8.50 to wash, 5 to dry....just buy a new shirt

I promise that this obsession with the cost of things in Denmark is purely for educational purposes and not to lionize the affordability of third world countries. Also The U.S.A.

It's obvious that 13 dollar loads of laundry give Danes things like awesome tans and the ability to make air softer, so it's worth it.

In fact, I barely even thought about the relative cost until I sat down to write today.  Rather, I blithely plugged the machine with euros, kroner, and whatever else it would accept, so I could bask in clean clothes.  I did three washes and 6 dries because it takes longer than 15 minutes to make wet clothes not wet.

Now that I reflect however, it puzzles me how you could get drunk in Spain for less than the amount it costs to launder your essentials in Denmark.  In fact, a plane ticket from Spain to Copehagen is within 20 dollars of the cost to stay un-stinky.   What does this say about the relative value of travel and personal hygiene?  Did I spell hygiene right?

I recall having a similar shock when arriving in England and seeing that petrol was sold by the litre, not gallon, for more than we were paying for a good democratic gallon of gasoline.  It seemed sacriligeous somehow, and at the same time, vaguely exotic.

Regardless, sometimes caution and ROI's must be thrown to the wind for the sake of good smells.   This does make a compelling case for hand washing however.  Especially since I now know that these tricky card operated machines provide their OWN soap and have no need of mine.

Maybe that is why they charge the price of a small unicorn to agitate my delicates.