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How to Avoid Bedbugs While Traveling

How to Avoid Bedbugs While Traveling

hotel bed lamp image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com

They live off of blood. They feed, most often, just before dawn. Bedbugs, also known as animated blood drops, wall lice, crimson ramblers, chinches or red coats, can survive on rats or mice, but they are more than happy to dine on a warm-bodied human. Traveling doesn't have to revert to an extreme sport when sleeping in an unknown establishment, however. You can avoid bedbugs by safeguarding yourself from these greedy feeders through careful room examination and avoidance of the common pitfalls often associated with well-frequented hotel rooms.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:
  • Flashlight Rubber gloves Solid non-porous luggage Plastic baggies Trash bags
  • Flashlight
  • Rubber gloves
  • Solid non-porous luggage
  • Plastic baggies
  • Trash bags
Step 1
Pack a flashlight, gloves and large, zippered plastic baggies for your trip. Pack clothing in hard-backed, non-porous luggage to avoid the easy infestation of your luggage. Cloth and canvas bags can mask the presence of bedbugs, allowing them to become traveling companions on your trip.
Step 2
Avoid tossing your luggage onto bedding or floors when first entering a room. Inspect the luggage rack carefully both on top and bottom before setting down your bags to inspect the rest of the room.
Step 3
Put on a pair of rubber gloves and turn on your flashlight.
Step 4
Move over to the headboard next to the bed and pull up on it 2 inches while leaning the top away from the wall area to check the back side of it. Look for translucent brown bug shells, tiny red-tinged bugs anywhere from 1/16 to 1/4 inch long and dried blood spots the size of small ink pen marks.
Step 5
Begin inspecting the bedding for signs of bedbug infestation. Pull back the bedspread and examine the pillows and sheets, pulling up on the flat coversheet to view the bottom fitted sheet
Step 6
Remove the fitted sheet to reveal the mattress piping. Run your fingers under the seam and make a careful flashlight inspection over the area, especially near the mattress tag. Lift the mattress and examine the box spring corners and crevices.
Step 7
Check the nightstand table corners, pulling out the drawer to examine the undersides. Often bedbugs hide near beds and gravitate over to bedding during the night.
Step 8
Use the flashlight to inspect the tops and interiors of closets before placing your luggage away for the night. Avoid unpacking your clothing to put into hotel drawers. Keep the suitcase sealed as much as possible, removing items only when necessary.
Step 9
Seal personal items such as toothpaste, brushes, shampoos and toiletries in zippered plastic bags. Wrap larger items such as laptop computers, shoes and sports equipment in a sturdy 30-gallon trash bags before retiring for the night.
Step 10
Notify the hotel staff immediately if you discover any signs of infestation and ask to be moved to another room (or sister hotel) that does not share wall space with the room you've examined.

Tips & Warnings

 
Powder inside of drawers or near beds can indicate the hotel has received recent treatment for bedbugs by an exterminator. Examine your suitcase often when traveling to ensure you do not harbor pesky boarders.
 
Powder inside of drawers or near beds can indicate the hotel has received recent treatment for bedbugs by an exterminator.
 
Examine your suitcase often when traveling to ensure you do not harbor pesky boarders.
 
Examine bedding the next morning to see if you spot any blood or signs of bedbugs after sleeping. If so, seal used clothing in plastic bags and do not add it to your clean clothing sealed inside of the suitcase. Hot water and warm heat from a dryer can kill bedbugs on clothing. After cleaning infected clothing, put in sealed baggies to store inside of the suitcase.
 
Examine bedding the next morning to see if you spot any blood or signs of bedbugs after sleeping. If so, seal used clothing in plastic bags and do not add it to your clean clothing sealed inside of the suitcase.
 
Hot water and warm heat from a dryer can kill bedbugs on clothing. After cleaning infected clothing, put in sealed baggies to store inside of the suitcase.

Resources

Article Written By Abaigeal Quinn

Abaigeal Quinn works as an international entertainment broker in the United States. She is a former news editor and insurance agent who began writing for a daily newspaper in 1995.

Write for Trails.com

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