I have to admit, having a washer but not a dryer at my house in France, that it's a bit of a pain to dry things in the open air, but then, I am normally only there in the summer when it's pretty easy to hang things up outside and let them air-dry - it must be a pain during the rest of the year when it's damp or cold.

But taking the stuff to a local laundry (blanchisserie) isn't that much of a hardship - though, yes, it's expensive.

I think this is just one of those things you need to DEAL with when traveling to another culture - it's not all easy 1-2-3 like it is in the USA. And frankly, I've made trips to Europe where I spent a good deal of time in public laundromats, and you know....I made some friends there and got a LOT of language practice in during those hours while the drier spun around. Everything you do while traveling is an opportunity to make a new advance on some aspect of travel...IF you can maintain an optimistic, opportunistic point of view..y'know?

suze,

I didnt have a car so had to pay a cab there and back..

Instead of having fun eating, drinking, shopping, site seeing,
I had to sit and wait for the clothes to wash and dry. :)

OK, I'll buy that.

I have no idea how long your trip is, but for traveling to cool climates in cool weather, I probably just wouldn't wash my outer wear like pants (truth be told).

we usually go for 2-3 weeks.

What I really love is having all clean clothes in my suitcase when I get home.

The convenience of a washer is a big plus -- one that I would not do without in renting an apartment in Paris. When we rented our apartment for 12 days the summer before last, we could do fine without a dryer EXCEPT when we washed towels and sheets. The towels would have taken too long to dry and the sheets were too big to hang anywhere. Next time I'll rent a place with a dryer, even if it takes a long time for the towels.

Many washing machines in Europe are combined washer-dryers, and contrary to some of the comments on this (and past) threads, they will dry clothing quite effectively unless you massively overload them.

Also, with the exception of some city center apartments, most people do have access to some outside space and prefer to hang their washing out to dry - more environmentally friendly.

"I didn't have a car so had to pay a cab there and back.." - how much laundry did you have? Doesn't Florence have public transport?

"What I really love is having all clean clothes in my suitcase when I get home. " - well, I guess different people see things differently - I just empty my bag into the washing machine when I get home. I'd never bother with having everything clean for the return trip! (But I do hand wash and drip-dry on trips.)

I've rented three apts. in Paris that had washers but no dryers, and from all the ads I've seen, that is very common. In the apts. I was in, they didn't really have room for a dryer, also, they were very small.

I also wondered what they do for big things, sheets, towels, etc. I suppose if I had to eliminate one, I def. would have a washer but no dryer also for most things, and probably send sheets/towels out.

Give your clothes an extra spin cycle to get rid of more water then hang them from somewhere - I do this at home in Edinburgh and apart from jeans (which shouldn't be with you on holiday anyway) everything dries out overnight, even cotton underwear & trousers

Sheets - even Egyptian cotton ones - are washed on a different day and also hung up to dry overnight

wow that's funny, I would never have thought of the idea of having ANY clean clothes in my suitcase by the time I was headed home!! or spending time on a precious europe vacation to get them clean only for a return trip. different strokes, and all that!

Clean clothes when I get home? Not happening. Even if they were clean, I'd wash them again anyway. Everything that was in the suitcase - everything - gets washed when I get home. I just cannot imagine putting something away directly from my suitcase. As someone else said, "different strokes".

Funny enough, I always hang dry my jeans and my daughters' jeans. They shrink and fade too much when dried in the dryer.
But still can't stand the idea of towels not in the dryer! Ouch!

This all reminds me of a visit to Bakersfield, California in 1984. I was helping my brother-in-law install a drip irrigation system and the temperature was over 90 degrees F. It was made even hotter by the vented air from the clothes dryer which enveloped the patio. I think the washing would have dried more quickly by leaving it in a basket outside for half an hour.

A good dryer requires an outside wall and space, which few older and smaller British houses or flats can provide. Only a fool would put damp washing in an airing cupboard. We have a combined washer-dryer, but find that most clothes dry quite quickly without, either indoors or outside.

I'm sure that you will find apartments with separate washers and dryers, air conditioning, a big fridge, and an ice machine. You will pay more, and might just as well stay at home.

But since we are talking about the shortcomings of "abroad", why do U.S. hotels never provide a kettle so that guests can make themselves a proper cup of tea?

I think america is the nation of coffee drinkers. Most hotels offer a coffee pot and some coffee packets.
I wouldn't mind a spot of tea every now and again. :)

I have never had dirty clothes in my suitcase. Once i wear them I put them in plastic bag.

I thought it was weird when my friend showed me her way of bringing home clean clothes, now i love it. if it is quirky, at least i am clean :) I try to have clean clothes that are ironed too. I carry a travel iron. I am sure there are those that would never do that either.

I only bring 3 pants and 4 shirts so every week i have a load of clothes. Not so unusual..

<i>I carry a travel iron. I am sure there are those that would never do that either.</i>

I don't even iron at home, let alone on the road :-)

i hang most stuff up right out of the dryer so i dont have to iron..

clothes right out of the suitcase must be ironed. my mom says and she is always right !!

&quot;I only bring 3 pants and 4 shirts so every week i have a load of clothes. Not so unusual..&quot; - roughly what I take. Every other night I do a hand wash and hang things to dry. My clothes don't get to travel unless they'll drip dry overnight. I never have enough dirty clothes to make a full load.

Ironing on vacation? Horrors!

chartley--you can run plain water through your coffeemaker to heat up for tea. Some hotels even include a teabag or two in addition to a packet of coffee.

Yup you are absolutely right, I do not travel with an iron. I rarely even iron at home. I would never pack clothes that needed pressing. I pick clothes that can hand wash and drip dry and go.

The concept of never having &quot;dirty&quot; clothes in a suitcase is so foreign to me, I... I... I'm speechless :-)

<i>chartley--you can run plain water through your coffeemaker to heat up for tea</i>

I do this all the time, but the real tea aficionados I know don't like the tea they get using this method!

Author: Leburta
Date: 02/01/2009, 05:50 am

The convenience of a washer is a big plus -- one that I would not do without in renting an apartment in Paris. When we rented our apartment for 12 days the summer before last, we could do fine without a dryer EXCEPT when we washed towels and sheets&gt;&gt;

?????? why on earth were you washing sheets and towels? - surely the owners supplied you with a 2nd set half way through? we would never expect our guests to wash their own sheets though we do provide a washer/dryer [which seems from this thread to be the only efficient model on the planet] and a washing line if they want to use it.

regsrds, ann

Find a convenient laundromat. Our Apt had a washer and dryer but European washers and dryers take forever. I pack up all the stuff in a duffel , go to laundromat, put in a wash cycle and go have a coffee and croissant. Go back stick in dryer and have another coffee. There were 2 laundromats within 5 minutes of our apt in Paris. One of them I used when we were staying in hotels in the same area. No problems with my stuff but male things are so weighty and the nylon / microfiber stuff really bugged my husband

I was just reminded of a picture my sister took when we were in Rome. I had washed underwear and socks and had hung it everywhere imaginable--on lampshades, window sills, etc.--all over the room. She took a picture that made us both crack up when we got back home and got a look at it.

I can't imagine not having a dryer. I use it to fluff up clothes, towels, and sheets, though I hang most of my clothes to dry. Drying often takes two days.

My mom doesn't have a dryer. This never bothered me when I was growing up - hanging up clothes was just what we did, we never had a dryer. Then when I bought my house with washer and dryer hook ups, I became spoiled. Last year my mom was sick, so I was taking care of her house, including the wash. It was amazing how much of a hassle hanging the clothes out seems to me now - LOL.

Ann:

There were five of us ladies, and we just wanted clean sheets and towels more frequently than were provided. A laundromat with a dryer was some distance away, which we found inconvenient.

If I have to do laundry on vacation (which I prefer not to do), then I want my own washer and dryer!

Wash and Fold?

I'd look for that kind of place, drop off your clothes in the morning, pick up in the afternoon.

In the serviced apartment that I rent in Bangkok, I asked the reception to send up a washer/dryer and I ended up with one of those European ones that wash and dry in the same machine. That's the first time that I'd seen such a machine. It took forever. I'm sure more energy was used than if it had been a separate dryer that would have easily dried my clothes in 20-25 minutes not over an hour which it took to dry them in the washer/dryer combo. The big problem was all of the moisture left in the machine after it had finished washing.

My studio apartment there is 80 square meters, plenty of space for a regular dryer. There's no apartment in the building smaller than 65 square meters and most are around 120 square meters, or larger, plenty of space. And I've never seen a laundromat around. All of that humidity produces mildew and mold if one has to hang clothes up to dry. I had that problem, big time, in Singapore...mildewy clothes from hanging to dry. There are times when a dryer becomes a necessity. Happy Travels!

Yeah they do take a long time to dry in those things. They can also wash at much higher temperatures than the washers we have over here.

The other thing is, they take detergents which are different so unless the apt. comes with detergent, you have to go find some.

Line-dried clothes also are hard and creased. Clothes out of the drier are less likely to need ironing.

It seems just as easy if not easier to find wash and fold places than to find apartments with dryers.

Hi Pegontheroad. Yep, the towels are often hard as boards, especially if it's a hot day without a breeze. I always use fabric softener which helps and do often throw the towels in the dryer for 10 minutes to finish drying them.

&lt;&lt;&lt; In the serviced apartment that I rent in Bangkok &gt;&gt;&gt;

But we are talking Europe, not somewhere with 100% humidity and 30C+ temps

As always the discussions about the difference between the US and Europe are the most interesting discussions.

I live in the Netherlands and (contrary to what I have read here) the greater part of my friends/neighbours/famlily etc, do own a seperate washer and dryer.

I also have a separate washer and dryer and use them both. But the dryer isn't used for everything I wash. I mostly use it for towels and bed-linen. Most regular clothes are dried by the air on a rack in my attic. Normally this doesn't take langer than a day (max.).
My experience is that a lot of my regular clothes (like shirts) don't do to well in the dryer. They shrink more for instance.

My experience with US washers and dryers is that they wash and dry quicker, but more 'brutal': hotter and with more 'spin'.

Similar to Tommy above, my actual clothes rarely go in the dryer. Towels and sheets, yes, gym clothes, sure... but shirts, wants etc. either hand wash or machine wash and hang to dry.

Normal washing machines and full dry cycles would ruin the type of clothes I wear.

To combat the stiffness that comes from line-dried items, you can put a half cup or so of white vinegar in the rinse cycle instead of fabric softener. The stiffness is often a result of residual detergent left in the items after the wash - the vinegar helps the fabric release the detergent in the rinse cycle.

Goodness, I'm wondering if walkinaround is living in a different country to me.

Excepting my niece, who's living in a crummy student let whilst studying at university, all my friends and family have both washing machines and dryers. Actually, I think one does have one of the combo things but everyone else has separate ones.

As someone pointed out above, if you have the space to have drying racks spread out in the home, surely you have space for a dryer?

In our house, we do dry laundry outside on the line during the warmer months. Also, some items tend to be so close to dry after the final spin in the washing machine that they can just be put onto hangers and hung on one of those door thingummies (you know, the ones that slip onto the top of a door and stick out to provide space for about 5 or 6 hangers) to dry out completely. And we have literally just one or two items that are too delicate for the dryer (and can't be spun in the washing machine either) which we tend to lay out onto a drying rack set up in the bath tub.

The rest goes into the dryer.

I think both of us feel a little conflicted. We do try and balance personal convenience with environmental awareness - we don't want to waste energy just because we're too lazy to spend the 2 minutes it takes to hang a few items out on the line and the other 2 minutes to gather them back again. But on the other hand, since neither of us iron EVER, we buy stuff that doesn't need ironing if put onto a hanger when warm straight out of the dryer.

AlanRowe-I was just talking about the use of dryers in general, that's all. And there are probably humid places somewhere on the continent of Europe in the summer. I lived summers in Scandinavia where it was damp and clothes didn't dry well there either. Try drying bed linen, heavy towels, and denim in that type of damp weather. Happy Travels!

Can you believe it? 77 postings on the most trivial of topics - dirty laundry. Wow, how funny!

I lived in Denmark and my Danish family did not have a dryer because of the high cost of utilities.