How to Avoid Bed Bugs While Traveling
The next holiday season is right around the corner. Whatever that looks like to you, you’ll probably be traveling at some point and you want to know how to avoid bed bugs while travelling. If you plan to fly or stay in a hotel then you need to ask yourself this question. How do you keep yourself and your loved ones bed bug free while travelling? Here are 7 tips that will help you have a stress free, or at least a bug free, holiday.
Before Leaving Home
When making your holiday plans make sure you check out the airline and hotel for complaints. There are several websites that you can check to see if there are any complaints against the hotel you want to book with. https://bedbugreports.com/ is a sight you can check out to give you the last recorded bed bug infestations. This is one of the best tips for how to avoid bed bugs when travelling.
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Remember that checked bags are put into a common staging area where they are packed in with every other bag on that flight. Those staging areas are used 24-hours a day, 7 days a week and are not always cleaned between flights. This means your bag is at risk if there is another bag in the staging area or the luggage compartment of the plane that has bed bugs.
With most airlines charging for checking luggage most people opt to use the carry-on option. Since carry-on bags are often searched at security check points bed bugs can easily fall out during these inspections. The bugs that fall off want to go somewhere and they could easily crawl onto and into your bags when you put them into these bins.
Carry-on bags are stored in the overhead compartments in close proximity to every other carried on bag on the plane. If the bag next to yours has bed bugs then it is possible your bag will become home to them as well. Adult and nymph bed bugs are hard to detect so you won’t’ even know your bag is infested….until it’s too late.
Renting A Car
When you get to the car rental agency make sure the vehicle has been cleaned and the trunk area has been vacuumed or lined with plastic. Most people don’t think about the trunks of cars but they often hold the most harborage areas for bed bugs.
Checking Into the Hotel
Once you’ve landed and made your way to the hotel, stop and take a few minutes to check the room, no matter how late it is or how tired you are from traveling. This is the most important step when traveling, bed bugs typically start the feeding process after the host has been motionless for about 15 minutes. Of course, inspecting the bed is the first thing you want to do. Make sure you check the seams and beading of the mattress by pulling the sheets all the way back. If you can move the headboard away from the wall do so as the bed bugs can climb up the wall and then transfer to the headboard and then to the mattress. You will also want to check out the other upholstered furniture in the room, especially if there is a convertible bed, repeating the same inspection as you did previously on the main mattress. You will be looking for not only adult bugs and eggs but spots of bed bug feces, which are comprised mostly of blood.
Settling In
Once you’ve checked the room and are now ready to settle in for your stay make sure you keep your luggage away from the bed. Always use the metal-legged luggage stand! If the stand has wooden legs, don’t use it. Bed bugs can crawl up wooden surfaces. Savvy travelers will put their luggage in the bathtub since bed bugs can’t climb the porcelain.
Paper or Plastic?
When it comes to putting your soiled laundry away for the trip home it’s best to use a plastic bag that can be sealed. This will prevent potentially contaminating your other clothes, suitcase and ultimately your own home when returning.
Last But Not Least
Once home make sure you wash everything…including your suitcase! Most people will wash their clothes but not their luggage. If you wash in cold water make sure you put your clothes into a hot dryer as bed bugs do not like heat. In addition, any clothes that you did not wear should also have a tumble in the dryer “just in case”. This might seem like a lot of work but taking these precautions is nothing compared to the effort and cost of bringing home unwanted guests. Now you know exactly how to avoid bed bugs when travelling!
If you do end up bringing home these nasty creatures ... you know who to call ...
What are you waiting for? Get your FREE ESTIMATE. Call now!
PEST CONTROL SERVICES SACRAMENTO
PEST CONTROL SERVICES EL DORADO