Is there anything as frustrating as dirty smelly clothes piling in your suitcase and not knowing what to do with them? You can choose to separate them from your clean lot, but what if all your clothes are dirty now? If you are not headed home any time soon, below are some suggestions as to how to deal with your dirty laundry while travelling and staying in Kenya.
Hotel/Hostel Laundry
Some high-end hotels offer laundry services for their guests, but at an extra cost. This also goes for some hostels. You just have to go to the reception area and ask whether such services are available and decide whether you can handle the costs. You may have to part with not more than $5. In order to make the best of your money and time, pay for a batch of clothes at once instead of laundering every day.
Ask in for a favour from housekeeping
If there are no laundry services offered by the hotel or hostel itself, there must be housekeeping staff at least. The latter would be more than happy to get a few bucks on the side and so would not mind helping you with your dirty clothes. Just make sure you get the name of the person you give your clothes so that you can report them in case of any mishandling. Also, make sure you check all your pockets before handing out your laundry.
Local Laundromats
The streets of Nairobi are littered with dry cleaning shops, which are similar to Laundromats. The only difference is that they do the laundry for you as opposed to you operating the machines at a fee. What you do is drop your clothes at the dry cleaners, get a pick up time and then come back for them while paying. Always ask for a receipt before leaving so that the prices do not change in case of a shift change by the staff. The advantage of this option is that you will get your clothes cleaned and ironed as well.
Old Fashioned Washing
If laundry is just not in your budget, then you have the option of traditional hand washing. You just have to get detergents and fabric softeners from the supermarket and buckets where necessary. This method is very cheap and efficient for long-term stays. You might have to wash small batches, however, so that you can have space to dry them out since most hotels haven’t set aside clothe drying areas.
