Dealing With Bed Bugs When You Travel

Staying at expensive places is not something everyone can afford. Most of the times affordable places are great too but sometimes and in some places many times the beds can have bed bugs. Trust me; you do not want to sleep in a bed bug infested bed. These blood-sucking parasites can make your stay a nightmare.

Sometimes, even top-notch places can have the issue. So, being sure that you are not sleeping in a bed with these parasites and also knowing the remedies is important for anyone who travels a lot and sleeps in different beds quite often. If you stay at an infested place, the chances are that some bed bugs will hitchhike your luggage and clothes and then their next destination will be your home. Other than their bites giving you rashes and itching bad, you are not at any grave danger personally. Years of traveling and two encounters with bed bugs have made me carry a bug spray everywhere.

Here are ways to identify if your bed has bed bugs:

1. Look for eggs or danders

Don’t rely only on eyesight, run your hand and check for any gritty feeling you can get. Dander is their skin and eggs can be felt on the mattress or under the sheets or even over the sheets if they haven’t been cleaned properly.

2. Check for stains

Considering their main diet consists of blood when bed bugs die, or even their excreta lives a mark on the mattress like you dropped a red or brown marker. That is a very good sign.

3. Itch

If you constantly feel an itching sensation, shake the bed, and check for bugs. You can develop red rashes, which sometimes show up after a while. If you are sleeping in the same bed for 2-3 nights, then it can be prominent.

What to do if your bed has bed bugs?

1. Isolate your belongings and yourself

Like I mentioned earlier, bed bugs like to travel, they will attach themselves to your clothes and belongings. Anything that came in contact with the bed should be separated from the other things. Seal them all in a different sealable bag so that if the bed bugs in them, your other things are not contaminated. Check the clothes you are wearing too.

2. Change the room or the hotel

Change the room as soon as possible; bed bugs are not worth any great deal that you have gotten on the room. Most will refund you, and if it is an inconvenient time, ask for a change of room. Even if you change the room, check the bed. The chances are that all the beds are infected in the hotel. Changing the hotel is the best move.

3. Let the hotel know

Most hotels will refund you and also apologize and try to get rid of the bed bugs. Sometimes even the hotel isn’t aware of the problem. Let them know so that they can get rid of the problem or let the people know through your reviews if your hotel doesn’t care.

4. Carry bug spray

Like I mentioned before, I carry bug spray everywhere I can. I mean it might not be the ideal solution, but it works, so why not. Spray a little on your bag, on your clothes, even the bed. You can always wash everything later, but for the time being, killing the devils is important. A little spritz never hurt anyone, except those bugs! Ha!

Conclusion:

Before you put anything on the bed, it is better to have a look around. Shake the mattress a bit, run your hand over and be sure that there are no bed bugs. Especially if you are going to have children sleeping in that bed. Carry a small bottle of bug spray to be ready to deal with any kind of bug. Be sure to not overlook any discomfort you feel, it can be telling of more than our naked eye can see.

Bed bugs can definitely ruin holidays with you itching all over. If you are a frequent traveler, then you know that you can’t always get a great deal and a great hotel. Always be wary of places, and check everything. Better safe than sorry, folks!