One of the most annoying failure about travel is to bring home the bedbugs that may have creeped into your baggage. It saves a lot of money if you’re a cautious traveler by not spending more than $2,000 on getting your home bedbug free.
So here are a few tips on how you can have a bedbug-free travel:
Baggage
Most of the time the bugs come home with you in your baggage. Those zippers and corners are favorite places for the bugs to hide and maybe squeeze in! Choosing the correct baggage will save them to simply walk in. Although the hard luggage preferably with no zippers are bulky and possibly heavier than the soft ones, but they are the best to avoid the bugs.
It’s wise to spray your luggage with bed bug deterrent spray before you travel. You can get some heavy duty stuff in local stores or online.
After you get home, don’t bring your suitcase in with you. It’s a tough job, but a sure-shot to wash all your clothes in hot water and dry them for at least half an hour with heat before bringing them inside. Spray and wipe down your luggage and those other items while outside your apartment.
Research Online
Before booking a hotel, Google the word “bed bugs” along with the hotel name that you may have liked. There’s a big chance that another traveler may have posted something complaining about bed bugs in that hotel rooms. Make sure to check out BedbugRegistry.com to check if there have been complaints at a specific hotel. If a hotel is blacklisted for having bugs in the past, does not mean they have not cleaned them. Contact the hotel directly, express your concern by talking to a CSR. Just ask for a room that has never had a problem or that has been thoroughly treated.
Hotel Rooms
Don’t bring your luggage in to a hotel room, but first inspect your room for bugs by lifting up sheets at the top of the bed and look for any black or red dots. One tip is that every hotel room usually has a hair-dryer; turn it on and blast slowly around the headboard and head side of the mattress. If there are bugs there, this will bring them out of hiding.
Always keep your clothes out of the drawers and closets in the room, especially on wooden hangers. Keep your clothes, toiletries, etc, in plastic baggies in your suitcase and only open them when you need them.
The ordeal one goes through to be bit and infested by the bugs is more than just being safe and applying these tips in your next travel. Safe & healthy travels.