I can only post so many times about bed bugs before I can be classified as bugaphobic. But thanks to Yahoo I'm all freaked out over germs on an airplane. As it is I travel with clorox wipes for the remote control and phone in my hotel rooms. Now I think all extra bottles will be filled with anti-bacterial spray and gels.
So now I have a handy to do and don't list that will keep me from looking like an Asian tourist during the SARS heydey. If I could figure a way to travel with an breathing mask comfortably and fashionably I'd do it.
1. Avoid pillows and blankets from the airlines Yeah, been doing this for years. My phobias are not new.
2. Avoid seat-back pockets. This I hadn't thought of before. I tend to put crap there and leave it but every once in a while will store something there. NEVER AGAIN.
3. Use the air vest to block your face. Hah. Take that nasty germs. I'm all defensive on your ass!
4. Avoid sick travellers. The trick for me here is how to do it without a major event. Umm excuse me flight attendant I need a seat away from Typhoid Mary plase!
5. Hydrate. Although I only drink bottled water on planes and in foreign countries because bottled water offends the one tree-hugging gene I have in my body but the thought of the water siting whoever knows how long in those plane tanks offends me more. Also why I never drink plane coffee.
First off, memo to self: Pack chlorox wipes.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I don't think you are nearly as bugaphobic as I am. Since I live in the bed bug capital of the US (Cincinnati / No. KY) I hear about them all the time. I know for a fact that they are in the inner city clinic where I work and I infer that they are at my kids' school. (If you were a bed bug you'd probably want to hang out in an elementary school.) So when we come home after being in one of those aforementioned locations we take all our clothes off in the garage and seal them in an airtight rubbermaid prior to stepping in the door. I dry everything in that tub on high heat prior to washing because heat kills the bugs and the eggs. Last year when we went to the theatre to see the movie Tangled, I took a squirt bottle of the strongest rubbing alcohol I could find and squirted down the seats before the movie. Afterwards, I squirted everyone down before getting into the van. All this was happening while hubby was averting his eyes and pretending he doesn't now me. It's gotten to the point where if my 4 year old accidentally touches the floor of a "safe" place, she pops up and says, "Don't worry Mommy! I will put these clothes in the bug box!" I may be warping my kids, but I am doing everything I can to keep from having a bedbug in my house. Did you know that they can live for 18 mos without a meal?
Following our trip I think we have a few options:
1. Burn all luggage and contents
2. Squirt everything down heavily with alcohol and dry on high heat.
3. Put it out on the curb like people who are infested with the varmin do around here.
4. Invite any creatures we may (or probably won't) bring back with us to come on in and make themselves at home.
I pick #2.
I will be with you though on the drinking water and avoiding sick travelers and who in the world would ever want to sink their hand into a travel pocket? Ick!