Marsha

Hi, Katzen. Laundromats used to be easy to find in Europe, but I guess more people have their own machines now. Two years ago, I used the Internet (telephone book) to find laudromats near our B & B's in England. You might want to try that - also ask at the tourist bureaus. I used to buy detergent in tablets - maybe ALL - but I can't find it anymore. I just use the double ziplock bag method. Nobody has ever questioned what I was carrying. (Airport security was more worried about my 6 year old's blunt-end kindergarten scissors.)

hopscotch

I've said it before, to the jeers of many, but here again -- I do my laundry in the bidet. I normally use Woolite, excellent stuff. If I was going to use Tide I would fill some old airline booze bottles with the liquid version because powdered Tide is hard to dissolve except in a washing machine. One of the advantages of staying in hostels is that they often have a washing machine and the price for a load is less than the price for one pair of socks in most hotels.

dsm22

My tiny liquid packet worked well. I agree, I don't like the powder. Also those Tide to Go pens are awesome.

Vera

goggle self serve laundry for the location you are visiting. Some of my most interesting travel experiences happend with interaction with locals at self-servce laundries.

Vera

Sarvowinner

Last December, when i was queueing up in Sydney for check in for a flight to Canada via LAX, I was asked by security about the normal items, sharp scissors,etc. when they asked if I had aundry detergent. I had the travel liquid detergent in a small bottle. It was confiscated supposely due to US in regulations as it could be supposedly used for bombs. I have never seen this posted in any US airport and we weren't asked again in any of the 13 airports in our ROW trip. I pointed out that the formula was almost identical to shampoo but was told that they had no flexibility. Next time I will put it into a shampoo bottle.

We ended up buying a small packet of detergent in a supermarket in Arusha Tanzania for our safari. We would wash our khakis in the water we collected in a basin recycled from our bucket of water provided for showers. Now that is another story.....

Underhill

On our first trip to England I discovered TravelWash, and I've never looked back. I was very happy to find it a few years ago at magellans. One small tube goes a long way, with no hand irritation.

TylerTraveler

I used a laundromat in Prague, Nice and somewhere else (I forget haha... Latvia?)

If space is an issue, just buy it in Europe... If money is more of an issue, take your own. I can almost guarentee you that you'll pay 5 times as much for detergent in Europe at a laudromat than you will at Target/Walmart/wherever.


Better hint? Take clothes that don't need washed that often haha

suze

I go with the philosophy of wearing pants over and over without washing (unless you're camping, how dirty do you really get touring in a city?)... and doing light tops and undies in the hotel sink. One hotel laundry option 10 days in, sounds ideal, for doing up heavier items like socks, etc.

Merseyheart

Yes, I finally discovered Travel Wash after several trips to Britain. Much better than liquid dish detergent! You can buy it in small amounts, even from travel stores here in the States. One recommendation--wear cotton slacks, not jeans. They're much easier to wash in the sink. As other posters have recommended, you can use a self-service laundry. Thank you, Vera, for suggesting Google.

worldinabag

Hi

I bought a bottle of all purpose liquid from a camping/hiking store. This does the lot - hair, dishes and laundry. OK no jokes about dunking your head in the sink while the dishes are soaking! Previously I used laundry liquid which was in toothpaste sized tube. This was great but no longer available from my supermarket.

Graziella5b

In most cities there are laundromats that wash ,dry and fold your cloth.
The most important to me is the timing, I usually take my bag when arriving at a city I know I am going to stay enough time to have it done and give myself some lee way to pick it up. Hotels are helpful in providing addresses of this laundry shops even if they have their own laundry service.

GSteed

Use the bath tub! Wring wet clothes out, wrap them in dry towels. Ask the desk for a nearby laundry. Many such laundries will wash and dry your laundry for a minimal price. Pack old undergarments and such. Discard soiled clothing. Try Tesco or Carrefour for replacements.

kerouac

If you do use a European washing machine, you should know that they wash cycle is much much longer than an American machine, because the European machines use 75% less water.

katzen

Wow, thank you for all the responses ... I should say my husband is going to be over there for 16 days and I will be over there for 25 days .. He will definitely need to wash some things .. I plan on taking clothes that can be worn more than once and don't need washed. Undergarments will be a diff. story of course. Thank you again!

kswl

Travel Wash is excellent. I think it is available online at Magellans. they also have a good flat stopper and an excellent braided rubber clothesline that has come in handy for us. (But I still think sending out laundry is a wonderful luxury that I would forego one nice meal for.)