Bed bugs are one of the most frustrating household pests because of the stigma that they carry and the discomfort that they cause. If you have bed bugs, you are automatically assumed to be unclean. However, this is not always the case. It is very easy for a person to be traveling or for a person to host an overnight guest that has been travelling and end up with a bed bug infestation. There are three easy ways to make sure that this does not happen to you.

1. Check Your Hotel Mattress

One of the easiest ways to pick up bed bugs is from a hotel or other lodging where you will be staying for a night or two. If the bed bugs are in the mattress, it is very likely that you may get them in your clothes and transfer them to your home. In order to make sure that you stay safe from the bugs, check your mattress. Use a flashlight or the flashlight function on your phone to check the box spring, mattress, and bed frame. Be especially vigilant about checking the seams of each of these areas because those are great places for bed bugs to hide. Also look for brownish, reddish spots on the mattress. These could be bed bugs that have been crushed or the bed bugs themselves.

2. Be Careful With Your Luggage

When you're traveling, make sure to put your luggage on the luggage rack or inside of the bathtub (assuming that it's dry). Bed bugs cannot congregate in these locations. Do not put your luggage on the bed because that's the perfect place for bed bugs to hitch a ride.

3. Clean Your Luggage When You Get Home

The last thing that you can do to protect yourself from bed bugs is to clean your luggage when you get home. Make sure that you wash any clothes that you took on your travels and use a vacuum cleaner on your suitcase and other pieces of luggage. This will make sure that any bed bugs that might have come with you from your places of lodging are destroyed before they can spread around your home. This step should be carried out almost immediately after returning from your trip.

Call an exterminator for more information about how to avoid bed bugs while you are traveling or how to remove them from your home.