clothing probs!

[[e-mail]]

Hi folks,

I have a question with regards what clothes to take with me on a 2 to 3 month euro trip.  Ive asked in a few outdoors stores etc an im told to take clothes made of man made fibres as they dry quicker and theyre more "breathable".  The problem i have with this is polyester and nylon pants make me sweat an itch (i have eczema). So im not sure how they can be more breathable when they make me sweat so much.  My question is.........how difficult is it to dry clothes if i were to take clothes that take longer to dry? am i worrying too much or would it be a major pain.  I wouldnt want to spend forever wondering around doin laundry an waitin for things to dry,

Thanks muchly

Phil

[Kim]

It's not really that big of a deal-I took a pair of jeans and sure they took longer to dry, but I can't imagine living for an extended period of time without jeans.

We did laundry about every 8 days (take enough underwear and socks to get you through 7-10 days)

Take things that can go in the washing machine together-the dryers are very hard on clothes and are very hot so don't take anything delicate or anything that might shrink. Also, I don't recommend taking anything that is going to look extra wrinkly coming out of the washer cause there will never be any way to iron or smooth out the wrinkles.

It really depends on what season you are going in but honestly, I really doubt you need to go with the whole "breathable" fabrics-just take what is comfortable.

There are always laundrymattes and when there aren't, there are places where you drop your laundry off and pick it up. You don't want to leave while your things are in the washer or dryer though, or they might not be there when you come back!

You can also take a laundry kit and wash some things out by hand in the sink. I did this with a couple sundresses I brought cause I didn't want them to suffer the wrath of the dryers.

Don't worry if you have to spend a couple hours every 8 days or so doing laundry, take the time to read up on your next city or write postcards. It will drive you crazy if you think about the time/money your are wasting doing laundry, just think of it as a necessity!

Kim

[[e-mail]]

Thanks Kim

Advice much appreciated! an by the way im goin next month!

thanks again

[[e-mail]]

Man-made fibres more breathable??? I would call this a lie. This sounds like a salesman wanting to convince you to buy what he wants to sell.

In my experience, polyester shirts smell unpleasant after half a day's wear, cotton shirts can normally last 2 days quite happily. Same on a longer time scale for artificial versus wool pullovers. Artificial fibres do dry quicker, yes, but what's the point if you need to wash them 3 times as often?

[[e-mail]]

I agree entirely, glad its not just me being a bit dim then! ill stick with what i know cheers

[wanderwothy]

Actually you can take less clothes than that. Doing undies mit sox by hand more often will get ya through. I saw a note about "wick" of some fabricks. That means it dries faster or takes sweat and lets it evaporate from your skin faster. There's more to it than that.
Any good guide book tells ya how much to bring. And what fabrics etc. www.ricksteves.com has unique gear for sale. One is a bungee 2 strand clothes line with loops on the end.
The 2 strands act as a clothes pin for corners of garments.
Sending out laundry spoiled me. It came back ironed and folded just right size for a backpack. Weeee!

Have a great trip. I'm goin' back to Spain mit Portugal in May. I ate healthier and cheaper in Portugal than in years. And all natural tooo.

[me]

met a canadian girl on a train in sweden.  all her clothes were black.  she said this was so all could be washed together without any color bleeding problems.  <br>
those canadian chicks are clever!  ;D

[Kim]

Why yes we are, thank you!

Kim

[[e-mail]]

Hi there.  I would reccomed fleece if you are traveiling in cooler countries.  It dries fast, it's light weight and will keep you warm.  It won't make you sweat the way that polyester and nylon will.  

[bettyboo]

[e-mail] said:

Man-made fibres more breathable??? I would call this a lie. This sounds like a salesman wanting to convince you to buy what he wants to sell.

In my experience, polyester shirts smell unpleasant after half a day's wear, cotton shirts can normally last 2 days quite happily. Same on a longer time scale for artificial versus wool pullovers. Artificial fibres do dry quicker, yes, but what's the point if you need to wash them 3 times as often?

Actually some of the high tech fabrics like those that nike make are more breathable and they because they don't absorb moisture like cotton does... they don't stink. It's true really... I guess one of those things that need to be tried to be believed. But yeah... ordinary polyester and synthetic clothing doesn't cut it.

I agree with the wool thing though... ain't nothing better.

[me]

call me a wimp (not really) but i worry about going to bars & nightclubs in europe. in dallas, when i head home from a night out, my clothes smell awful from tobacco smoke. (i would think the netherlands bar smoke might even be something else!) at home, i just hang the clothes outside in the fresh air overnight. couldn't do this on the road.

what do y'all do about this?

[Kim]

You can buy travel size bottles of Febreeze-works wonders. Spray it on and it removes smells. If you can't find the travel size bottles, just buy one of the small spritz bottles for water and fill up that.

Kim

[Ashley]

I just wanted to add that there's a dry cleaning product out there that's called Dryel. It says it's for dry cleaning but it also reduces odors. The box is kind of hefty but if you just bought the original kit and refills, then all you would need is access to a dryer to have clean smelling clothes.

I don't know if it would be prudent to pack something like this, but I figured I'd put it out there.

Hope this helped someone. ;D

[Jeniffer]

Synthetic fabrics are incredible. My husband was a total skeptic, but I completely converted him after one trip. We spent 2 weeks last summer in South Carolina sweating, digging, camping, drowning in rain... It was hot. It was humid. We were nasty.

These clothes saved us. They dried three times as fast as his lightweight jeans and even his cotton undershirts - allowing us to get out of the laundromat that much faster and on with the traveling. They were way cooler than regular cotton t-shirts. They were stain-resistant. They're light-weight. And yes, they breathed.

With the ecsema (sp?), I guess I would just buy one and try it. Try a Lightweight or Silkweight Capilene t-shirt from Patagonia or some other backpacking/camping company. Ex-Officio and REI make shirts that have SPF for sun protection. Plus, they're not too horrible as far as design/style goes.

Technology is great. Embrace it. You'll never want to buy non-performance fabric clothing again!

jeniffer*