Sometimes, the best remedy for a serious bout of jet lag can be something as simple as a long, hot shower. The kind of shower that steams up the entire bathroom, and melts away the stress from a transatlantic journey. That's exactly what I needed after traveling from San Francisco back to London. Especially after lugging my 67 pound suitcase, plus backpack, about half a mile from the tube station to my house---through the snow.
Unfortunately, our house was having a problem with some of the plumbing. One of the pipes on the outside wasn't attached properly. If we turned the water mains back on, water would come flooding out of it.
The person who was supposed to fix it that day didn't show up. Great.
So what do you do when you're in desperate need of a shower, and there's no running water? Yes, my friends, you take a snow shower!
Showering With Snow: Amanda's Handy Tips
As the great Scottish mountaineer J.H.B. Bell once said:
"Whoever indulges in a snow bath on a mountain crest will continue his progress along the ridges with renewed zest and vigour"
Inspired by my trip to Nicaragua last summer, in which we took bucket showers (the village of Goyena has no running water), I decided to apply this technique to snow.
The following are my handy tips for those of you crazy desperate enough to want to try this:
Step 1: Gather Snow We had plenty of clean snow in our backyard, so I gathered up as much clean snow as I could into every available pot.
Step 2: Melt Snow Using every burner on our stovetop, I melted down the snow. As it starts to melt, you can add more snow to maximize the amount of hot water you'll get in each pot.
Step 3: Make Snow Transportation-Friendly Rather than taking each small pot back and forth, up and down the stairs to the bathroom, it's better to pour the hot water into a larger container and take that up.
In this case, my large container was a big, unused plastic bucket. I poured all of the hot water into it, and carried that up to the bathtub.
Step 4: Gather Bathing Supplies To actually clean yourself, you'll need a small hand towel (or a loofah), soap/shampoo of your choice, and another small container for rinsing your hair.
I used a mug, but if you're feeling cannibalistic, why not try a ladle?
Step 5: Wash, Rinse, Repeat Now that you have all of your supplies gathered in the bathtub, you're ready for a snow shower!
Use the mug to pour hot water all over yourself, making sure to get your hair as wet as possible.
Then, dip the small towel or loofah into the bucket, and pour soap on it. After you're all nice and soaped up, dip the mug into the bucket and rinse yourself off.
Now it's time for washing your hair. No matter what length your hair is, it's best to just dunk your whole head in the bucket. Once it's soaking wet, you can shampoo away!
Use the mug to rinse out most of the shampoo from your hair. If you're feeling particularly indulgent, you can use conditioner at this point.
Finally, the best part of all, you can now take the whole bucket and pour the remaining hot water all over yourself.
Congratulations! You've now taken your first snow shower!
Now go forth and enjoy your renewed zest and vigour!