An alternative to buying quick drying socks and underwear and having to wash them (?)

I have friends that use their vacation as a time to renew their underwear. They buy new ones at home then bring all their old underwear, wearing and discarding as they go.

Denny,

That's not something I'd ever do, as I don't find washing to be much of a problem. I have to wash other clothing anyway. My usual trips are at least 30 days, so that would mean bringing 30 pairs of socks and underwear, which I couldn't even fit into my Pack. Not really practical for me and besides, I don't like to waste good clothing.

Ken,

I was thinking of the notion that washing cotton socks in the evening would not work unless one were staying in a place for at least two days, as they would take time to dry.

And just bringing "ordinary" socks would avoid having to go and search for quick drying socks.

But you're right, it would be a waste, although white cotton socks are pretty cheap, price-wise.

Ken,

I was thinking of the notion that washing cotton socks in the evening would not work unless one were staying in a place for at least two days, as they would take time to dry.

And just bringing "ordinary" socks would avoid having to go and search for quick drying socks.

But you're right, it would be a waste, although white cotton socks are pretty cheap, price-wise.

I save up my "on their last legs" socks and underwear and throw them out as I travel. On other trips I have considered throwing away newer garments as the cost of Hanes style undergarments are fairly cheap. But I can't bring myself to do it as I still have an emotional attachment to them;)

We use wool socks that will dry overnight. Second, most of our clothes, underwear included is a synthetic blend some with cotton, that easily dry overnight. The only thing we avoid is 100% cotton which is very slow drying but the blends are much quicker. And, of course, nothing is 100% nylon which has it own set of problems.

Seems to me there have been previous post on Rick's Website and this Forum where people "bragged" about bringing their hole-iest, most worn-out underwear, then wore and discarded them as they traveled, like a sort of undergarment trail of breadcrumbs, something for the maids to dump with the trash each day. That worn-out underwear might not have been the most comfortable thing possible, either.

You could bring brand-new socks and underwear and toss it as you go (it's your travel money), and you could save time and having your hands in soapy water, and your suitcase would certainly be lighter on your way home than when you arrived (unless you bought disposable underwear and socks over there in Europe), but I will say the underwear from Ex-Officio is comfortable, ventilates well even in heat, and dries amazingly fast. Regular socks take more time to dry, but comfort is worth having clean, proper socks to wear. If you're renting a car, lay your socks in the back window well. If you're on the move without a car, stow your still-damp socks/underwear in a mesh bag to allow air to circulate, and put them in a Zip-loc bag if you need to keep them from getting other things wet, them pull them out to air-dry again at your first opportunity. A hair dryer can sometimes help speed up the drying process, if necessary.

We use wool socks that will dry overnight. Second, most of our clothes, underwear included is a synthetic blend some with cotton, that easily dry overnight.

Frank, could you recommend a brand, style, or name for the above?

I'm going on a RS tour (first time) and everything will have to go in just one backpack, a carry-on, so I hope that gives everyone an idea of how much space I will have.

That's really nice: throwing away your old clothes for somebody to clean up! Buy some good travel socks and ExOfficio underwear and was them out in the sink. Take, or make, a travel clothesline to hang your stuff up on so it will dry by morning. Sink washing your clothes is an entire aspect of traveling that must escape some travelers. Wool socks are best as are ExOffiicial underwear. If you need long johns use silk or superfine merino wool. Wash and dry overnight pants and shirts are not hard to find. I use RailRider pants and Eddie Bauer wrinkle resistant shirts exclusively.

We buy the merino wool socks that dry super fast and are very comfy (not hot at all as we think wool to be). They are pricey, so we would never throw them out. We get them on Amazon . . . our favorite brands are Darn Tough & Smart Wool. Sierra Trading Post has the Smart Wool at a great discount . . . we use STP mostly if we are going with SmartWool.

It's not practical because you would need to bring more items in your suitcase. I don't think it's anything that your vacation destination wants to throw away (the garbage cans in the Europe rooms are small for a reason)

Personally, i don't bring socks. I wear Keen sandals and find them extremely comfortable without socks. If you're washing clothes anyway, what's the difference in also washing your underwear? ......please tell us you're planning to wash your other clothes. : )

I travel for long periods of time, and do many loads of laundry while I'm traveling. Towards the end, I start to discard what I can - I mean really discard, not just leave things on the bed for the housekeeper to find and decide what to do with. That's just rude. Nothing I take along is full of holes, etc., but I can give up a serviceable t-shirt after wearing it twelve times if it means I can bring back something that will fill that space. One year I brought back no packed clothes at all; the customs officer scratched his head.

One year I brought back no packed clothes at all; the customs officer
scratched his head.

Bravo...That's what I'm talking about!

If the thought of throwing away clothing is distasteful to some, you can join a travel group I belong to call UGX (UnderGarment Exchangment). It works similar to House Exchange programs in that like minded travelers get together to throw away equal amounts of garments when traveling to each others homelands. So it all balances out in the end:)

But seriously, when in Europe I'm paying very hefty VAT, and in some places additional city/tourist/hotel taxes, so I should be allowed to use certain municipal services in my travels.

I would do this when I did this when I went for a short/weekend trip and had to take a flight and only had a carry on. Made room for souvenirs on the way back. But when I was on longer trips there was no problem doing a sink wash. At most socks would be slightly damp in the morning. You'll find a hair dryer in most hotel rooms and that can give a good start to a drying out.

I just borrow an iron from the front desk and run that over my clothes to heat the water out of them. I do use wool socks, but mostly because they feel better for long days of standing and walking. The iron trick works fine for cotton underwear, shirts, and even jeans in my past experience.

I have done this many times (throwing in the trash, not for maids to pick up off the floor). But I don't see advantage in packing 14 pairs of socks and underwear for a two week trip. No room for anything else. If needed, I buy socks and underwear over there. And a laundry visit or two are not unreasonable.

I don't think cotton socks and underwear are necessarily more comfortable, and they do get wet from sweat and rain anyway. I find Smartwool socks to be just as comfortable, and not heavy or sweaty as the name implies.

Erik, where did you find an iron in a hotel in Italy?

Denny, we purchase no-name wool socks from Sams Club. They are a medium weight, 85% lamp wool and 15 % spandex. I wear wool socks year around. For me, they are more comfortable and cooler than cotton. And they wash great in the sink. I personally don't think there is much difference with Smartwool or other name brand socks. I have Smartwool boot socks for my ski boots because they come in knee high lengths and you can get a variety of weight with Smartwool. But the Sams' Club work great and you can get four pairs for $12 or something close to that.

YES . . . forgot about SAMs for Merino Wool . . . my husband does get some from there too. Our SAMs only has them in black, mid-calf length . . . so when I'm wearing capris/etc . . . I go with the cute Darn Tough, Smart Wool brand. The SAMs/Costco brand is perfect for long pants

Any sporting goods store will have a good selection of socks that are both comfy and will dry quickly. And don't forget you can hit them with the in-room hair dryer in the morning if they didn't dry completely on your handy-dandy rubber clothesline overnight.

As I mentioned previously, you can get poly/cotton blend versions of all types of clothing these days. You can either spend the money for Ex Officio or just get similar products at any dept. store, usually on sale. It's been my experience that regardless of price, underwear always works the same.

But a friend did brag that on his trips he does the use-and-dispose method. Hey it all works. In fact, there used to be really cheap flimsy underwear purposely designed to use once (or twice) and toss in catalogs like Travelsmith.

You would ditch clothes because they were dirty????

I have travelled to Europe several times, using only a backpack. I always take old underwear, either throw as I go, or sometimes wash once or twice then throw. Takes up a lot less space in backpack. Never had any trouble getting things to dry, so far. In Italy twice now doing that. Also, in Scotland last fall, all the hotels had heating racks, for towels, in bathrooms, so things dry very fast, an hour or two. The lighter you can travel the better.

I know of one traveler who carried enough underwear for the whole trip, with the plan of considering it disposable. I don't recall whether she did the same with t-shirts. I do know that her suitcase was huge and heavy.

Brining older clothes that I was willing to ditch before returning home - yes, I've done that, but only after wearing the items for several weeks and still washing them during the trip.

If you're on your own schedule instead of on a busy tour, you can plan a laundromat day once a week -- bring a week's worth of underwear and don't bother with the daily sink-washing. Wool socks can be worn several times without smelling. Then you can carry everything home for the next trip.

"I was thinking of the notion that washing cotton socks in the evening would not work unless one were staying in a place for at least two days, as they would take time to dry."

I use travel friendly Tilley or Ex-Officio socks and underwear. If they're wrung out in a towel after washing, they'll most likely be dry before morning.

I'm not finding anything but Size L (for men) on Sierra Trading for merino wool socks...and I'm not a member of Sam's...but I was going to go to REI tomorrow and look in the store itself, but instead bought a large number of socks from its outlet.

I stocked up on their crew socks.
REI Performance Crew Socks - 3 Pack
Black S/M
REI Item # 8759830001

Hope this wasn't a bad idea, as I basically ignored all the wool socks at amazon and at REI in favor of synthetic blends (incl. cotton). I would think that thick wool socks would take a while to air dry.

REI stocks good-quality merchandise, and their customer service folks will work to make something right if there's a problem. Test a new pair at home - soak them in the sink (or your washing machine) then see how long it takes for them to dry. As noted above, roll them in a towel to remove excess moisture before hanging them to finish air-drying. To get a complete idea, you could do this several times with different techniques, drying them in sunlight, in darkness, by an open window, primed with a hair dryer, etc.

Denny,

Since you will be going on a RS tour, you can ask their staff about your concerns ( especially since you're
advised to pack light)

There are self-service laundromats or places where you can drop off your laundry
in the morning & pick up a few hours later.

I have never been part of a travel tour but I've learned to travel light & do laundry once a week while traveling.

Enjoy your trip!

Denny,

I found this information for you on the tour FAQ's:

How will I do laundry on my tour?

Every few days. Your guide will give you tips on when and where you
can do laundry. Europe has plenty of Laundromats, but you won't always
have plenty of time. Some hotels offer laundry service, though you
will pay more for the convenience.

Why not wear your underwear right way round right way out, back to front right way out, right way round inside out, back to front inside out.

That way you only need to change them every fourth day.

Test-rolling the washed articles of clothing in a towel (before the trip): What a great idea!

Also, I keep forgetting that RS tours are NOT cheap by any stretch of the imagination, and that calling RS directly to ask questions like this is not "imposing" on them, as having peace of mind and being able to bring along appropriate clothing (and knowing how to laundry them) is crucial to the trip itself.

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions. Just going by the pre-travel RS planner brochure was/is not sufficient...

I'm with James. I have never understood why, if you are spending between $5000-$8000 (or more) per couple for a trip to Europe or anywhere else, you are washing underwear and socks in a sink. Or obsessing about taking old ratty ones to throw out or picking the least smelly clothes in your bag to wear.

...because I have better things to on my vacation than spend even a single second in a depressing laundromat. Washing my undies in the sink before I go to bed only takes five minutes at the most. Throwing away my thread-bare socks and Hanes just takes seconds. Time well spent for me.

I

mph is truly thinking outside the box(ers). If you wear the underwear outside your clothes every other day, turning it each time as described above, you can even get eight wearings out of them.

The idea may seem silly to some, but some of the other ideas here seem just as silly to me. What kind of burden, for instance does it impose on hotel staff to dump a waste basket that has a set of unwashed underwear in it, say mixed in with used certain personal sanitary or birth-control items? The waste baskets are usually small, as someone pointed out and lined with plastic bags. That sounds like one of the easier parts of the job.

Regarding the thought about laundry being a small cost in relation to the thousands of dollars you spend on a trip: That is true if you are talking about self-service laundries, but hotel laundry service is a different matter. You could buy new items for what it costs to send them through the hotel laundry a couple of times.

What kind of burden, for instance does it impose on hotel staff to
dump a waste basket that has a set of unwashed underwear in it, say
mixed in with used certain personal sanitary or birth-control items?

Any hotel room I have every stayed in has two trash baskets: one in the bathroom, one in the main room. Throwing away my Hanes in the larger basket in the main room solves that problem. I don't see it as any more of a burden for the maid than emptying a basket that has used containers of Chinese take away, empty containers of juice or leftover shopping bags.

After someone spends their savings on a big trip or tour, saving a few bucks by hand-washing re-wearable clothes means more money left over for gelato. You gotta get your priorities straight!

Denny, we purchase no-name wool socks from Sams Club. They are a medium weight, 85% lamp wool and 15 % spandex. I wear wool socks year around. For me, they are more comfortable and cooler than cotton. And they wash great in the sink. I personally don't think there is much difference with Smartwool or other name brand socks.

Thanks, Frank. I think maybe I'll look into Sam's Club...

I think that, in the first place, it was RS that suggested bringing quick drying underwear.

I wound up getting these:

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/hw-wool-sock-asso-l-620523/prod15120290.ip?selectedTab=allProducts

And now this topic can rest in peace.

I agree with you Mph...