Travel Clothesline

Looks like a great product, better than the one I use now. But ... no picture of Rick on it! What are we to make of this? ;-)

I took both the clothesline and folding clothes hangers to Italy. We found the clothes hangers easier and quicker to hang clothes on to dry, hung from towel bars, shower head and door knobs. Blouses didn’t wrinkle when hung. Unless I stretched the clothes line on the balcony there wasn’t anywhere convenient to use it. The balcony didn’t work in the rain.
I’m glad the clothesline worked for you but it didn’t work for me or SIL.

Nothing to do with the clothesline BUT if you are ever visiting Mom on the 3rd Sat of the month (except Dec) you've got an open invitation to come on down to Moscow for the RS Travel group meet up. We meet at 1030 and one of us always posts a meeting notice on the travel groups forum.

Dear Pam in Troy. My mom lives in Colfax, so thanks for the invite.

Like horsewoofie I use the same folding hangers in her link. They are worth the bit of extra room in my suitcase. I always take 5 or 6. Blouses and underwear and socks and travel pants all get washed and hung up to dry. Works great and there is always a place to hang them. Wouldn't travel without them.

Well, laughing...Colfax is even better! We meet at OneWorld cafe at the corner of 6th and Main. If you come visit we might just have a special meetup just for you!

I'm from Colfax and am part of the travel group that meets in Moscow. Its not often that I post publicly here but a personal message would be welcome if you wish. Monte Steiger

I've also made my own traveling clothesline, compact, fits everywhere, and is cheep/

Hotel rooms usually come with hangers, but no place to hang clothes other than on the shower rod. Clothes don't dry that quickly there. So I hand clothes on the RS clothes line over the AC/Heat unit on in front of an open door or window where the do dry.

I don’t travel with a clothesline, but I always bring my own hangers. Throughout the year, I ask to keep the hangers when I purchase clothing. I also recruit family members to do the same! I always have a whole stash of disposable hangers to travel with. They are lightweight and very easy to stick in my suitcase. I take both the dress/ shirt hangers and pants/skirt clip hangers. I then leave them at the hotel/apartment as I move on. Although hotels/apartments usually have a few hangers, I prefer to hang everything to keep it from being wrinkled.

When I was bicycle touring, many of us brought real wood clothespins to hang cycling kits on anything we could find, usually a chain link fence. One year I started to carry a hank of nylon line and folks looked at me like I had invented, umm, clotheslines.

I made my own travel line by weaving three lengths of sheathed bungee cord. When it dies I’ll get one of those rubber band thingies.

When I’m traveling solo, I don’t bring any clothesline or hangers because I usually can find something to hang my nightly sink-wash clothes - a towel rack or hanger.

When my husband is traveling with me, he brings our RS braided clothesline for his underwear and socks. We usually can find a hanger to dry his shirt.

I'm with Kristen, throw a few plastic hangers and a couple of pants hangers in my suitcase -- hang them on the shower head to drip quietly in the bathroom. Local thrift stores sell the tubular hangers 10 for $1 (when they're not in the giveaway box.) But yes, I check my 22" roller bag so the extra few ounces is not a back-killer.

I too am a big fan of the RS clothesline. I wouldn't take it on a weekend trip or shorter, but apart from that it goes everywhere I go.

Clothes don't dry that quickly there.

Have you tried Rolling wet clothes in a towel before you hang them? Doug Dyment describes it very well in https://www.onebag.com/travel-laundry.html. It has worked very well for me in both Denmark and Scotland - neither of them among the driest places on earth.

I take clothespins that have a hanger hook. Bought a pack of 8 or 10 on Amazon. They are very versatile and easy to pack. I also roll wet clothes in a towel to absorb as much moisture as possible.

I used to take mine on every trip overseas. However, in my constant search for things to leave out of my bag I started taking note of how often I needed to use it. Turns out I only needed it once or twice in a 2 week period so I now don't include in my 'must packs.' In the UK where they have the towel warmers I use those to dry my hand washables.. Otherwise I find a way to hang in or around showers as so many updated bathrooms over the pond now have tile floors and a few drips dry up right away. I did pay attention to your other workarounds for using this item though.

I, too, ditched my RS Clothesline after failing to use it on my first trip to Italy in 2014. I use the same travel hangers as Horsewoofie and have never looked back. My clothing is light weight so them drying overnight without the use of A/C has never been a problem.

I took a braided-rubber clothesline on a few long trips and used it only once that I can recall. For me it didn't come close to justifying the space and weight in the suitcase.

I stay in budget-level lodgings and have made something of a study of the clothes-hanger situation. The most common number of hangers in my (single) hotel rooms has been three (3). How many people have only three garments in their suitcase they'd like to hang up? When I find as many as 5 or 6 hangers in my room, I feel as if I am in paradise; sadly, that rarely happens. Thus I travel with two inflatable hangers. They do three things: provide a way to hang up clothes; allow clothes to dry faster by separating the front and back of the garment as it hangs; allow clothes to dry with fewer wrinkles for the same reason.

Traveling solo, I've always managed to find a place to hang wet laundry, though it is sometimes quite challenging. With two people in a budget-level room, it would be considerably more difficult, and I think taking some sort of clothesline might be well worthwhile.

The clothesline is 1.5 oz. I can’t see how that is too heavy for anyone. The use of hangers for clothes is a no-brainer for certain, but there are not enough places to hang my clothes up in a typical room so they dry by morning. The clothesline works best when it’s placed over the PTAC unit in the hotel. They dry fast, especially if there is AC.

1.5 ounces isn't much, but I am obsessive about trimming the weight of everything I put in the suitcase since I start my (long) trips with about 6 lb. of pills. In the sort of rooms I stay in, it's not easy to find to places to attach the ends of a clothesline.

Well, I have NEVER had an issue finding someone to attach the RS clothesline in a hotel-room, cabin, or state-room. I have hooked around cabinet pulls, drapery cords, floor lamps, chairs, door knobs, towel bars, window latches, deck railings, or my luggage. I find hanging clothes on the shower head to be a big mistake. The shower is wet, often dirty and the room is too humid.

I use Rick’s clothesline as well. I have never had a problem attaching it for use. However, I do find I use it less often now as I prefer hotel laundry service these days.

Stretchy clotheslines (such as Rick Steves') don't always lend themselves to oddly shaped rooms, but there is a solution. Go to an outdoor sporting goods store, REI, hardware store, or military supply store and get about 15 to 18 feet of nylon "para" cord or parachute cord. It's very light, takes up very little space and is very strong. Attach the para cord to the stretchy end of the clothesline with a really good knot. One should then be able to rig a drying line no matter how the space is configured. One should also take a heavy duty leaf bag (cut open) to place under the wet clothes if it is necessary to hang cloths over a wooden floor or rug and not just in the bathroom.

I second acravan's mention of inflatable hangers. My baggie of three of them plus four plastic clothespins weighs less than four ounces, worth their weight.