[Melanie-]

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that, but it was 8 days. But wait, there's a reasonable explanation.

After I finished school I went to New Zealand for my big holiday and I travelled alone, by the way. There were some remote areas where I hiked and so it happened that I had no chance to shower for 8 days, if I remember correctly. Well, I could have jumped into a lake or cleaned myself in a stream but the water was so cold (it was very early spring). Hence I only washed my face and body with a cloth in a cursory way.

I wasn't so experienced back then and packed too few suitable clothes. I had lot's of thin socks but they were no good as my feet got blisters earlier on the whole trip. But I had one pair of thick padded hiking socks and so I kept wearing this one pair most of the time. You probably can imagine the bad smell after a while. At least I had enough panties and changed them daily. Additionally I wore fleece tights at times because my thighs were often cold in the morning. After walking for a couple of hours it got a bit too warm though. At least I could change the tights every couple of days as I had enough pairs and some days were warmer anyway. And I think I had too few bras and those got a bit yucky too during this particular trip.

After an initial feeling of disgust, I did not mind much being dirty and sweaty. There wasn't really anything I could do about it, and I was alone anyway. That whole experience made me appreciate things we have in our daily life more. Anyway, I was so happy to get back to civilization and shower and do the laundry. And I bought more hiking socks.

Nobody commented on anything, as I was alone except for the brief time during check-in at the next hostel.