RTW Tips: laundy on the road
People say the best time to pack is after you get home from a trip. That's when you know what was most useful, what you didn't use much, and what you wish you had. This is the fourth in a series of RTW Tips about what to pack.
Laundry
Doing laundry on the road only requires three things: a sink with a drain plug, detergent, and somewhere to dry your clothes.
Usually you'll have a sink where you're staying the night, but the sinks don't always have drain plugs. Just pick up a "universal drain plug" from the hardware store.
Detergent wise, I left home with tiny travel packets of Tide (from Target) , and little cubes of castille soap (that I cut up from a bar of soap, from Trader Joe's). I've used Tide (and Gain) all of my life, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed with using Tide in the sink. I just don't think it's made for hand washing...at least the formulation you get in the US. Castille soap on the other hand really got stains out, since you can rub it in and use that mechanical action to remove stains. Plus it's super fast drying.
If you're traveling in developing countries, you're in luck. Most likely, there will be detergent specially formulated for handwashing. The brand I came across most often was Omo (equivalent brand-wise to Wisk or Persil). Omo represented my first time using a Unilever brand detergent, but they worked very well and smelled nice and laundry-like.
The third thing you need to do laundry on the road is someplace to dry your clothes. Closet space can be a luxury, and besides the ventilation is poor inside of a closet. I loved my braided elastic clothesline from a travel store, pictured above. Just sitting by itself, it looks like it could be a medical torture device.
But as you can see below, you can improvise a clothesline basically by finding a chair, a doorknob, a lamp, a table, anything to loop the ends around. And you just stick your clothes through the braids, negating the need for clothespins. Plus, since your clothesline will likely be at an angle due to the chair being at a different height as the doorknob for example, the braided design prevents your clothes from sliding down to one end. Definitely look for this tool.
