Laundry

You might see if one of the laundry pens like Tide-to-go or Oxiclean works. Perhaps give it a try before you go. Another possibility is to bring some of the laundry powder for whites and give it a good soak.

Did you check to see if your hotels in Australia have self-service laundry? That was one of the nice things about New Zealand. I did a small load at several of the hotels in the evening. I wish more hotels offered this.

i’ve gotten to the point that I rarely wash anything in the sink anymore. Underwear and socks take up virtually no space so I don’t skimp on them. I typically take 10 pairs of socks and underwear and 7 shirts in my carry-on sized bag. I can easily go 7 to 10 days without washing. If I am not staying in a place with a washer and dryer, I head to a laundromat. I’ve found that I can get the laundry done in under an hour. I typically go in the morning when the laundromat opens. After putting the clothes in the washer, I set a timer on my phone with the length of the wash. I go get a coffee and use the time to catch up on email or write in my travel journal. I actually prefer going to the laundromat to spending the time handwashing and I don’t have to hang up laundry in the room. It works best when the laundromat is within a few blocks of your hotel. I’ve also used the wash and fold service in some places or stayed in flats or hotels with a washer/dryer; it really just depends on what is available in the particular country where I am traveling.

I wash whatever I want to in a hotel, squeeze excess water out in a towel, and hang the stuff in the closet to dry. Then I put the "Do not disturb" sign on the door because I prefer no housekeeping anyway.

I'd bring the orange shirt, as well as the white one. Your daughter's not going, right?

So far the only hotel we’ve encountered with the “no laundry sink washing, please” has been in Greece on the island of Naxos and they provided the “fill the bag” service for a very reasonable set price. I really wish more hotels did this because it was very nice not to have to do and it saves their room from the people that are not consciousness about water ruining the floor, etc.

We wash small items of clothing in the shower instead of the sink and wring them out. Then we hang them on a braided clothes line in the shower so there is no dripping on the floor or carpets. But we have not yet encountered a sign telling us not to wash our clothes. We have sent out heavier pants and shirts a few times when that service was available.

I do my wash in a 2Gal ziplock bag so I can leave it to soak for a while. If you take the oxyclean you might be able to make a little paste and put it on the collar and cuffs if they get dingy.

As to the no washing signs….I ran into that twice on my long-ago RS Best of Europe trip. Those signs were up in the tour hotels in Bacharach, Germany and Stechelberg Switzerland. I washed undies in each location at night then if they weren’t dry in the AM, hit them with the blow dryer so I could stash back in my suitcase. I waited until the next hotel to wash shirts and pants.

Strategy for not losing the white blouse? I’d make it a practice when you take it off to put it across your suitcase and never on the bed. It’s probably one of those thing that if you develop a routine, like always stashing your passport or money in the same place, that it will become habit.

I've only seen the no-clothes-washing sign one time; perhaps I've been lucky. I don't trust dryers not to shrink my clothes, so sink-washing is my best option when traveling.

I roll all undergarments and my sleep shirt in the bathmat and stomp on it before hanging those things somewhere in the bathroom. They never drip after the stomping treatment. When they're almost totally dry, I might hang them elsewhere in the room where there's better airflow, but my plan is to be able to return them to my suitcase before I leave the room the next day. Wet blouses and slacks I hang inside the shower/tub so they can't drip on the bathroom floor. When they are close to totally dry, I move them to other spots in the bathroom if I have more wet garments to hang in the shower or need to use the shower myself. I'm aggressive about starting on my laundry soon after I arrive at a new hotel; it helps that I'm usually traveling solo, so I only need space for my own clothes.

For spot-removal I carry a very small bottle of Zout, a liquid spot remover that has worked well for me. My summer-long travel wardrobe always includes a solid white cotton blouse and a second cotton blouse that's mostly white. On the one occasion when the inside of my collar looked dirty, Zout did the trick. It hasn't let me down on food stains, either, but I believe it is true that no single spot remover will remove all types of stains.

I have yet to run into the "no sink washing sign" but even if I did, I probably would ignore it. Not out of dudgeon, but because I doubt housekeeping would notice. Perhaps there are a few more used towels than might ordinarily have been used, but that's about it. I rarely stay at a place for only one night - and if I did, I probably wouldn't be sink washing. So anything that has been washed but not dry enough to pack or wear, is placed in the closet or wardrobe. And like jules, I'm careful not to mar furniture and I wipe up any drips.