Traveling is all the hype these days. More and more families are jumping in their cars, hopping on planes, and boarding the greyhounds to travel to far away, exotic destinations. With COVID restrictions being loosened and lifted every day, it only makes sense to get back out there. The only problem is there are new threats out there. Not only does one have to worry about muggings and scams these days, but you must now also worry about bed bugs. This one little pesky parasitic creature has turned the entire hospitality industry on its head.
Start With Research
Most people are going to spend a good portion of time researching and planning their trip. Well, what would it hurt to take just a few more hours to do some bed bug research? It wouldn’t and doing so will pay off immensely. If you know the state or hotel where you are staying, you can visit review forums and see if there have been any reported bed bug sightings. If there were, you’d best believe that it would have been reported. People report everything these days. Rely on the information they’ve provided to avoid running into problems.
Preparing Ahead Of Time
Even if you are staying in a hotel without any reported sightings, it doesn’t mean you still don’t need to be cautious. Taking the time to wrap your clothes in sealable plastic bags will do wonders for preventing a possible infestation. You can even put your luggage in garbage bags and duct tape the opening to prevent bedbugs from getting at the luggage itself. Of course, this is going to make the process of accessing your clothes more difficult, but at least you won’t have to worry about an infestation. You could just put your clothes in plastic and leave the luggage unpackaged. After all, it will already contain a zipper system, preventing bugs from getting in. It will only be the outside pockets and opening that you must worry about.
Properly Checking The Room
It also pays to do a good, thorough search of your hotel room. Either leave your belonging in the car while you are doing so or place them up on the hotel’s wall racks. This will allow you to scour the room without fear of your belongings being invaded. The key to this part of the process will be knowing where to look. Some of the key locations to pay extremely close attention to are the mattress, box springs, pillowcases, drapes, nightstands, headboards and footboards, and rugs. Make sure you really get in there and scour every inch of these areas.
Preparing For The Trip Home
Congratulations, if you’ve stayed your entire vacation without experiencing any bed bug symptoms, you are doing good. Unfortunately, you still aren’t in the clear. Bed bugs are resilient and witty parasites. They could be among you, and you don’t even know it. One final way to be sure you haven’t been invaded is by immediately washing your clothes upon your trip home. Make sure to use hot water and follow the process up with a heat high drying. Bed bug’s bodies can’t stand up to heat and will wither and die when exposed for specific periods at certain temperatures. Ninety minutes of high heat drying will be enough to eradicate adults, eggs, and larvae