Got the Traveling Bug?

Well, if you’re taking a trip over the holidays, hopefully you’ve only got the figurative traveling bugs and not bed bugs!  It turns out that due to modern-day travel, bed bugs have been able to hitch rides on suitcases to almost every part of the globe.  Gross, right?  Well there are a few things you can do to avoid these yucky critters.

Bed bugs are little creatures about the size of apple seeds which feed on human blood while we sleep.  Their bites don’t hurt, but can create itchy welts that are more annoying than anything (like a mosquito bite).  The bugs can survive about a year without feeding, and females tend to lay about 300 eggs in their lifetime.  They don’t always discriminate when it comes to choosing where to take up residence, so unfortunately they can be an issue even at nice hotels.  With their rising populations, travelers have become more uneasy about bringing some home, so to help avoid that fate, here are some tips on preventative measures you can take while traveling:

1.      Keep your luggage in the bathroom–bedbugs don’t like the hard surfaces of bathroom floors

2.      Keep your clothes in bags and use the closets instead of the hotel’s furniture

3.      When you get to your hotel room, look around a bit.  Take the sheets off and check behind the headboards.  They’re sneaky but they aren’t too smart.  They usually hide in plain sight – if you just look for them.  If you find one, get a new room away from the one you had (they like to spread out a bit between the adjacent rooms).

4.    Lastly, when you get home from traveling, vacuum your luggage and wash your clothing in hot water.

A few simple steps and chances are you’ll have a pest-free trip!