The Hitchhiker

Plan on traveling soon and staying at a hotel or motel? If so, here are some tips to make sure your trip is all you dreamed it would be instead of turning into a nightmare.

So you booked this hotel room and the only thing you're thinking about is to relax and enjoy the space, but there is one thing you should do first; check for bedbugs!

As soon as you enter the room place your luggage in the bathroom or on a luggage rack.

Always keep your luggage off the floor until the room has been examined. There are a couple things you are going to need: a flashlight and good eyesight. Most people don't carry around a flashlight but most of us do have cell phones. Turn on your flashlight app and head to the bed. Pull back the linens to expose the mattress. Check all four corners of the mattress (they love to hide there). While using your flashlight pull back the seams and check the crevices. You are looking for a small reddish-brown oval shaped bug. If bedbugs are present, you may also find dark blood spots or little black dots. These little black dots are bedbug fecal matter from the bedbugs digesting blood from the previous guest (gross!). Also, check all soft surfaces that includes any upholstered furniture as well as the curtains. If you didn't spot any bedbugs and/or their fecal matter, kickback and

enjoy your stay, but if you spot these pests, grab your luggage and hightail it out of there! These hitchhikers can follow you back home in your luggage and on your clothing.