How to Stay Safe from Bed Bugs during Holiday Travel

When it comes to pests, there is nothing worse than bed bugs. Bed bugs are difficult to kill, multiply rapidly, and bite with such frequency that you can be itching all year. Unfortunately, holiday travel is when these bed bugs tend to spread the fastest, because many people stay in hotels all over the country as they travel for the holidays, and these hotels/motels may have bed bugs from other travelers.

What to Do to Stay Safe

Even though bed bugs can be hard to catch, there are some things you can do to protect yourself from bed bug attacks, and from bringing bed bugs back to your home with you. This holiday season, consider the following bed bug safety strategies:

Inspect Your Room – Before you unpack any luggage, give your hotel room a thorough inspection. Look for obvious signs of bed bugs, including blood droppings, bed bug skin, and, of course, bed bugs themselves. Check not only all around the bed, but also in the corners of the room and in any hidden spaces. If you see anything worrisome, talk to the front desk.
Examine Your Skin – Once or twice a day, make sure you examine your skin and your family’s skin for bites. Not everyone gets itchy when they are bitten by a bed bug, but if you see any bites – especially multiple bites within a few inches of each other – re-examine the room or talk to the front desk.
Heat Your Clothes – Before you get back home, you may want to put all of your clothes into a sealed plastic bag. Then bring that bag inside and put all of those clothes in the dryer. Heat on high for about 30 minutes. Bed bugs die in extreme heat, so any bed bugs hiding in your clothes will quickly die away. Make sure you examine your empty luggage too before you bring it indoors.

Also, after you’re done travelling, continue to pay attention to any unexplained itching. If you are at all concerned that you may have taken a bed bug home with you, contact a bed bug control expert like Green Pest Solutions. The faster you call, the easier it will be to examine for bed bugs and eliminate them.

All hotels and all motels can be at risk for bed bugs, because cleanliness has almost nothing to do with bed bug exposure. So make sure you’re keeping to the above strategies in order to remain free of bed bugs all year.