Bedbug Issue in Paris
 

Just saw this on CNN… not only in hotels.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/30/e...hnk/index.html

Sorry, Albania was accidentally checked as a country of interest. Must have been my fat thumb!

Bedbugs can put your trip in the ditch with an itch in no time. I once caught a bout in a NYC hotel..

It's funny how this is happening in just about every city in the world, but just because there is a report in Paris, it makes headline news.

Yes, even a department store in my local mall in North Carolina reported bed bugs in it!

If a traveler who has acquired bedbugs on their luggage checks into a clean room for a few nights and then you check into that room, there will be bedbugs. It's one of the "perils" of travel. Always has been, always will be.

I only encountered the little beasties once. One summer in college I was living in a room at a fraternity house with what was the usual low level of maintenance. I discovered bedbugs in my bedding. I used my arcane knowledge of biology, which included the factoid that bedbugs are repelled by or eaten by cockroaches, which even eat the bedbug eggs. So I went to the kitchen, collected a sample of the abundant roaches, and let them loose in my room. In a few days there were no more bedbugs. Then I used another piece of arcane knowledge: Roaches will eat boric acid powder mixed with sugar, and than die. I put the mixture in suitable locations. Soon there were neither bedbugs nor roaches in my room.

Modern times have led to having no roaches in hotels, so there bedbugs are not stopped. Luckily, neither bedbugs nor roaches carry human diseases, but they are not fun.

AJPeabody, love your solutions and common sense approach. Obviously, nobody wants to get them, but if they were as easy to get and as hard to get rid of as people think, with all of the places people congregate, schools, college dorms, kids’ summer camps, subways, busses, etc., we would all have them all of the time.

Bed bugs in France?
 

Seeing several stories about bed bug infestation in France.

https://apple.news/AR9RqSPKhTIKgt5XCswCmdQ

Beware out there.

Their population is exploding worldwide, so they're probably coming to a place near you. I read that one reason for the population explosion is the declining population of roaches.

Fascinating discussion on the relationship between roaches and bedbugs! And I, too, am impressed by the very practical approach you took, AJPeabody!

Two threads have been merged and the Albania tag removed

Ha ha, I bet there are plenty of bedbugs in Albania. :)

There is truth in what you post above, kerouac. However, would you happen to know just how pervasive the infestation is. Models returning from Paris Fashion Week posting on social media liken it to a locust invasion with taxis, restaurants, hotels and theatres being overrun with these creepy crawlies. Could this an exaggeration in your estimation? Do you happen to have any first hand knowledge to refute these claims? Appreciate your input.

I myself have never seen a bedbug in Paris, and I go to the theatre, cinema, restaurants every week and use public transportation several times every day. I do know that most of the bedbugs reported in public transportation were erroneous reports, because anybody who saw any sort of bug, mosquito or spider said it was a bedbug, but it was not corroborated by any investigation. The bedbugs are in your hotels, and you are the ones who have brought them to us.

Regardless of the origin, could be some bad publicity in the lead up to the Olympics.

Saw an article claiming hotel rates for those weeks were 3x normal rates.

https://apple.news/ApdpMCJnCR5-tHIp1KJ0kxA

I am going to France next week. It will be my first trip overseas since Covid. How many cockroaches should I pack? I assume they should go in my checked luggage.

Roaches are measured by volume, not by number. A half pint should do it, or more if you intend to use them to get restaurant discounts.

I am in Paris. It is 12:20 AM here and I should be in bed as we leave tomorrow and packing is not done. But I am laughing so hard I fear I will wake my partner. I say, beware of the rats.I have never seen so many!

Nikki for the win!