kellyz
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances Astorga to Santiago, 2010
Camino Frances SJPP to Muxia, 2011
Camino del Salvador, 2012
Camino Primitivo 2012
Camino Portuguese, Coastal, 2013
Hi,
I once woke up in a very clean private pension to see the little nymph-staged bedbugs crawling around on my bed with my blood visible in their clearish bodies (and I smashed a few to be sure). I never reacted to the bites. If I had been in an albergue, I would never have known I'd been exposed because I would not have turned on the light when I got up to go to the bathroom.
Like many people, I kept my things inside my pack in various plastic bags. In order to prevent spreading possible hitchhikers, for the rest of the Camino I used one of the large garbage bags to store my bag in while I was in an albergue, and I kept that bag inside its own ziplock bag, along with my liner and sleeping clothes inside my bag during the day.
Since then, I walk with a large, sturdy garbage bag and ziplock bags for this purpose--always covering my pack with the garbage back in the albergue, and then covering the garbage back in the ziplock during the day. I just make the dual assumption that every albergue/pension/etc. has bedbugs and that they do not have bedbugs and really, really do not want them. This is not foolproof, certainly, and it requires that I carry the slightly added weight of clothes just for sleeping. Also, I don't walk with a sleeping bag.
Finally, if you use plastic extensively, I highly recommend quietly taking your bag to the bathroom or hallway before digging into--that is, if others are sleeping--to avoid waking others with the rustling.
I am not opposed to using spray, as well. Does it work to keep them from tagging along? In any case, why not do both?
Kelly
I once woke up in a very clean private pension to see the little nymph-staged bedbugs crawling around on my bed with my blood visible in their clearish bodies (and I smashed a few to be sure). I never reacted to the bites. If I had been in an albergue, I would never have known I'd been exposed because I would not have turned on the light when I got up to go to the bathroom.
Like many people, I kept my things inside my pack in various plastic bags. In order to prevent spreading possible hitchhikers, for the rest of the Camino I used one of the large garbage bags to store my bag in while I was in an albergue, and I kept that bag inside its own ziplock bag, along with my liner and sleeping clothes inside my bag during the day.
Since then, I walk with a large, sturdy garbage bag and ziplock bags for this purpose--always covering my pack with the garbage back in the albergue, and then covering the garbage back in the ziplock during the day. I just make the dual assumption that every albergue/pension/etc. has bedbugs and that they do not have bedbugs and really, really do not want them. This is not foolproof, certainly, and it requires that I carry the slightly added weight of clothes just for sleeping. Also, I don't walk with a sleeping bag.
Finally, if you use plastic extensively, I highly recommend quietly taking your bag to the bathroom or hallway before digging into--that is, if others are sleeping--to avoid waking others with the rustling.
I am not opposed to using spray, as well. Does it work to keep them from tagging along? In any case, why not do both?
Kelly