Bed Bug Prevention

Step-by-Step Guide to Avoid Bed Bugs While Traveling

Regardless of how you travel or where you go, a bed bug problem can occur at any time, and often where you may least expect them.

    Whether it's across the state or the country scores of Americans regularly pack their bags, and head out to their favorite hotspots. Some may take a road trip and see sights along the way while others are all about the destination and opt for a quick flight. We'll take a look at a few areas associated with travel where you might encounter bed bugs.  

How To Prevent Bed Bugs While Traveling

Hotels

This is the most disturbing place to find bed bugs because this is where you will most likely be sleeping the most during your travels. Any hotel worth its weight in sheets will have bed bug control performed periodically, but given the nature of the business, it's possible that some might be missed. This is why you should check the room's bed and other furniture. Here are steps to prevent bed bugs in hotel rooms:

• Research

Before choosing a hotel do a little research first. See if the hotel pops up on any bed bug registries or reporting sites. Check if there have been any previous complaints. Also, you can ask the hotels directly about the frequency of their bed bug inspections and treatments.

• Room Inspection

Inspect your room yourself before settling in. Remove the bed sheets and check both sides of the mattress, along the box springs, and in the headboard. Check the rest of the room too, particularly furniture near the bed like chairs, desks, and sofas. Even behind pictures on the wall, and along the frame. Bed bugs can literally be almost anywhere there's a crack or crevice they can hide in. Before lying down to sleep look for signs of discarded shells, and blood stains.    

• Ask For A Different Room

Ask for another room if you find bed bugs, and request a location as far away as possible from the first room. Then inspect the new room just as you did the first.  

• Seal Your Luggage

Keep your luggage on a rack, and your clothes in sealable plastic bags. Keep both clean and dirty clothes sealed up when not being worn.  

• Bed Bug Proof Mattress

Travel with bed bug-proof mattress encasements that you can put on the hotel mattresses to keep bed bugs from crawling on you to feed while you sleep.  

• Wash And Dry Clothes On High Heat

Immediately wash and dry clothes on high heat when returning home. Do this before unpacking them from the plastic bags into which you've put them. The heat will kill bed bugs, which die at temperatures above 120 degrees. Also, take dry-clean clothes to the cleaners before bringing them back into your home.    

Luggage

Bed bugs move from one place to another by hitching rides. Luggage provides them the perfect opportunity to spread their numbers to other locations. A suitcase or overnight bag is a great hiding spot with lots of small areas they can squeeze into. Before leaving your hotel or a relative's home, remove all of the contents of your bag. Inspect both the bag and the contents, and once you know they're clear, then put everything back. This will greatly reduce the possibility of bed bug hitching a ride on you during your trip.  

Airport

Airports aren't as well known for having bed bug problems as hotels. But when trying to protect yourself from these parasites you can't be too careful. After all, an airport will often see thousands upon thousands of travelers every day, so that's a lot of suitcases coming into contact with each other. Even though most of the luggage is dealt with in the baggage claim area, but carry-ons are quite common too. And if bed bugs get out of one bag it's very easy for them to hang around the airport for a while before finding their way onto another.   An Adult Bed Bug Close-Up

Rental Car

During your travels you may rent a car to get around. Although these cars are taken care of and cleaned quite often, that doesn't mean they're entirely safe. Bed bugs can make their way beneath the seats or into other small areas. It's a good idea to check the car before heading off down the road, just to be on the safe side.

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