Bed bugs

Does anyone else ever worry about this(or any other critter/germies) when staying in a hotel? One of my best friends and I were talking about traveling and he told me that they won't stay in a hotel ever again unless absolutely necessary. They did get bed bugs a while back but I had no idea they quit staying anywhere at all. Of course I couldn't believe that he'd never stay anywhere again and he brought up all the crap you can see with a blacklight ,blah, blah blah, and yes I've seen the shows where they investigate dirty hotels.

My question is, does anyone here ever really think about it THAT MUCH? I'm pissed now because now he has me thinking about that crap. I alway's put that kind of stuff in the back of my mind, I'm aware but never really concerned about it. I've always ranked that stuff up there with germophobes in my mind. What really can you do about it? I don't want to go through eh rest of my life in fear of something that I don't have that much control over, so why worry about it?

I'm sure there are many things we consume, use, or sleep in and don't want to know about. I'm sure my tooth brush should be soaking in something, but it isn't, and I can only imagine what it would look like under a microscope.

I've never had bed bug problems in any hotel in Las Vegas. The only time I ever got bit many times, is when I stayed at a Days Inn in Maine. I complained to the front desk the next morning, and I doubt they did a thing about it.

I think the big question in hotels is how often they clean the bedspreads. I know of two people who remove the bedspread when they get in their room and toss it well away from the bed.

I'm more concerned about dead hookers under bed.

Or even worse, .............. an alive one.


Rick

I'm not worried about getting bit in a hotel so much as bringing them home with me in the suitcase and having them infest my house. It can be a very expensive and time consuming process to get rid of them.

If I ever get bit on a trip I think I'll drop off my luggage at Goodwill on the drive home from the airport.

A live hooker in your bed could result in bed bugs, among other things.

Yes, jatki99.....I take it VERY SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!

Over 5 years ago, I was driving from Arizona to our new home in Appalachia (to sign papers & take possession of the house) while I left DonDiego home continuing to pack. Anyway, my first overnight stop on the multiple-day drive was in Amarillo, TX.

The hotel had bed bugs. I didn't know until about a half hour down the road the next morning when I started to itch like crazy all over my body! After making a quick stop in a town at a pharmacy, I daubed 92 (yes, 92!!!!!!!) bug bites with calamine lotion. I then spent 6-7 of the most miserable days of my adult life NOT-scratching until the itch started to go away.

After that event (and on that trip), I researched bed bugs quite extensively online and learned a lot. Like...the adults are small black bugs but the new-born/young-ins are red and the size of a sesame seed...so both can be seen by the naked eye. I learned that they HATE light so don't come out until it's dark for awhile and then scatter at dawn (so, like 3-6 a.m.) which also means they are in dark locations during the day. I learned that they can live a year or more without food, that pesticides (at that time) were no good in killing them. That the sure-fire way to kill them is by excessive heat (like, 130 degrees or more....so all of my clothes when I got to our new house went IMMEDIATELY into the dryer and I had the car & my empty luggage sit outside with windows shut in the hot summer sun to kill anything that may have gotten into my luggage).

So....we still travel a lot because we enjoy it....we aren't going to let bugs stop us from that. HOWEVER, as soon as we step foot into a hotel room (no matter how fancy or not-fancy), I check under the mattress (on both sides) for signs of them, I check in the side-seams of the mattress for them and behind the headboard (if not attached to the wall) for signs of them.

Believe me, once you've experienced having 92 bug bites itching you like crazy, you take it VERY SERIOUSLY indeed!

I remember checking into the Orleans one trip and they told me they didn't have any king beds left. About 2 am Faye and I went up to bed and a few minutes later we were both getting bitten. Called the front desk and they said a bellman would be up to our room to move us to another room. He gathered all our belongings and we headed for the elevator. When we got on he hit the 22nd floor. When we got off, we wound up in front of a double doored room. Natrually it was a suite....probably the nicest one we have ever stayed in. We had no less than 5 TV's. It didn't get much better than that. In the morning they tried to throw us out, but I told them we left our other room at 2 am and we weren't ready to move. They let us stay an extra night. Boy was that some suite!

I also check for bed bugs when I get to the room. I strip all the bedding and turn the mattress over. It only takes about 5 minutes. Then I have peace of mind.

If you google "bedbug registry." you can find out what hotels have bed bugs!