Whether you are traveling for days or months, it is possible to get by with a week’s worth of clothes. This is becoming more and more popular as travelers move toward packing light to save on fees. Because you are limiting your clothing, if you are traveling long-term, you will want to wash them. For most destinations, doing laundry is cheaper than checking a bag to bring all those extra items. Below are the common options for doing laundry while traveling.
Pre-Planning
Think through what you are planning to bring, how durable it is, and how easy it will be to wash. Depending on your destination, some laundry options may or may not be available to you. Clothes that wick moisture and are odor resistant can be worn more than once, which gives you more time between washes. Carry a dirty laundry bag or packing cube – this is especially useful if you have to transport your dirty clothes to a laundromat. Plus keeping your dirty laundry separate keeps your clean clothes, cleaner.
Laundry Options
Accommodation Laundry Services
Full-service hotels, lodges, and cruise ships often offer laundry services. This involves washing, drying, and hanging or folding the clothes. Usually there is a laundry bag and form to fill out in your room. The form will have instructions on what to do with the bag e.g., leave it in the room or call the front desk.
Laundry may be returned same-day or the next-day. These services may be included in the room rate or be charged as an extra fee. If laundry services are an added charge, this can quickly become expensive. There are some destinations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America where the prices are more economical.
My game lodge in Botswana included laundry services in our room rate.
Accommodation With Self-Service Laundry
Many lodgings have self-service laundry options including apartments, hostels, campgrounds, motels, and vacation rentals like Airbnb or Vrbo.
These accommodations come with a washing machine and sometimes a dryer. They may be private use or units the building shares.
Use of the machines may be included in the price of your stay or have a fee for use. If it is a shared laundry area, you may need coins to operate the machines.
Owners, hosts, or prior guests may leave detergent for your use, but you may need to bring your own.
Laundromat
If your accommodation does not have laundry facilities and you are close to the city or a busy residential area, you may be able to take your clothes to a laundromat. These businesses may only offer self-service coin-operated washers and dryers. They can also have drop off services where the staff washes, dries, and folds your laundry.
The washers and dryers usually take coins or tokens. Often there are machines to convert cash to the required tokens or coins.
While laundromats are commonly available in some countries, they can be non-existent in others. Make sure to research before your trip if this option appeals to you.
If you plan to use the self-service option, know that you will lose valuable time during the day.
Washing Clothes In A Sink Or Tub
An easy way to save money is to hand wash your clothing in a hotel sink or bathtub. Some hotels strongly discourage washing clothes in sinks and tubs so please follow all hotel policies.
Just fill the sink or tub with warm water, add laundry soap (or body soap if you are in a pinch), wash your dirty clothes, and rinse. Gently squeeze or compress the water out. You can also place your clothes on a towel and roll it up to absorb water from the pieces.
Hang the items over the shower curtain rod or from closet hangers. Some people even pack travel clotheslines. This is when quick dry fabrics become especially important. Synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon typically dry more quickly.
Hand washing is useful especially for small pieces like socks, underwear, and tank tops.
Items you may want to bring with you if you are hand washing clothes:
- Lie flat sink stopper
- Travel-size laundry detergent – either small liquid bottles, packets, or detergent sheets
Another option to hand wash clothes is in a special travel washing machine bag that you fill with water and detergent. Then you roll the bag around before draining and refilling with clean water to rinse.
I hope you find this information helpful next time you consider doing laundry while traveling! If you have any other tips, share them in the comment below!
Very helpful tips. I would often use the bathtub to launder my “fine washables,” roll in a towel, stomp on the towel like I was smashing grapes for wine (think: Lucy Ricardo!?) Dries even faster.
Always a good hack to have in a pinch. Plus I love the I Love Lucy reference 😉
You made a good point that I should also consider how busy the surrounding neighborhood is when it comes to choose the right laundry service. My husband and I would like to travel a lot in the coming weeks for our vacation so we will be jumping from hotel to hotel. As such, we would also need to deal with laundry while on the road.
Yes, jumping from hotel to hotel can be hard with laundry and can get expensive if you don’t find other ways of doing it. Have fun on your vacation!