In three of the seven countries I visited on this trip, I went to a laundromat. When you travel with just a backpack, clean clothes run out fast. In Vienna, Paris and Brussels I washed my clothes, in each case wearing the last clean shorts and t-shirt I had left.
Earlier this year, in Zurich, I got help with getting change for a laudromat. But since the COVID pandemic, I don't talk to fellow travelers in laudromats anymore. The laundromats are empty. We go to nearby coffee shops or parks while the clothes are washing and drying. The delightful conversations I have had in laundromats in Paris with tourists from from Australia, and three sisters from America are a thing of the past. And the amazing conversations I had in a Jerusalem laundromat will not be duplicated.
But laundromats are still far cheaper than baggage fees or dragging a big suitcase, so I will still be searching "laundromat" on Google wherever I go.
