Don’t travel with a bed bug!

Bed begs are surfacing everywhere these days. In big cities, small towns, hotels and motels. These small but tough bugs don’t discriminate. They can hide anywhere, travel any distance as a parasite, and breed really, really fast. Some people say these are worse than cockroaches which don’t suck your blood at least!

Even if you have a bed bug free home, you are not immune to the problem. If you travel (who doesn’t?) and stay in a hotel, then there is a good chance that you will meet bed bugs there. They can hop on to your luggage and happily travel with you back to your home! You are bringing home an uninvited guest that can infest your house fairly quickly.

If you are one of the bed bug victims, check out our Bed Bug Remedies book which explains the new cost effective methods to tread these bugs.

USA Today recently published some travel trips. You should read the complete article linked below. But for those who want a quick summary, here are the clippings:

Sealing your luggage while traveling

Safeguard your suitcase before you get to the airport. “In the cargo hold of an airliner, your bag is right in there with other suitcases,” says Missy Henriksen, vice president, public affairs, National Pest Management Association. “Bedbugs are referred to as ‘hitchhikers,’ they can be on a red suitcase to city A, but can jump onto a blue suitcase to city B.”

To prevent any bugs from hitching a ride on your baggage, put your suitcase or duffel inside a sealed plastic bag before you drop it off at the ticket counter.  This will minimize bugs coming into contact with other suitcases that have been exposed.

When you are at the hotel

“When you first get into your room, store your suitcase in the bathroom or room with a linoleum floor,” says Henriksen. “You can see bugs on the linoleum, then there is less chance of exposure. Then go and do an inspection of the bed. Pull back the sheet and the bed linens, and look on the mattress pad cover and under the dust ruffle. What you’re looking for is a bug the size of a lentil or an apple seed. Look for anything that [seems] out of place, like those seeds, [and] signs of blood, little droplets of blood, that would indicate the bugs have been eating from humans. If you see signs, there may be reason to suspect there’s a problem.” Check your drawers before putting any clothing in and also the luggage rack

When you return home
Before you enter your house, take a few minutes to do a sanity check and make sure you haven’t transported any bugs home.

You can purchase dissolvable plastic bags, so as soon as you get home, put your clothes right in the wash and launder them. You won’t even have to take your clothes out of the bag before putting them in your washing machine. Heat and plastic bags really are your friend. You may want to schedule a dog inspection, have the [bug-detecting dogs] sniff the luggage before even going in the house.

News Article: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/deals/inside/2010-04-29-bed-bug-tips_N.htm

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