I washed my traveling clothes in the sink.

Most of the clothes I’ve worn and carried with me are first treated to a good scrubbing in hot water and the suds of the cheapest soap I could find. Drain the sink. Rinse in cold water. Repeat. Wring them out by hand till there’s almost no water left in them, then lay them out or hang them over the back of any and every available surface in my hotel room.

I am immediately concerned about making sure there’s something dry enough to wear tomorrow. Opening the window to let the breeze in lets in the cold and doesn’t seem to be working, so I crank the radiators up to full blast. I remember from a ninth-grade earth science lesson that warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air.

In the back of my head I am vaguely hoping that nothing catches on fire this evening.

Afterwards, my hands are papery-dry and so wrinkled that my phone doesn’t recognize my fingerprint.

The improvised spritzer-bottle/plastic water bottle with holes punched in the lid worked fine. Higher ratio of H2O2 to water than anticipated – I had to play with it a little to get the balance right. I think my boots are better than they were before, and it’s something, and something is good enough.

I just want to say that I’d never done this before. I am learning to make due with what I have and also recognize that there’s an alternative thing to try when one thing seems overwhelming and too much and I really just need clean clothes in the morning and have been putting it off for long enough.

And now it’s time to sleep, because the time will pass by faster that way, and hopefully the clothes will be dry in the morning.

Bis morgen. Gute nacht.