Lame question about laundromats in Europe..
Feb 5th, 2007, 12:15 PM
#21
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 169
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The hotel we were in in South Kensington in London was around the corner from TWO laundries, and while it was pricey, it was very much worth it to me to have the clothes done just before we came home. We both had to get back to our jobs on Monday, and I preferred spending Sunday getting caught up on sleep, mail, relatives, and sleep!
Feb 7th, 2007, 02:15 PM
#22
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
When we were in Germany, we found an Army base and used their laundry facilities. Machines even took American coins. We were told that the land was Americn soil and Americans were welcome...but not in the PX store. We had a wonderful time talking to the soldiers' families that were there.
Feb 8th, 2007, 02:44 PM
#23
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just a reminder to be cautious:
When we were in Florence May 2003, we used a laundromat one morning in the downtown area.
While we were there, 3 young men came in and were acting suspicious, (no laundry with them & acting like they were "inspecting" the machines). I was a little nervous until my son returned from the bakery across the street. They took one look at him (Varsity football) and left.
There was another American woman there and I helped her figure out how to buy the tokens, soap, etc. We left before she did.
We saw her later in our trip in another city, and she told us that after we left the men came back, chit chatted with her in a friendly way, then grabbed her purse and ran. Of course she lost all her money, cards, keys, etc. The police told her it happens all the time.
My son overheard the men talking and understood enough to hear them laughing about how they stole a celebrity's cell phone and got a lot of interesting phone numbers. They seemed associated with the laundromat somehow. A new take on taking customers to the cleaners?
The victim of course broke every safety rule in the book: all her stuff in her purse, left the purse lying on a chair, allowed herself to be distracted, etc.
I'd left my daypack in our room, and had only laundry (and bakery ) money in my pocket, but I did have my money belt on with one credit card and some more cash. If they had blocked the laundromat entrance, it would have been easy for them to assault me and steal the money belt.
You are more vulnerable when you are lugging around laundry, groceries, etc. It's such a regular chore, and it's easy to be complacent.
We washed our clothes each evening and hung them on a braided clothesline, but it was nice to take all our pants and shirts to the laundromat mid-vacation and give them a really good washing.
When we were in Florence May 2003, we used a laundromat one morning in the downtown area.
While we were there, 3 young men came in and were acting suspicious, (no laundry with them & acting like they were "inspecting" the machines). I was a little nervous until my son returned from the bakery across the street. They took one look at him (Varsity football) and left.
There was another American woman there and I helped her figure out how to buy the tokens, soap, etc. We left before she did.
We saw her later in our trip in another city, and she told us that after we left the men came back, chit chatted with her in a friendly way, then grabbed her purse and ran. Of course she lost all her money, cards, keys, etc. The police told her it happens all the time.
My son overheard the men talking and understood enough to hear them laughing about how they stole a celebrity's cell phone and got a lot of interesting phone numbers. They seemed associated with the laundromat somehow. A new take on taking customers to the cleaners?
The victim of course broke every safety rule in the book: all her stuff in her purse, left the purse lying on a chair, allowed herself to be distracted, etc.
I'd left my daypack in our room, and had only laundry (and bakery ) money in my pocket, but I did have my money belt on with one credit card and some more cash. If they had blocked the laundromat entrance, it would have been easy for them to assault me and steal the money belt.
You are more vulnerable when you are lugging around laundry, groceries, etc. It's such a regular chore, and it's easy to be complacent.
We washed our clothes each evening and hung them on a braided clothesline, but it was nice to take all our pants and shirts to the laundromat mid-vacation and give them a really good washing.
Feb 8th, 2007, 02:56 PM
#25
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The difference between taking your laundry to a place and paying them by the kilo (the usual method) to wash, dry, and fold and having your hotel do it by the piece, could be at least a hundred dollars or more, depending on your laundry. My favorite is that the going rate for most hotels for doing men's socks is 3 euros a pair. After two weeks and at least 14 pairs of socks, that alone is over $50. For fun, we once looked at a hotel sheet to see what our 15 euro laundry load would have cost had we used the hotel's service and it was something like 200 euro. No, I'm not exaggerating!
