Hostel-Goers: Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  02.02.09 | 9:41 AM ET

A recent hostel-dwellers-have-scabies crack by one of my esteemed colleagues here at World Hum reminded me of that perennial fear for the regular hostel-dweller: bedbugs. Though in all my hosteling I’ve never been bitten myself, I do have friends who’ve had run-ins with the critters—and the aftermath was time-consuming, pricey and unpleasant.

Got bedbugs in your bunk? The Backpackers Guide to Bed Bugs offers some quick tips for hostel-bedbug triage; meanwhile, the Bedbug Blog (yes, there really is such a thing) offers everything you could ever want to know about an infestation, at home or abroad. And finally, this last link might set your hostel-going mind at ease: About.com lays to rest the myth that hostels are bedbug havens—turns out, you’re just as likely to come across them in hotels, too. (Feel better now?)

Tags: Budget Travel, Cheap Travel, Hostels, Travel Tips, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is the senior editor of World Hum. Her writing has also appeared in Reader's Digest Canada, NationalGeographic.com, the National Post, the Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Citizen and WestJet's Up! Magazine, among other publications. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


1 Comment for Hostel-Goers: Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite

bedbugger 02.03.09 | 3:52 AM ET

Your reader may also find the following Bedbugger FAQS helpful—they’re about avoiding bed bugs when you travel:

http://bedbugger.com/faqs/travel

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