Oh, I see! That's something totally different...I didn't get what you were asking, sorry!
Yes, many other people here travel with electric skillets or mini crock pots or Instant Pots. If you have a mini fridge in your hotel room (which your friend may not get to enjoy in Europe or Japan) it is cheaper to buy, say, a package of chicken breast and some rice and veggies, cook them, and have them available for the entire stay.
The amount of time you get in each city is a big issue too. You say your friend is "rarely anywhere for more than a night or two." Imagine how hard it would be to unpack, buy groceries (without a car to go get them either, maybe having to walk in the rain or cold,) making sure you buy just enough food for one or two meals. Then spend at least an hour cooking for just a day or two-worth of food, washing all of those cooking dishes in a hotel sink that may or may not have hot water, and then having to get ready for your show and do your job...and then wash all of your empty food containers, pack all of that up and leave and do it all over again each city? It's really hard to do if you're not staying in a city for at least 3-4 days. I don't blame your friend for mostly eating out if they don't get to ever "sit" in a city for more than 48 hours.
Laundry is a MASSIVE stress, anyone on tour would agree. If the hotel does not have laundry (50% of them do not), you have to hope there's a laundromat nearby that is SAFE to get to and clean enough to actually use (often homeless people in the US use laundromats for shelter or to wash their own clothes, which I'm sorry to say can impact how MY clothing smells.) The other option is to pay for a laundry service, which is extremely expensive. But it's sometimes cheaper than Ubering to a laundromat, or saves time when you only have a 24-hour turnaround before you have to leave a city. Laundry is the worst. There is no laundry at the hotel in Chicago and I'm already stressed about it.
I am not sure what you're asking about the "male/female thing" but will try to give a good answer! Both men and women cook on this tour, and do laundry, and eat out. None of that seems to have anything to do with gender. We all have to eat and have clean clothing, and no one's mom is out here doing those things for us (lol!) so we are each on our own to source our own food and find laundry. Some people, male and female, hand-wash clothing in the hotel rooms (I prefer not to do this because I don't consider hotel bathtubs and sinks to be sanitary or the water typically hot enough to ensure cleanliness in a tub that strangers have used.) Some people use laundromats, some people use the laundry services. Some people cook ALL of their meals no matter how inconvenient it is to them; others eat out for EVERY meal no matter how expensive or unhealthy that can get. And most of us do a mix of those two options. With 60-some people on this tour, everyone has their own personal preferences :) It all depends on what you are willing to spend time on, how much time you realistically have, and how much you are willing to spend for which conveniences.
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Yes, many other people here travel with electric skillets or mini crock pots or Instant Pots. If you have a mini fridge in your hotel room (which your friend may not get to enjoy in Europe or Japan) it is cheaper to buy, say, a package of chicken breast and some rice and veggies, cook them, and have them available for the entire stay.
The amount of time you get in each city is a big issue too. You say your friend is "rarely anywhere for more than a night or two." Imagine how hard it would be to unpack, buy groceries (without a car to go get them either, maybe having to walk in the rain or cold,) making sure you buy just enough food for one or two meals. Then spend at least an hour cooking for just a day or two-worth of food, washing all of those cooking dishes in a hotel sink that may or may not have hot water, and then having to get ready for your show and do your job...and then wash all of your empty food containers, pack all of that up and leave and do it all over again each city? It's really hard to do if you're not staying in a city for at least 3-4 days. I don't blame your friend for mostly eating out if they don't get to ever "sit" in a city for more than 48 hours.
Laundry is a MASSIVE stress, anyone on tour would agree. If the hotel does not have laundry (50% of them do not), you have to hope there's a laundromat nearby that is SAFE to get to and clean enough to actually use (often homeless people in the US use laundromats for shelter or to wash their own clothes, which I'm sorry to say can impact how MY clothing smells.) The other option is to pay for a laundry service, which is extremely expensive. But it's sometimes cheaper than Ubering to a laundromat, or saves time when you only have a 24-hour turnaround before you have to leave a city. Laundry is the worst. There is no laundry at the hotel in Chicago and I'm already stressed about it.
I am not sure what you're asking about the "male/female thing" but will try to give a good answer! Both men and women cook on this tour, and do laundry, and eat out. None of that seems to have anything to do with gender. We all have to eat and have clean clothing, and no one's mom is out here doing those things for us (lol!) so we are each on our own to source our own food and find laundry. Some people, male and female, hand-wash clothing in the hotel rooms (I prefer not to do this because I don't consider hotel bathtubs and sinks to be sanitary or the water typically hot enough to ensure cleanliness in a tub that strangers have used.) Some people use laundromats, some people use the laundry services. Some people cook ALL of their meals no matter how inconvenient it is to them; others eat out for EVERY meal no matter how expensive or unhealthy that can get. And most of us do a mix of those two options. With 60-some people on this tour, everyone has their own personal preferences :) It all depends on what you are willing to spend time on, how much time you realistically have, and how much you are willing to spend for which conveniences.