Traveling Light: Underwear

One pair per day, right? Gone five days? Then five pairs of underwear are needed. At least that’s how I used to pack. Travel underwear? No thanks.

And then we were heading on a long trip — I couldn’t bring myself to pack that much underwear, so I looked for at least one pair of travel underwear thinking it would be a good chance to try them out. I landed on buying the ExOfficio Give-n-Go Boxers. They were about $20 and held the promise that you could travel for six weeks with one pair of underwear.

Sure.

I was honestly more worried about the comfort than anything else, but I found them so comfortable I bought two more pairs of them. The underwear are all synthetic and comfortable to wear. They are moisture wicking, claim to be anti-bacterial, and anti-stink I guess as well. None of this matters to me on a practical level, but I can say: they don’t seem to get stinky, not that I’ve gone in for the sniff.

But what about that claim of six weeks with one pair?

The idea with these underwear is washing them in a sink in the evening, wringing them out, and letting them air dry while you sleep. Of course this means that you sleep in the nude if you don’t have another pair, but never mind that.

Yes, you can wash them, but do they actually dry?

Short answer: yes. But there’s a longer explanation here, as these underwear really have to dry in the time I normally sleep, and not some mythical 12 hour period. So I tested them on a business trip by washing them in the sink, wringing them out, and hanging them to dry on the shower rod at 11pm. The next morning, at 6:50am, I felt them.

They were dry.

And I don’t mean “dry enough to wear”, I mean dry. Even the elastic band was dry — the one part I assumed would still be wet. Yes, that’s almost 8 hours, but I suspect there are tricks to dry them faster (such as putting them near moving air).

Practically speaking, these weigh 3 ounces, so I have little reason to not pack an extra pair. They also take up no room. I travel with two pairs (so I don’t have to sleep in the nude) and often a third pair if I am going somewhere for more than 1-2 nights.

I highly recommend these. I often wear them when I am home, as they are very comfortable. I would have no qualms washing them daily (it takes very little time) while traveling, but with two pairs I often don’t need to wash them. Even if all you buy is two pair, you will be set for a trip of really any length — just so long as you have clean water.

Snag them from Amazon.