- A small (250ml) bottle of dishwashing liquid with a secure cap is enough for one person (who is not overly fastidious) for about one month. Buy it in Europe, and don’t forget to tape the cap down, or else!

- Many pensions and family-owned hotels prohibit the washing and drying of laundry in rooms, although this rule is violated all over Europe. You shouldn’t be too brazen, though, putting wet clothes on wood furniture, slopping water around, and so on. If you’re clean and discreet, they probably won’t mind. If they make a specific point of telling you not to do laundry, don’t. At most hostels you could dry clothes on the flagpole and they’d hardly notice.