How to avoid bringing bed bugs home with you while you’re traveling

Bed bugs are the last thing you want to worry about during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, but if you don’t exercise caution while staying in motels and hotels during your travel, you may very well find yourself arriving back home with a few hitchhikers.

Thankfully, there are a few tips you can use to check your hotel rooms for the invaders and steps you can take to prevent them from getting into your luggage and other belongings. In this blog, we’ll run through some ways you can avoid bringing bed bugs home with you while out-of-town.

Don’t get complacent

Contrary to popular beliefs, bed bugs are not limited to cheaper or low-grade establishments. Bed bugs don’t really have a sense of class; they’re after human blood, which is the same to them regardless of how expensive the room was. Whether you’re staying somewhere on a budget or you’re sparing no expense at a posh resort getaway, you can encounter bed bugs during your winter travel.

Inspect your surroundings carefully for signs of bed bugs by doing the following before you sit down, lay down, or unpack:

— Check mattresses and bedding for tiny, dark-colored stains and eggs or shells

— Examine the headboard and beneath the mattress if at all possible

— Look over couches, end tables, and other furniture as a precaution

Be mindful of your belongings

Instead of unpacking your things into the available dresser drawers or leaving suitcases on the floor, try to keep your luggage up off of the floor by putting in on a collapsable rack, or on the tile in the bathroom.

Here’s another thing: you can actually pack in such a way to protect your belongings from bed bugs:

— Use hard, not soft, suitcases

— Wrap cloth items in plastic, or even entire bags if possible within airline regulations

— Choose lightly colored luggage for easier bed bug detection

In order to be on the safe side, wash and dry your clothing as soon as possible after your trip, without leaving time for anything that may have hitched a ride to escape out into your living space. High heat is great for killing off any bed bugs that may have attached themselves to your clothes, so a laundry cycle is a simple yet effective way to protect yourself.

These precautions might seem over-the-top, but they’ll go a long way to helping you avoid bringing bed bugs home home with you from vacation.

Trust the experts

Despite all of your best efforts to avoid bringing bed bugs home with you, infestations still happen. Bed bugs are notoriously hardy, stubborn pests that look for any way to travel and spread. When in doubt, calling in the professionals from KY-KO is the surest way to identify whether or not you are dealing with bed bugs.

KY-KO Pest Prevention thoroughly evaluates your home for signs of the insects and eradicates any infestation entirely. Contact us today for a free inspection.