Back to the lovely disgusting elements of this thread, my worst experience was with a ROUS (rodent of unusual size) in my hotel room in Hue, Vietnam. I thought I glimpsed something in my huge, ornately furnished room (that beautiful mother of pearl inlay furniture...) but I figured I was being paranoid as rats had been my one phobia about visiting Vietnam and I hadn't seen any in the week or so before this.

Anyway, I went out to a local concert on a boat on the Perfume River, and when I came back the bag of trail mix that I had left (in double zip-loc) was chewed through; as I was leaving at four in the morning and all the doors in the hotel were the same (as in, large gaps under) I just stayed and slept with the lights on. Nothing like going to sleep to the sound of rodent toenails going across a wooden floor! I may be extrapolating here, but when I mentioned something at the desk in the morning, the only response was a facial expression along the lines of "You mean you actually have a problem with one little rat?"

Once in a hotel in NYC, a rather old building (by U.S. standards ;) ) with early 20th century-style elevators and all (which were great in their own), upon entering the room and checking out the bathroom we found two large cockroaches next to the toilet. There was some kind of hole nearby that was obviously supposed to be covered by a metal plate, so we figured they came out from there.

Called the reception and had a maid kill them with bug spray.

I was 10 at the time and absolutely disgusted (cockroaches, together with spiders, are the invertebrates I hate the most), so needless to say I was pretty reluctant to use that bathroom for the rest of our stay!!

My brother also had the dubious pleasure of finding a very large house spider behind our *open* suitcase in the bathroom of a B&B in the English Cotswolds. In this case we solved the problem ourselves, i.e. we barbecued the little bugger :-)

Federico

When we pulled a shower curtain back in Ft Lauderdale, there was an adorable greenish-brown gekko sitting on the edge of the tub, about 6 inches long...they are cute on palm trees, but not in the bathroom!

Oh, that rat story gives me the chills! I can't take a rat.

In Tahiti in one of those bungalows over the water and in the middle of the night I woke up, sat up and came face to face with a ROUS (rat)! We stared at each other and I involuntarily let out a scream which scared him as much as my family. We all ran around like the Keystone Kops throwing shoes at him to get him to leave. We threw on all the lights opened the doors and made such a hullabaloo that we must have awoken (waked?) up the whole complex.

He didn't leave but huddled in the corner of the woven ceiling on a rafter for the longest time staring at us (he was so bold!) and then went out a hole.

The next morning we changed rooms.

The title of this thread struck a chord with me. A few years ago we spent a night in an old-fashioned pub in Victor Harbor, South Australia. The walls were thin, and our neighbours' TV was loud, so we stuffed a towel under the locked connecting door to reduce the noise. Next morning we discovered, somewhat to our disquiet, that although the door was still locked the towel was now positioned at a neat 45-degree angle away from it. (The helpful hotel receptionist denied that the event could have happened. So there.)

These posts remind me of the movie "Four Rooms." Yecchhh.

Years ago, when a teen, I went on a trip to Palm Springs with my mom and sis, with a side drive to Arizona. I did all the driving, so as a reward (!) I got to have one of the beds in the room all to myself (instead of sharing with sis) and also got to have a can of pop from the vending machine (normally not allowed for us). The sugar got to me after I'd finished half a glass of Coke, so I left the remainder on the night table. When I woke in the morning it was still dark in the room and I was thirsty, so I reached for the glass of pop. At the last minute decided against drinking warm flat pop first thing in the morning. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom and a minute later I heard a big shriek - Mom had picked up the glass of pop to move it, and inside was a HUGE cockroach, drowned. I am stilled grossed out at the thought that I almost drank it!

Funnily though, we had another girls' trip last fall to California, and once again had a visit from a cockroach - this time Mom spied it strolling across the carpet after we'd all got into bed. I had to catch it in a glass (again) and throw it outside.

And when we were in Sydney Aus. there were cockroaches everywhere in our hotel. A friend began to look on the one in his room as a pet and even named it.

Oh Taggie can I ever relate to cockroach stories. We were on a road trip on our honeymoon, no less. Stopped at a hotel. Cockroaches, loads of them, behind that hotel room door. I said to my husband, ask them for another room. Second room had cockroaches. I said to my husband, show me another hotel! He did.

And do you know what he said to me afterwards, not the least bit sheepishly? "Now I know why men get married. All you need to say to someone is "my wife wants..." and they can't get rid of you fast enough."

Luckily the hotels have improved over the last 20 years. I can't say that my husband has retired that line, though.

I had no idea there were so darn many insects and rodents laying in wait for us!

Are rat traps allowed in checked baggage?

Hi dln, you just confirmed my theory - men have no shame. :)
My husband would just send me off to complain myself - or worse, tell me not to make a fuss.

We don't have cockroaches where I live so I find them quite horrifying. But then again I have yet to encounter a rat in a confined space.

Memories of our trip across country in '65: my parents and 5 kids, 12 and under. We stopped in a motel in Texas when Dad could no longer drive. My mom took one room with 3 daughters and my dad got the two boys.

What a night! In the middle of the night, something bit me in the arse. I woke up, screaming. My mom threw back the covers on the bed and swept this huge something into the sink across the room. (We later decided it was a scorpion, but who really knew?) So, back to bed.

A couple of hours later, but still too early in the morning, a knock on the door. Here was the motel manager, with my brother in tow. He had apparently sleepwalked right out of the room and was found wandering around the parking lot in the very wee hours.

(My butt buzzed/tingled the whole next day!)

Degas????

I was just a kid, so what is your excuse, degas?

I've never found anything dreadful in a hotel room, but I'll never forget one night in a hotel with my then husband, when the sound of a key in the lock of our room door awakened us. My paranoid (now ex) husband grabbed his gun and had it leveled at a very surprised state trooper in the doorway when he turned on the light, with his hat and his gun on top of the clipboard he was holding. He begged pardon profusely and quickly backed out and shut the door.

I can imagine he had a word or two with the desk clerk who gave him the key to our room.

MaryFran - your ex carried a GUN???!!! And had it ready to grab like that???!!That is scarier than any story about rats or cockroaches or dead bodies.

Was Mr Mary Fran perhaps a Policeman?

From reading these boards lately, there are some icky things lurking on here too :O

Oh I hope the ex was a police officer or something similar...
The idea that my neighbour in a hotel room could have a gun ready to go like that is scary to me. Sorry, but I'm Canadian. Don't like guns.

fluffykitty: entirely too much information.

No, ex-husband was not a policeman. He was a pipsqueak scaredy cat who felt he needed to pack a rod to even up the odds.

Mary_Fran - :).
Good riddance, then, eh?