Laundry on long trips
Mar 31, 2017, 4:14 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: W29
Programs: It's Complicated...
Posts: 6,820
For me, it would depend on what city I am in, available hotel amenities and if it is a work trip or personal trip.
If I am on a work trip and it is a project where there is little personal time then I am sending it out to be done, period.
If it is a personal trip, I am likely to send it out to a laundry service also unless there is a convenient laundry in the hotel I am staying at or in some instances I can find a hotel with laundry machine in the room. The last option is mostly serviced apartments in Asia.
I typically try to avoid the hotel laundry service for cost reasons, for my employers and my sake.
If I am on a work trip and it is a project where there is little personal time then I am sending it out to be done, period.
If it is a personal trip, I am likely to send it out to a laundry service also unless there is a convenient laundry in the hotel I am staying at or in some instances I can find a hotel with laundry machine in the room. The last option is mostly serviced apartments in Asia.
I typically try to avoid the hotel laundry service for cost reasons, for my employers and my sake.
Mar 31, 2017, 6:27 am
#3
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, IHG, Enterprise, Avios, Nexus
Posts: 8,355
Depends where I am and what I'm doing.
On business trips I use hotel laundry. I use it sparingly and have yet to have a client or employer refuse a laundry bill. If I'm in an English speaking country I might take it to an off-site cleaner if one is nearby. I do not wash my clothes in the room.
On personal trips I seek out a coin wash laundromat or a nearby dry cleaner if time permits. Laundromats can actually be a fun experience interacting with locals. I have great memories of an afternoon at a laundromat in Carson City, Nevada, of all places.
On business trips I use hotel laundry. I use it sparingly and have yet to have a client or employer refuse a laundry bill. If I'm in an English speaking country I might take it to an off-site cleaner if one is nearby. I do not wash my clothes in the room.
On personal trips I seek out a coin wash laundromat or a nearby dry cleaner if time permits. Laundromats can actually be a fun experience interacting with locals. I have great memories of an afternoon at a laundromat in Carson City, Nevada, of all places.
Mar 31, 2017, 7:54 am
#4
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Cleveland, OH
Programs: UA-GS 1MM), Hertz Pres Circle, Starriott Titanium)
Posts: 1,966
On business trips where I have to have my button down shirts look crisp, I use the hotel laundry. On leisure trips, I take along my trusty sink stopper, travel laundry line and just wash everything in the sink using shampoo or "REI in der Tube"
Mar 31, 2017, 9:14 am
#5
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Boulder
Programs: AA Plat, CX Silver
Posts: 2,361
My business trips are never long enough for it to be an issue.
On long personal trips I'll do a little bit of laundry in the hotel sink and, depending on location, find a drop-off cleaner or try to intersperse hotels with coin laundries. I bring a container of powder laundry detergent with me.
Especially in Asia, it's pretty cheap and easy to find a drop-off laundry. IME there's one in most shopping malls, especially in cities like Hong Kong and Singapore.
On long personal trips I'll do a little bit of laundry in the hotel sink and, depending on location, find a drop-off cleaner or try to intersperse hotels with coin laundries. I bring a container of powder laundry detergent with me.
Especially in Asia, it's pretty cheap and easy to find a drop-off laundry. IME there's one in most shopping malls, especially in cities like Hong Kong and Singapore.
Mar 31, 2017, 10:56 am
#6
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: AKL
Posts: 59
Small bar of hand wash soap for underwear/socks (and sometimes t-shirts) and take my other clothes to a laundry/drycleaners.
You can use regular soap/shampoo but I find the clothes are not soft or clean enough. I find it better to have a laundry bar soap/liquid. I picked mine up in an Asian(Korean) grocery store.
I either ask locals to help find the closest recommended laundry or look for nearest one on Google maps.
You can use regular soap/shampoo but I find the clothes are not soft or clean enough. I find it better to have a laundry bar soap/liquid. I picked mine up in an Asian(Korean) grocery store.
I either ask locals to help find the closest recommended laundry or look for nearest one on Google maps.
Mar 31, 2017, 11:45 am
#7
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SEA
Programs: Million Miles achieved | 2017 Delta Platinum, United NADA, Global Entry, PreCheck, NEXUS
Posts: 1,295
I don't like paying hotels for laundry.
A couple thoughts:
In some boutique hotels, especially tourist hotels, they have free or cheap laundromat on site.
If you stay in Airbnb or other home share places they frequently have laundry in the unit. I've found this in Airbnb in Vancouver, Bali, Barcelona and others.
Otherwise I'll look for a close self serve laundromat.
A couple thoughts:
In some boutique hotels, especially tourist hotels, they have free or cheap laundromat on site.
If you stay in Airbnb or other home share places they frequently have laundry in the unit. I've found this in Airbnb in Vancouver, Bali, Barcelona and others.
Otherwise I'll look for a close self serve laundromat.
Mar 31, 2017, 2:22 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,622
Doing laundry on-the-road was one of the best tricks I've picked up. I used to pack enough clothing + spares to last me an entire trip. Now I pack minimally and plan on doing laundry.
Most of my travel is US-domestic and I'm away from home ~250-300 nights/year, so I am quite fond of Marriott Residence Inns, which always have self-service laundry facilities in them. Because of this, it really doesn't take much of my time to do this on the road. Sometimes I'll wash everything on the last night of the trip so when I get home everything can just be hung up in the closet. No more Mount Laundry from 2 weeks' worth of dirty clothes after a trip.
Abroad, I often try to do an AirBNB/HomeAway and specifically look for units which have a washer. If worse comes to worse, laundromats, which I find are quite plentiful in major cities and more difficult to find in the countryside.
Most of my travel is US-domestic and I'm away from home ~250-300 nights/year, so I am quite fond of Marriott Residence Inns, which always have self-service laundry facilities in them. Because of this, it really doesn't take much of my time to do this on the road. Sometimes I'll wash everything on the last night of the trip so when I get home everything can just be hung up in the closet. No more Mount Laundry from 2 weeks' worth of dirty clothes after a trip.
Abroad, I often try to do an AirBNB/HomeAway and specifically look for units which have a washer. If worse comes to worse, laundromats, which I find are quite plentiful in major cities and more difficult to find in the countryside.
Mar 31, 2017, 3:27 pm
#9
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: MSP
Programs: DL Gold, DL MM 8/22/16!
Posts: 2,563
All personal trips, as I'm so happily retired.
Pack with as much "quick dry" fabrics as possible. Forget things like jeans denim (they are really heavy anyway).
Pack a bit of powdered detergent (one less thing in liquids zip-lock).
Then hand-wash in the hotel room.
To make sure things dry overnight, hand wring out as well as possible. Then lay on a bath or hand towel and roll everything up. Hang onto the ends of the roll and twist, or lay roll on the floor and step down it. Roughly 1/2 the moisture will be absorbed by the towel.
When hanging things out, look for that moving air and hang there if possible.
And for damp areas that didn't quite dry overnight, the hotel hairdryer works like a charm.
Or any of the good ideas of previous posters - AirBNB or other place with washer and even dryer, self-serve laundromat, etc.
Pack with as much "quick dry" fabrics as possible. Forget things like jeans denim (they are really heavy anyway).
Pack a bit of powdered detergent (one less thing in liquids zip-lock).
Then hand-wash in the hotel room.
To make sure things dry overnight, hand wring out as well as possible. Then lay on a bath or hand towel and roll everything up. Hang onto the ends of the roll and twist, or lay roll on the floor and step down it. Roughly 1/2 the moisture will be absorbed by the towel.
When hanging things out, look for that moving air and hang there if possible.
And for damp areas that didn't quite dry overnight, the hotel hairdryer works like a charm.
Or any of the good ideas of previous posters - AirBNB or other place with washer and even dryer, self-serve laundromat, etc.
Apr 5, 2017, 11:00 pm
#10
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: Fallen DL DM (PM) 2MM
Posts: 4,783
I used to do sink laundry when I traveled but I ran into too many cases where my stopper wouldn't work.
I found the Scrubba bag -- basically think of a roll top dry bag with a "beach ball" valve to let air out. So now I don't make a mess in the bathroom with the sink is too small (I am a big guy) and it gets things cleaner than just the sink by itself.
If rolls up fairly small and if I have any thing damp on my way home (or when traveling to a new hotel) I use it to keep my other clothes dry.
You probably could do something similar with a large enough zip lock and some clamps, or a standard dry bag but the Scrubba just makes things easier.
I don't travel for business so it's all casual clothes, underwear and socks...
I found the Scrubba bag -- basically think of a roll top dry bag with a "beach ball" valve to let air out. So now I don't make a mess in the bathroom with the sink is too small (I am a big guy) and it gets things cleaner than just the sink by itself.
If rolls up fairly small and if I have any thing damp on my way home (or when traveling to a new hotel) I use it to keep my other clothes dry.
You probably could do something similar with a large enough zip lock and some clamps, or a standard dry bag but the Scrubba just makes things easier.
I don't travel for business so it's all casual clothes, underwear and socks...
Apr 6, 2017, 10:12 am
#11
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 431
Pack clothes for exactly 50% of the duration of your trip, give your laundry bag to the hotel maid in the morning of the day that's the halfway point, have it back by that evening.
Example: 10 day trip, pack 5 days worth of underwear/shirts, pack 2 pairs of pants and wear a 3rd. The morning of Day 6 do your laundry.
Benefits by using the 50% method: Less to pack, less to unpack, don't have to check luggage, lighter to transport, saves you time and money which offsets the cost of the laundry fee at the hotel.
Apr 6, 2017, 6:25 pm
#12
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Riberas del Pilar, Mexico
Posts: 437
I no longer travel for work but on personal trips I use Airbnb a lot. If so, I pack Tide pods which I pack in a plastic case in checked baggage. Already premeasured and a lot cheaper than paying for those little boxes of detergent and works better too.
Apr 6, 2017, 7:06 pm
#13
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: PDX (wish I was in HNL)
Programs: Platinum
Posts: 1,687
All personal trips, as I'm so happily retired.
Pack with as much "quick dry" fabrics as possible. Forget things like jeans denim (they are really heavy anyway).
Pack a bit of powdered detergent (one less thing in liquids zip-lock).
Then hand-wash in the hotel room.
To make sure things dry overnight, hand wring out as well as possible. Then lay on a bath or hand towel and roll everything up. Hang onto the ends of the roll and twist, or lay roll on the floor and step down it. Roughly 1/2 the moisture will be absorbed by the towel.
When hanging things out, look for that moving air and hang there if possible.
And for damp areas that didn't quite dry overnight, the hotel hairdryer works like a charm.
Or any of the good ideas of previous posters - AirBNB or other place with washer and even dryer, self-serve laundromat, etc.
Pack with as much "quick dry" fabrics as possible. Forget things like jeans denim (they are really heavy anyway).
Pack a bit of powdered detergent (one less thing in liquids zip-lock).
Then hand-wash in the hotel room.
To make sure things dry overnight, hand wring out as well as possible. Then lay on a bath or hand towel and roll everything up. Hang onto the ends of the roll and twist, or lay roll on the floor and step down it. Roughly 1/2 the moisture will be absorbed by the towel.
When hanging things out, look for that moving air and hang there if possible.
And for damp areas that didn't quite dry overnight, the hotel hairdryer works like a charm.
Or any of the good ideas of previous posters - AirBNB or other place with washer and even dryer, self-serve laundromat, etc.
I used to do sink laundry when I traveled but I ran into too many cases where my stopper wouldn't work.
I found the Scrubba bag -- basically think of a roll top dry bag with a "beach ball" valve to let air out. So now I don't make a mess in the bathroom with the sink is too small (I am a big guy) and it gets things cleaner than just the sink by itself.
If rolls up fairly small and if I have any thing damp on my way home (or when traveling to a new hotel) I use it to keep my other clothes dry.
You probably could do something similar with a large enough zip lock and some clamps, or a standard dry bag but the Scrubba just makes things easier.
I don't travel for business so it's all casual clothes, underwear and socks...
I found the Scrubba bag -- basically think of a roll top dry bag with a "beach ball" valve to let air out. So now I don't make a mess in the bathroom with the sink is too small (I am a big guy) and it gets things cleaner than just the sink by itself.
If rolls up fairly small and if I have any thing damp on my way home (or when traveling to a new hotel) I use it to keep my other clothes dry.
You probably could do something similar with a large enough zip lock and some clamps, or a standard dry bag but the Scrubba just makes things easier.
I don't travel for business so it's all casual clothes, underwear and socks...