diapers washing machine

As a fairly new devotee of cloth diapers, I found myself planning a six week trip from our temporary home in St Andrews, Scotland throughout England, back to Scotland, and finally home to the United States. It seemed we stayed in every possible type of accommodation: hotel, bed and breakfast, self-catering, and with friends or family. I wasn't totally sure that I could manage to remain faithful to cloth without access to a washing machine, so I tried to plan ahead as best I could and decided that I would not be ashamed of myself if I couldn't do it in every one of our locations.

For diapers, we decided to bring with us nine fitteds, two flats (they dry faster if need arose- and it did), four bamboo diapers, and three covers. As accessories, we brought a Brookstone travel hanging line (basically a bungy cord with clothespins attached), plastic bags, and a bottle of washing detergent. I could have probably done with two of the Brookstone hanging lines on hindsight. We brought about eight disposables with us, as we did not know what lay ahead. We had a rental car for the entire duration, and it was nice to be able to carry the dirty diapers separately from our luggage.

Self-catering is the name the Brits have for week-long rentals equipped with kitchens. I assumed many of these places would have washing machines, but I decided to ask ahead so that we could do some advance planning. Many times they did not. None had a drier. Once I nailed down our itinerary, I searched the internet for addresses/phones of local laundrettes to bring with us. I could pretty much calculate where there would be a problem before we even left our house.

When a friend of the family asked us to come to her house for a leisurely lunch one day while in the Southampton area, I emailed back asking if we could also throw in a load of laundry. When my friend in London asked us to stay with her, we had already booked a hotel, but I asked if she would mind us using her washer instead. As we planned our trip, people were glad to help us and impressed with our endeavor. Once we got on the road, it was great advertising for real diapers, which already has quite a turnout in the UK. Obviously if one could do it travelling for six weeks, then it was easy enough to do.