How to avoid bugs in your luggage

[Amelia]

How to avoid bugs in your luggage

Tips to ensure unwanted critters stay where they belong

By Anita Dunham-Potter

Travel columnist

Tripso.com

Oct 16, 2006

Ah, yes, that unexpected and most unwelcome “take-home gift”: bugs in your luggage.

Hotels, cruise lines and airlines don’t like to talk about these little creatures. But no matter how well kept a hotel, cruise ship or airplane appears to be, there are always some bugs that manage to beat the extermination system. Bedbugs, especially, seem to be making a comeback, but roaches, ants, spiders, beetles — even snakes — can escape Housekeeping’s best efforts. If you travel enough you may unwittingly be carrying some little stowaways in your luggage. I have had to deal with my share of “lug bugs,” and let me tell you: They can cause more trouble than you can imagine once you get them home.

Creepy-crawly stowaways

At the peak of my traveling days as a flight attendant, I was spending about 160 nights a year in hotels. Most of the time the hotels were first-rate, and I never thought for a moment that they could harbor creatures that felt the need to travel with me. And yet on one occasion at a fine hotel in North Carolina, I watched in horror as three roaches crawled into my briefcase. On another occasion, I dealt with “Roachzilla” in New York City (fortunately, the 3-inch-long creepy-crawly didn’t make it into my luggage). On two different cruise vacations, I encountered creatures that I cannot even name.

Dealing with an uninvited houseguest

My husband and I once noticed a critter in our home that we had never seen before. My husband dealt with (splat!) the creature, then put it into a plastic bag so we could show it to the exterminator. When he examined it the next day, the exterminator had just three words: “It’s not local.”

When we told him we’d recently been on a cruise and had stayed at hotels in the Caribbean, he laughed. Anyone who does any amount of traveling, especially to warm, humid climates, may unknowingly bring bugs home in their luggage, he told us. The critters like to hide in the folds of your clothes and in the dark corners of your suitcase. The problem is that they can then infest your house when you get home. He suggested the following tips to keep these lug bugs at bay:

• Keep your luggage off the floor and on a luggage rack.

• Keep your luggage closed — and zipped — at all times.

• Keep food out of your suitcase, or at least keep it in tightly sealed containers.
• Throw away all cardboard boxes as soon as you get home. Bugs love to lay eggs in corrugated boxes.
• If you travel for long periods, especially to warm, humid places, you may need to “debug” your luggage after you’ve unpacked. The trick is to wrap your suitcase in a plastic garbage bag and leave the bag on for two weeks. If any bugs have infested your luggage, they (and their eggs and offspring) will be extinguished from the lack of oxygen.

Right now I have three suitcases in plastic bags from recent trips to the Caribbean. I don’t take anything for granted anymore.

So, next time you are on a trip, take this advice, and maybe you won’t get stuck with the “lug bug” — and a $200 exterminator bill!

[Naomi]

Quote:

The trick is to wrap your suitcase in a plastic garbage bag and leave the bag on for two weeks. If any bugs have infested your luggage, they (and their eggs and offspring) will be extinguished from the lack of oxygen.

Sounds good to me. I hate unpacking, now I have a two week reason.

Bedbugs are becomming very popular ... even in the expensive hotels. They are extremely difficult to get rid of. Saw a special on TV and was thankful for not having to live most of my life in a hotel.

[Amelia]

Worried about bed bugs in your hotel room?

A few spot check travel tips

June 7, 2006

msnbc.com

Before booking a hotel room, you may want to read user reviews of the particular hotel and location — frequently, guests who’ve had bug problems report them online. Bear in mind that a report about one hotel does not mean the issue wasn’t isolated to one room, or that hotel management hasn’t since exterminated.

Still concerned? Concerned travelers may want to check their bed for telltale signs of the bugs, a more common practice years ago. Before jumping into bed, here are a few spot check tips:

Peel back the bedsheets and check the mattress, running your fingers along the upper and lower seams. Make sure to check the mattress tag, bed bugs often hide there.

Experts recommend removing and examining the headboard if possible. Check for tiny black spots (excrement) that are smaller than poppy seeds. You may also see translucent light brown skins or, in the case of an infestation— live bugs.

Check the bedside table. Look for signs of bed bugs in the drawers and along the wall on the side of the bed that is less likely to be disturbed by cleaning staff and guests.

You may want to elevate suitcases and keep them off the floor, like on a luggage stand.

If you see powder in the drawers or on the headboard, it is likely that the room has already been treated for bed bugs by an exterminator.

If bed bugs are detected, travelers should request for another room. Be sure to inform hotel management.

Just moving to a different room may not be the total answer. You should repeat the thorough inspection of any new or different room you are offered.

When you pack to leave, inspect your luggage carefully first, and inspect every item as you pack to help detect any bugs or their signs. Laundering most cloth items with typical hot water and detergent followed by drying on low heat for at least 20 minutes (or standard dry cleaning) should kill all bed bugs in or on such items. Sealing freshly-laundered items inside a plastic bag should help keep any more bed bugs from getting in those items later to hide (and be carried back with you).

[Jeannieb43]

Wow! These are great tips.

I'm leaving for Hawaii in a few weeks. I've always hated the bugs they have there (usually only seen in my friend's house). But now I'm going to check everything carefully -- and keep my suitcase off the floor at all times!!

[Naomi]

(: Last year in Romania no one in the Hotel spoke english ... wonder how we would communicate a bedbug issue?