitely worse for wear. You live [you love, you laugh] and you learn, right?
While so many traveling experiences are fun, exciting, and new, there are those unglamorous realities of long-term travel, which can lead to little joys too.
