Recently, a friend of mine had her apartment invaded by bed bugs. She’s not alone…all over the world the pesky insects are making a comeback. They hide just about anywhere and emerge at night to feast on your blood while you sleep. Since the decline of harsh chemical pesticides, bed bugs have been on the rise and once you get them, they can cost you thousands of dollars and extreme emotional distress.

Why do I mention this on my travel blog? Bed bugs very often find their way into your home by attaching themselves or their eggs to travelers or their belongings. Many people catch them at hotels but they’ve also turned up on cruise ships and in airplanes and can sometimes be found hiding in secondhand furniture. It doesn’t matter who you are or how clean you are…bed bugs have been found in five star hotels.

So what to do? It’s hard for a frequent traveler not to be completely paranoid but there are some things you can do to help protect yourself:

-Check out your room. Look up all hotels on Tripadvisor before booking. If there is a mention of bugs, steer clear. Always inspect your mattress as bed bugs are visible. If you see anything CHANGE ROOMS immediately.

-Buy hard luggage. Bedbugs love to hide in fabric and crevices and they are small enough to squeeze into a zipper track. Keep your suitcase closed when not removing things and never rest it on top of a bed.

-Use airtight Zip-lock or space bag plastic bags. When you pack, put everything into bags inside your suitcase. Bugs can’t penetrate the plastic. Bring extras and put your dirty clothes in separate bags. When you return from a trip, don’t remove dirty clothes from the bags until you are putting them into the wash.

-Use bug spray. Before you go away, spray your shoes and suitcase. You can find effective pesticide at a hardware store. When you return home, vacuum both and spray them again.

-If attacked, leave everything!! If you end up encountering bed bugs…let’s say you wake up at a hotel one morning covering in bites….do not bring anything with you back into your home unless you must and only then after treating it with spray or extreme heat or cold. I would probably throw out my bag if this happened to me. I might sound crazy, but after seeing someone with the bites and hearing the horrors, I’m not taking chances!

-If you catch them, call a professional immediately. Enough said there….don’t try to beat them on your own.

Don’t freak out, but do the best you can to avoid these little monsters. Everyone who’s encountered them will tell you that the extra prevention is worth it. I spared us all a little trauma by posting a picture of a cute bug doll and not the real thing, but please don’t take this issue lightly.

For more information on bed bugs and to learn about avoiding and eradicating them, visit the web authority, Bedbugger.com.

Visiting a spa in a foreign country for a massage or manicure is a great way to relax, but is it safe?

According to dermatologist Patricia Wexler, the answer is sometimes.

Noninvasive treatments like massages or body scrubs are just fine as long as you can communicate any allergies and/or injuries. You should, however, avoid anything involving instruments which open the skin. Extractions for facials and razor blades for pedicures are off limits because there is no way to know if they have been disinfected. Wexler also recommends avoiding communal bathing areas which may harbor bacteria and fungi.

Source: Allure

You may remember this post I wrote regarding travel health concerns. In it, I mentioned Passport Health, a series of clinics all over the U.S. which will prepare you with important safety information as well as immunizations and prescriptions for the destinations you plan to visit. Over the weekend, Will and I paid Passport Health a visit for an upcoming trip. Here’s how it went down:

Hours are by appointment so we were able to set up a convenient Saturday slot. Companions or groups, can schedule a joint visit so we went in together. After the first patient, additional travellers get a discounted fee.

When we arrived, a registered nurse presented us with a booklet, labelled with our names, all about the country we intend to visit. She went through the book highlighting all health concerns and detailing what safety precautions were recommended. She listed out all the shots necessary for the trip and explained the diseases they were for.

Appointments should be made at least 5 weeks before an impending trip but Will and I made ours 6 months ahead so we could split up the shots we needed and have plenty of time to prepare. After administering our chosen vaccinations, the nurse scheduled a follow up appointment with us for the second round. On our next visit, about a month before the trip, we will finish our shots and pick up prescriptions. We will be given required documentation of our immunizations to present when entering our destination country. We’ll likely pick up a couple of small kits, sold at the clinic, which contain recommended insect repellents and non-prescription medications.

We had to pay upfront for our visit, but were given the appropriate forms to submit to our medical insurance company. The office will keep track of all our immunizations as well as send copies to our primary care doctors.

Overall, it was a very positive experience and I recommend Passport Health to anyone planning a trip. I know I will be back many times to prepare for travels ahead!

Passport Health

We love bringing our dogs on vacation with us and they love to swim….usually. The Petfloat life jacket by Crewsaver will allow them to join you in the pool, on the beach or on a boat by comfortably ensuring their safety. It comes in four sizes and even features a lifting handle so you can help your best friend get a leg up when it’s time to get out of the water. It will also fit cats if you feel brave enough to attempt getting a cat wet!

Crewsaver Petfloat

Source: ForbesLife

This past week, a man with a rare and often fatal form of tuberculosis decided to travel on two international flights. Now, several governments are clamoring to find the passengers who were on his flight in order to test them. Instances such as this may be rare, but this particular strain of TB is much more common in other countries than in the U.S. and thinking about this brings up the issue of protecting your health when you travel.

Whenever we plan a trip to a foreign country, it is so important that we research what illnesses and diseases may be prevalent there and the best way to avoid them. Vaccinations may be required or recommended. Special care may be needed when it comes to eating and drinking the water.

A visit to the traveler’s website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a good start. Here you can look up a country or region and determine what you may need to do to prepare for your trip. Another great idea is to make an appointment at a Passport Health clinic. These medical centers are currently located in 31 states, plus Puerto Rico and they specialize in dealing with travelers’ health needs. They can administer vaccinations, write prescriptions and generally prepare you for health concerns regarding the region you plan to visit.

We can’t foresee every medical problem that might arise while we are travelling, but we can be educated on the best ways to protect ourselves. A little prevention often goes a long way.

Traveler’s Health by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Passport Health

If you’ve thought about taking a wine country trip there’s something you should know. Hopping to wine tastings is a lot of fun but vineyards are big and usually spread out so you often have to drive between them. This is problematic if everyone in the party is drinking. By your second tasting you will likely be past your legal limit. You could decide on a designated driver, but if everyone wants to drink, why not hire a car? I saw many people doing this in California wine country and it looked like a great idea. In Napa, Napa Winery Shuttle will not only take you to 7 wineries in one day, but they will also carry all your purchases and delivery them to your hotel that evening! Most wine regions have tour companies that offer private or joined excursions and prices can be very reasonable, especially with a large group. For more information on a specific wine area and the tours available, contact their local tourist office. To learn more about the Napa Winery Shuttle, visit their official site:

Napa Winery Shuttle

Source: Girlfriend Getaways

Many of us women fiercely defend our independence and insist we can do anything a man can do. For the most part, that is true but when it comes to travelling, there are some places that just aren’t safe for a girl to visit alone. Of course, that doesn’t mean you need to travel with a man! Friends make great travel partners and supply the comfort of safety in numbers. For the girl with friends who would rather stay home, there are many women’s travel resources out there.

American Airlines just launched the airline industry’s first website for women. At journeywomen.com you can find over 100 articles offering advice on female travel. If you are looking for a women’s tour group or partner to travel with, the Women’s Travel Club has tours to over 40 destinations with 50% of the participants booking as singles. It has an annual fee of $35. At Adventure Women, which has no fee, you will find a great list of “women only” national and international tours and even Humanitours, adventures that focus on giving back to the people and culture you are visiting. The bottom line is, if you love to travel, don’t let anything get in your way and if you don’t want to go it alone, you don’t have to!

You can check out the sites I mentioned here:

American Airlines for Women
journeywoman.com
Women’s Travel Club
Adventure Women

Source: Girlfriend Getaways

Let’s face it, there are many countries where you just can’t be sure the water is safe to drink, no matter what the locals might tell you. An excellent way to make sure you are in the clear? Drink carbonated or sparkling water. Carbonation kills bacteria, viruses and protozoa within 8-24 hours. You can even use it when brushing your teeth. Just make sure you skip the ice!!

Source: National Geographic Traveler

Here are some key questions to ask yourself to help decide whether or not to buy travel insurance when planning a trip:

1. Where are you going?
If you currently have health insurance, some policies will cover you for emergency care when you are travelling. You should check with your provider. What they won’t cover you for is medical evacuation. If you are in a developed country and need emergency surgery, you are probably fine as long as your US policy covers you. If you are in a third world country, you may not want to be operated on in their hospital and might need to be flown to better facilities right away by medical personnel. I don’t have to tell you that this is expensive. Bottom line, check your coverage and decide how you feel about the health care available where you are going. If you wouldn’t want to go to a local hospital, buy a Medical Evacuation Policy from Travel Guard or Medjet Assist so you can decide where you will be flown should an emergency arise. These are the only two companies that let YOU decide where you are taken.

2. How much does your trip cost?
If you buy a $200 plane ticket, don’t waste your money on insuring it. If you book a once in a lifetime cruise to the Galapagos for $8,000, spring for Cancellation and Interruption Insurance. That way if you break your leg a week before the trip or the tour company goes out of business, you won’t lose your hard earned vacation fund.

3. What are you carrying?
If you are checking a bag, it’s best not to pack anything fragile, expensive or irreplaceable but sometimes it can’t be avoided. If you must check on something valuable, spend an extra few bucks on Excess Valuation insurance with your airline which will cost you $1 per $100 of value.

Peter Greenberg, the Today Show travel editor has written a great article on this topic that I have taken some basic points from here but if you want more extensive information, you should read it in its entirety here:

Today Show Travel Editor

Also, you can see what policies cost at the two travel insurance companies mentioned above by visiting their websites here:

Travel Guard

MedijetAssist