Seriously. I still have scars where I scratched my legs so hard. But, if you find yourself in a situation where you’ve been bit and you’re travelling, here’s what my mom and I did to rid my clothes of them.
Steam clothes with super-hot steam, followed by washing them in hot water. I wish I could have put them in the dryer on high, but dryers aren’t a thing in Europe. This was our first attempt to get rid of these horrible little sh*ts that came along for the flight with me from Croatia to Vienna (then onward to Salzburg). My mom and I were in Vienna for 4 days, and the itching never went away. As we got to Salzburg, I was wearing shorts and I noticed I had fresh bites. I was so sad and just awfully uncomfortable.
We took to Google to try and find natural remedies and other ways to get rid of these suckers. Interestingly enough, we found that lavender is a natural repellant for bed bugs and alcohol kills them. We had to stop into a convenience store (the local version of Walgreens, minus the pharmacy part) for a couple of things anyway. We picked up some alcohol spray (because it said flammable so surely it must kill tiny bugs) and lavender oil and lavender dryer sheets. Oh, I can’t forget the Australian tea tree oil either because in mom’s words “it’s the earth’s magic remedy for everything”.
We sprayed everything with the alcohol spray first, then poured some tea tree oil and lavender oil into the spray bottle and sprayed everything again. My mom’s clothes included. We also split the lavender dryer sheets. We put them beneath, in the middle of the stacks of clothes, on top, and in every pocket of our packs. Let me tell you, I was not smelling overly delightful walking down the streets.
Well. Believe it or not, it worked! And my mom was never bit. We were both so relieved. The best part was that we didn’t have to spends lots of Euros or time for Dry Cleaning my entire wardrobe or backpack. While we had great laughs washing and steaming my things late at night at the Vienna Air B&B, I’m so glad we got rid of them fairly quickly.
If I could offer words of advice, opt for natural approaches if you can. It can save you time and money not to mention your body from unnecessary chemicals (from Dry Cleaning). Also, don’t be embarrassed if they find you. If you’re travelling for an extensive period of time and are around many other travelers, its more or less inevitable. The week I spent riding in Croatia was definitely worth it, but next time I travel, I will be looking the beds over thoroughly.
Xoxo,
A Travelling Cowgirl