We are now for several weeks on the road and it was quickly clear what I miss very much: a washing machine. Even if you do not like in every day life to do the laundry with all its tasks we are missing those tasks now.
With you own washing machine you can do your laundry whenever you want. Sometimes I startet a washing program five times a week though we are only 2 persons in our household. Okay; towels, sheets, curtains and carpets drop out. But still there are clothes to wash.
At each new accommodation the question is not only: „Is there a WIFI?“ (that’s another story) but also: „Is there a washing machine?“. Most hotels or apartments do not offer such a service. So it’s is good will that our hosts allows us to use their private washing machine. That worked quite well so far. I could use the machine of the mother in lay or a hotel did our laundry in their hotel laundry. Sometimes we got our laundry ready made back. Wow! What a service!
But I do not feel comfortable with asking for this favour because I would like to do the work of peg out washing and folding myself. I’d rather just use the machine.
Very quickly I had to pay dearly when my 100% silk gawn was not smooth and shiny any more after laundry but felt rather like a piece of sandpaper. What happened? After some googeling I think a color detergent was the problem.
Of course we did not take detergents with us while waltzing. We had to reduce our luggage to the absolutely necessary. Detergent was not on our list. So I used what was on hand. And that once has been a special color detergent.
I had washed my silk piece several times in the washing machine before. It is made for that. But we used for the last years only washing nuts. Guess what is in our luggage now? Right! Washing Nuts!
But that was too late for my silk gawn. While surfing though I found a tipp. And that was: Butter Milk!
Okay! Before I give my lovely peace to the used clothing collection I can as well try the butter milk! No sooner said than done! I bought butter milk and put the garment into it. 0,5 l butter milk with 5l of water. I hang it up wet. And… Voila! It worked. It is not as shiny as before but I can wear it again. Hallelujah!
This experience and the steady questioning for a washing possibility lead to a research about the subject washing. One shop keeper told us about Merino. It is wool and cools in the summer and warms in the winter. And it resists dirt and does not hold any odor. That means you do not need to wash a Merino-shirt after a long hike because it was sweaty. On the contrary: Frequent washing is not advisable. The t-shirt should be ventilated over night and can be warn again.
We are testing this now. We bought Merino shirts and shirts with silver in it. This is also supposed to stop smelling. So we experiment with those and they seem to work.
We only want 100 % Merino without plastic parts. Though there are interesting approaches with fibres made out of eucalyptus or bamboo…
Unfortunately there are only outdoor models. Not really beautiful ones. Though we found whiles searching this Finish Shop here: They have really nice clothes. Everything Merino. The disadvantage: It is only for men!!!
So, if you have tipps or hints about clothing whiles traveling or nice garments for women let us know and write a comment.