On a monthlong tour of Northern India three years ago, I stayed cleaner than I usually am at home, thanks to the efficient, inexpensive laundry services at Indian hotels. Mostly, though, people who aren't on expense accounts clean up in pricey destinations like Europe by doing their laundry in hotel room sinks. Wise travelers anticipate the need by packing sink stoppers, laundry detergent and portable clotheslines. Some find that bidets make perfect washing tanks, and, like Gustafson, they carry inflatable plastic hangers so their clothes dry with few wrinkles. Anyone who has tried to wash bluejeans in a sink learns this quickly, she says.
Suds are also important.
Some travelers take Woolite or plastic food storage bags of detergent. Others, like Hannon, often use the free bottles of shampoo and body gel in hotel bathrooms. Everyone needs to do laundry, which is why a self-service place is usually easy to find. For instance, there's a self-service laundry in Helsinki, Finland, that has a cafe and a sauna, so you and your clothes can get clean in concert. Meeting people like this endearing young man is, perhaps, the best thing about using laundries on the road.