I love threads like this!

Josser, no, but I know someone who has!

After breakfast one Sunday they used the 30 degree quick wash as they didn't want to overcook the beast - left it in for a while after the programme stopped so it continued to steam in the heat, then removed it, let it cool and served it for lunch. By all accounts it was fine and everyone ate it and enjoyed it!

Omigosh! Am so sorry! For the record I guess I'm used to the washcloth as a quick way to get the soap off my face without getting my naturally curly hair wet. Good grief, didn't mean to cause such a ruckus!
And, I do have velcro rollers, so guess will stick with that.

Hi Gruezi,

The weather will be warming up and we may have a fantastic fall. Hope that makes up for the lack of baggers at Migros, the slow dishwashwers and washing machines (and I know what you're talking about) and the tiny fridges.

Enjoy Switzerland as long as you're in our area!

Hi Schuler,

Thanks and we are! guess the past few gloomy days and too much fodoring got me in a mood...es tut mir leid...

We have found the Swiss to be nothing but helpful and courteous. That's another generalization I guess, but one I'm glad to make

Can I brag to you that today I remembered to weigh my bananas, brought along a large Jemoli plastic bag to Migros, and had my 2sfr coin for the cart? I am getting to be a real pro! My washer and dryer are running right now, but my neighbors are out of town shhh!

Yesterday visited Glasi Hergiswil, and Sunday my husband and I spent a glorious day in Vitznau - absolutely fell in love with that area.

Still hoping for another sunny week so I can hike some of Jakobsweg...finally found some great maps and guides in English.

no aen schoenae Aabig...

Face/wash cloths for the body for more years than I can remember. Pack these along with the Dove cloths wherever I travel. The Dove cloth for removing face makeup (never the eyes), the cloths whether in tub or shower. Tried the mitts, but never had the same feel and hold on the soap bar as a cloth. And, once the soap bar goes when in a shower, so goes the hair when you bend down to locate it.

Washcloths are so inexpensive at Target, Odd Lots even Bed,Bath & Beyond - buy a stack and pack what I need when traveling, then leave them behind.

Nothing to do with touching body parts, using a bidet or not (have one and still use cloth to wash). Just different folks... just different choices.

But, why oh why would anyone cut up towels except maybe to use to clean up around the kitchen or bathroom.

For awhile there, three trips in a row had "washcloth" hotels. On the last trip, two out of five did--and even in those rooms, they either had one washcloth per room or during the second day, the cloths weren't restocked. So I'm keeping this item on the packing list.

I've taken cheap little washcloths, baby cloths, etc. On trips that average 2 nights per hotel, I pack one per hotel.

However, it bothered me that I was throwing away things. I didn't want the extra laundry, the possible mildew.
Yet space is a premium if traveling light.

I now use orphaned white athletic socks. They have been laundered in the hottest water, usually bleached, waiting in a box in my laundry room for mates to show up. I feel guilty throwing them away at home "just in case" and enjoy the fact that I can give any mate that shows up the same sue. The terry side is the same as any washcloth and it works just like a good mitt. I don't feel any guilt with tossing these on the road.

josephina wrote: "However, it bothered me that I was throwing away things."

Good for you. We waste too much already, and we damage our environment. The more of us who are bothered by such things, the better.

Thank you, thank you! You folks will never know the belly laughs that some responses gave my husband & I - I'm telling you we were hysterical. Hope everyone else has enjoyed this thread as much as we have!

I am the American who compared cleaning one's "private parts" with dunking one's hands in a used unflushed toilet. What is so funny is that "GENITALS" became the translation for "private parts"! Considering I referred to a toilet, I assumed everyone would understand that I was trying to be socially acceptable & choose not to refer to excrement remains on our rectum - hope that translates!!! Sorry, but appears I need to be specific. I forget that language differences can cause misinterpretation - but I don't really think that was the case.

Now - what caused us to go bonkers was the image of someone (who are you? come on, fess up!) dunking their "genitals" in a used unflushed toilet!!!!!!! What a riot!

Anyway, some folks do not like using their hands at the end of a hard-work, sweaty day, by washing even minute remains of our daily time on the throne! Sorry if that does not translate!

As for Americans being timid about "touching their own genitals", that also caused great belly laughs. My husband said, "From what I see on the news, the problem is getting Americans to stop touching other people's genitals!" LOL - he was just joking folks - Americans like that too! And then there is the image of the American "closet" user of wash cloths for the genital touching purpose - hysterical!!!! Maybe a wash cloth in the colors of the American flag???? Now I know why the old women used to say, "That'll make you go blind!" That probably won't translate either.

As I began, thank you, thank you, thank you! Such cheap evening entertainment!!

Julie (still laughing!)

Now what! I post my previous response & get ready to see what other threads there are & what do I see - "Legal POSITION in Italy"!!!!

I'm afraid to open that thread. I don't think my heart can take any more extreme laughing tonite!

Sorry if my joke does not translate.

Julie

Hopingtotravel, don't be concerned about making a ruckus. This seems to be a topic which has been going strong as long as I've been a Fodorite. I sometimes imagine that there are posters hunched over their keyboards just waiting for the topic to circle 'round so they can have another go at it.

All this talk has made me neurotic. I always thought it was okay to just wash up. Now I find out that I should have been "exfoliating". I imagine I must resemble a tumbleweed or armadillo as I rustle along. It is one thing to leave a few nacho crumbs behind, but I now fear that I might be shedding great scrofulous scales upon the unsuspecting public.

There seems to be no consensus about the means of exfoliation. I hope I won't have to employ a hammer and chisel break thru the crust from years of neglect.

Thank God for Fodors! I shudder to think about how long I've been trying to get away with only a good washing. From now on its nothing but exfoliation for me.

How long should my exfoliation take? How will I know I am done? I hope there are strict guidelines. Or is exfoliating much like taking a few prunes as a restorative? Do you just take a guess as to the necessary amount, and hope for the desired result?

It seems I was the last to hear about the exfoliation trend. My neighbor knew about it because she has a teenage son. After 45 minutes she has to pound on the bathroom door and holler "What are you doing in there!" His reply, "Nothing, Mom. Just exfoliating".

Julie, I am glad you are having a good laugh -- I was a little concerned that you might have felt that you were being ridiculed.

You have to be careful about euphemisms, especially with such a varied group as participates here. In my world, "private parts" almost invariably means genitals. You might have tried "fanny", but I don't think that would have avoided the misunderstanding.

My goodness, I've been flamed.
I suppose it is a rite of passage and my friend Mr. Wilde says that it happens to him all the time.
I must say that I learned of American dishwasher habits from an American friend who paid a visit after living in the UK for a few years. "They've all gone mad", quoth she, "they wash up their dishes by hand and then put them in the dishwasher".

As a retired member of the scholastic profession, may I point out that in spite all those postings and "turbulent passions", the position can be summed up as follows.
Listen carefully, children because I will say this only once.
Not all hotels in Europe will provide you with a face-flannel so you will have to provide your own.
You can buy one in a shop, cut up a big towel, cut up grandma's wedding dress, hand crochet some or buy some disposable ones when you get there.

BTW, I love the idea of wild-eyed persons waiting for the topic to come around.

What the heck is a face-flannel? Must be a UK invention and must be used by people that live there or that name wouldn't exist.

Wash cloths are quite different. They are made from terry cloth, not flannel.

I'm off to find baby wash cloths with bunnies like JeanneB's as mine are just plain pastels.

What we call a flannel is made from terry towelling, not flannel.

I've only come across them in top hotels.

Padraig, thanks for thinking of me. But when I checked this thread again, I'm still broadly smiling! What a hoot! Maybe our American euphenisms should be used more often - makes for a lot of fun!

But then there is SPECS! "just exfoliating"! Great addition to this thread - thanks for the laugh!

Regarding washing dishes by hand before placing them in the dishwasher. Can't speak from experience because I don't use my dishwasher & never have. Only got one after we raised the kids, which was when I stopped cooking very much.

But.....my sister-in-law scrapes & rinses her dishes before placing them in the dishwasher. Reason she still uses the dishwasher is because.....running water over the dishes & placing them in the dishwasher is a lot faster than running a hot sink of soapy water, rinsing each dish, & then drying all the dishes by hand. Plus the dishwasher gets the dishes out of sight until she chooses the time to put them away. Makes sense to me.

As to why she rinses them first - I guess she doesn't trust the quality of her dishwasher???

Happy travels everyone (with & without wash cloths!).

Julie

Before I go and hunt up my oldest, most threadbare washcloths to pack, or, in lieu of finding such, cut up an old towel (I seriously like that idea because all my towels are really old) I share this true experience, that I had about 15 years ago.

DH had warned DD and me not to purchase a hair removal device advertised on television. He told us it would hurt too much, as the way this thing worked was to catch up leg hairs and pull them out. However, a friend had told me she used this thing, and it didn't hurt. So we bought one. Neither DD nor I could stand the pain of this device, and I told my friend that I thought she had misled me in reference to the pain infliction of said hair removal device. Her response:

"You have to EXFOLIATE first."

15 years later, and I'm still trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about.

OK, for the record: I'm getting old. I have some REALLY old towels. (In case you want to visit me, I also have plushy, new ones for guests). So, eventually, these 1960's towels turn into great dustrags. I'm sure what I cut a few pieces off of was OLD.

I've decided to pass on the curling iron and take my velcro rollers (which I do have).

OK, finally I'm laughing too.

htt: I'm getting old, too. I have towels you can see through. I already have too many in the dog drying pile, and in the cleaning rag basket. I can certainly spare a few to cut into washcloths. Luckily, my hair is still curly.

Genitals, schmenitals.

Here's an alternative: the miniTissue, a compressed non-woven viscose cotton tissue. One simply pours water over a miniTissue and it will rise to its full size and cleaning potential. Starting out as an 1/2" pellet, it eventually unfolds to a 7x10" vixen that will clean your whatevers. Environmentally friendly -- natural, biodegradable, and best of all, sanitary!

tuscan, I remember the ol' Epilady and the tales of all my guy friends who came to school after Christmas talking about how upset their mom's were. (My mom doesn't have any hair on her legs.)