TTMA laundry during international trip

[midwestmama]

We are going on a 12-day (10 nights in Europe - plus 1 night which is an overnight flight) family trip (includes travel days at the beginning and end) which includes 3 separate stops/stays in Germany and France.  I will be on a work trip in Poland for 5 days ahead of the family trip.  I am anticipating that we will need to do some laundry at some point.  I bought laundry detergent sheets (specifically made for traveling) and could do some laundry in the bathroom sink or tub (if there is a tub), but I wanted to see if that plan is feasible (for others who have gone on similarly long trips), or if I should just research ahead of time to see if laundry service is available as a hotel amenity (and assuming there is a cost associated with it) at one or both of the hotels we are staying at the longest.

Our two longest stays are in Munich (5 nights) and Frankfurt (4 nights), and Munich is the beginning of the trip and Frankfurt the end of the trip.  We are spending one night in Strasbourg, France.  

[steamboat185]

We’ve tried doing laundry in a sink before and it’s fine for small items (underwear etc), but if you are washing larger items like pants (even quicker dry pants) they don’t dry quickly plan on 24 hours or more. If you have access to a balcony or some sun they will dry much faster, but I remember trying to dry clothing with a ceiling fan and a table fan both going and not having much luck the night before a flight-the drier in the Airbnb broke. We’ve had surprising good luck finding laundry in hotels available for guests even when they aren’t advertised. We almost always do laundry on trips just make sure you are confident you can dry the clothes in time. Drying the outfit you need to wear with a hair dryer is not much fun.

[wanderingback]

I typically rewear stuff, so a 10 day trip I wouldn’t need to do clothes laundry. However, yes washing underwear and bras in sink is certainly feasible. But yes many hotels also have laundry service so you could just call ahead to ask about it.

[dcrunnergirl52]

We've done laundry on trips--a combo of the sink (which is fine but does take a long time to dry), AirBnBs with washer/dryer, hotel laundry rooms, and local laundry services.

If I were you, I'd look to see what the hotel offers, particularly if they have a washer/dryer for guest use. You can also see if there are laundry services in the neighborhood where you can drop clothes. If all that fails or is really expensive, just plan to wash undies a few things in the room, re-wear things, or make sure you have enough time to air dry larger items.

[mrsslocombe]

For 10 days I don't need to do laundry (I pack enough socks/underwear/tops, and just rewear bottoms).

But it isn't usually hard to find a dropoff service and they aren't hugely expensive, especially compared to hotel which charges by item vs by pound. The hotel front desk can probably point you to one. You can always ask them to write down what you want in French/German if you don't speak those languages and are worried about the language barrier.

I love Strasbourg, it's one of my favorite places I've been to.

[lynn07]

We just got back from a 12 day European trip with 3 kids. We used only carry on rollers for everyone because I didn’t want to deal with a ton of huge luggage. It actually worked out pretty well! I took enough underwear/socks for everyone for every day so those didn’t need to be washed. I packed 3/4 pairs of pants and everyone just rewore them. I took 6 shirts per person and washed some of them in the Scrubba Wash bag (bought it on Amazon) and dried them overnight on a small clothes line. So really, I only ended up needing to wash a few things twice, and it was mostly because I have 2 tweens and their shirts start to get stinky after one wear.

[RockNVoll]

I agree that a 10-day trip wouldn't necessarily require laundry, but also understand why you might want it. Airbnbs or apartment-type rentals (aparthotels) can include machines (we stayed in a great one in Berlin actually), but if those aren't an option then I second the drop-off laundry service idea over the hotel. Hotel laundry tends to be ridiculously expensive; the by-the-pound laundry places are much more reasonable and can get things cleaned quickly. Slightly less convenient since you have to drop off and pick up, but well worth the savings.

[midwestmama]

lynn07 , I do actually already have a Scrubba wash bag, so I will be sure to pack that plus a clothesline and clips in case there is not a laundry room for guests in the hotel or a laundromat close by.  My kids also tween/teen, so I anticipate needing to wash some clothing due to odor.

[dreamcrisp1]

I just rewear but I love a laundromat. We have one and just drop it off - they wash and dry - and pick it back up. It’s expensive but worth it. You could find that and drop it off in the AM and pick it back up once you can.

[mrsGreeko]

We just did 2 weeks in Thailand. We used the laundry service at the hotel once and had a lady come pick up and wash and dry and return to us at our hotel twice. I was really worried about this, but it was easy enough to find pick up laundry services, which were waaay cheaper than the hotel’s service. Previously on other trips we’ve stayed in apartments with washer/dryers, stayed at hotels with a small laundry room, or DH has this laundry washing bag thing that we’ve used.

I bet you will be able to find something fairly easily once you are there.

[Pibs]

I'm totally pro-laundry during trips. As a general rule, I prefer to only use a small carry-on size suitcase (possibly packed inside a larger suitcase so we can bring back souviners) with a travel backpack. That limits my space enough that I'm not willing to sacrifice the space for laundry supplies, no matter how small and packable. I'm also not willing to spend my exploration time doing laundry.

We got back from a 2 week trip to Georgia (the country) earlier today, and for trips around that length I generally rewear my bottoms but have socks/underwear/bras/a few tops washed. I've had some hotels charge by the piece and some by the bag. We've also used a laundry service where dropped off and they delivered back, but I can't remember how they charged. I've never had an issue with missing or damaged items on any of methods we've used. *knocks on wood*