Line drying wet laundry in Edinburgh in late winter is an exercise in patience.
We had booked an Airbnb with a washer and dryer, but unfortunately, the previous guests had broken the dryer. At least the washer worked, right?
So we washed small loads and put them on a drying rack next to a radiator, rotating everything every few hours to help dry things out. Still, it took close to 24 hours to air dry our jeans.
Dealing with laundry when you're traveling is an ongoing concern for most travelers. Some people prefer to pack enough clothes for every day and not worry about their growing dirty pile until they get home. For people staying in hotels and going on cruises, laundry facilities are often not even available. Or, if they are, really expensive. So they pack large suitcases with enough clothes to cover their needs for the whole trip.
Obviously, that's not how we do it. I'm not willing to pack that much clothing, nor do I want to face Mt. Laundry when we get home.
Since we usually stay in Airbnbs, we always look for places with washers (and hopefully) dryers, which enables us to do laundry as we go and pack far, far less. I've mentioned before a trip in which I had only two outfits in total. Having access to a washer made it so much easier.1
In places like Spain and Italy, we've had washers, but not dryers, but it didn't really matter because it's so quick to air dry clothes in warmer climates. Take a closer look at the photo at the top of this post and you’ll see our laundry drying in the hot Italian sun.
It has never failed to surprise me that places with cooler climates, such as England and other places in northern Europe and Scandinavia, don't always have dryers available. We also have encountered this in places with cool winters, like Sydney, where we checked into our Airbnb with a ridiculous amount of dirty laundry after camping in New Zealand and quickly realized that we didn't have a dryer. We did, however, find two large drying racks, which we quickly put to use next to the windows in order to take advantage of the winter sunshine.
When my husband and I were traveling in Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe in 2019 we traveled with a group and stayed in hotels and lodges the entire time. We definitely didn't have access to a washer. A few of the places we stayed in offered laundry services, but oddly enough would not accept some things, like underwear.
So we hand-washed in the shower when we were cleaning ourselves or did quick washes in the sink. If we happened to be staying in a hotel for at least two nights, we'd toss everything in the tub, let the load soak, agitate on occasion, and rinse out the suds. We'd wring out the clothes and hang everything to dry. A tiny hassle, yes, but not a major one overall.
I’ve written before about how the type of fabrics you wear will have a big impact on air drying. I tend to wear rapid dry materials like merino wool jersey and performance synthetics, all of which dry quickly, plus things like wool t-shirts and leggings don’t need to be washed as often. My husband, on the other hand, is Mr. Cotton, which takes much longer to dry. That said, he too has started switching to wool knits and synthetics since cotton is so bulky to pack and slow to dry.
What about you? Do you wash clothes as you go or save everything until you get back?
Pro tip: Look at the photos carefully to make sure the washer and dryer are actually in the place you're renting, instead of in a shared location, such as a laundry room used by multiple condos.
Clean clothes are a plus
In America I am usually mt laundry. Abroad I wash as we go. We encountered the same problem in the uk but fortunately the drying rack was located above the heater. In summer months I line dry my clothes in Montana.