For many people, the summer of 2022 felt a little bit like a return to the good old days. After two summers decimated by the pandemic, this year many people ventured off on a much-needed vacation. However, for many returning Vancouverites, the reality is that they will have brought back more than healthy tan and some amazing memories, they will have brought back bed bugs to set up home with them.
Vacations are all about a break from the norm, escaping daily routines and enjoying time and new experiences in different places with family and friends.
As human beings, we crave new experiences, but we also love familiarity, routine, and home comforts, including a well stocked fridge, our comfy bed and our various toys and gadgets. Therefore, if we’re honest, as much as we love going away for a week or two, most of us equally enjoy coming home.
However, one thing can totally ruin a homecoming and make us wish that we’d never been away is bed bugs.
Whilst the overwhelming number of vacations will be bed bug free, incidences are on the rise, given the increased number of people travelling and in effect, sharing living quarters. Therefore, do not assume that those small itchy spots that are refusing to go away after a week are from a humble mosquito. They may be from a bed bug which has travelled back to set up home with you in Vancouver.
Should I really be concerned with bed bugs on vacation?
Bed bugs thrive in environments that host multiple people. Places such as hotels, motels, Air B&B’s, hostels, and even campsites offer bed bugs a veritable smorgasbord of dining options. Grim right? But very much true. Also, don’t be fooled into thinking that your five-star villa is far less likely to host bed bugs than a cheap and cheerful roadside motel. Bed bugs are not snobs, they don’t discriminate.
They are also, despite their name, not to be found exclusively in beds, they live in chairs, linen closets, windowsills, wall cavities, electrical sockets, and devices. Bed bugs also seek out opportunities to go on vacation too and will happily hide themselves away in clothing and luggage and play the long game, happy to travel back home with a holidaying family.
It is therefore of paramount importance to do the following to minimize the chances of being bitten by bed bugs.
UPON ARRIVAL
Step 1: Thoroughly check of your accommodation
As bed bugs are both small, dark, and great at playing hide and go seek, you will need to look around your temporary accommodation for the following tell-tale signs, but before you do so, place your luggage into the bathtub or on the shower tray. Then carry out an inspection of the following.
Small dark spots on sheets and/or mattresses (blood or fecal matter)
Holes in walls, windowsills, and cavities
Also look a headboards, chairs, sofas, in fact every piece of furniture for signs of wear and tear
Musty smell in the room (they give off an unpleasant smell, it’s not overpowering but can be a faint musty or even cilantro-type smell, some even claim they smell like stink bugs)
Step 2: Safely store clothing and belongs away
If the wardrobe or cupboard is old and smelly, it’s perhaps advisable to keep your clothing, towels, and other linens in the sealable plastic bags in your suitcase or backpack
URGENT ACTION: If you find any evidence or even suspect your holiday home has bed bugs, immediately contact management to raise your concerns and take photos to verify your concerns. They need to take this very seriously. Firstly, they need to find you suitable alternative accommodation. Secondly, they need to arrange for a bed bug detection specialist to conduct inspections not just of your room/home, but also all of those in their hotel/resort.
Step 3: Undertake a final inspection prior to departure
You’ve taken all the right steps and precautions, but don’t rest on our laurels. Rather, go through your suitcase, take out each piece of clothing, your toilet bag, towels etc. and give them a good shake then a visual inspection. Put them away in durable plastic clothing bags and seal suitcase.
BACK HOME
Step 4: Conduct a thorough search
Repeat step 4, shake-off and look at each item
And, if you suspect you may have brought bed bugs back home with you…
Step 5: You think that you have brought bed bugs home…book a bed bug inspection
URGENT ACTION: Even if you half suspect that bed bugs have hitched a ride back in your luggage, the immediate thing you need to do is to pick up the phone and book an inspection. By far the most accurate method is to utilize the services of a K9 bed bug detector, such as Rio, the German Shepherd at Spot On K9 Detection.
Step 6: Contact management of your vacation accommodation
URGENT ACTION: Take photos, contact accommodation to voice your concerns, share photographic evidence. Get in writing that they are to employ the services of a specialist bed bug detection service organization right away.
For the ultimate peace of mind, please contact Western Canada’s original K9 bed bug detectors, Spot On K9 Detection, on 7788556768 or email k9spoton@gmail.com. Marcos and Rio the chief bed bug detector will conduct a thorough bed bug inspection, if you have them, Rio will sniff them out.
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