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I have heard stories about the things that are done to cut corners at a hotel, its enough to make my skin crawl, I have issues anyway.
I had thought about getting an Aerobed to bring along and sleep on my own mattress with my own sheets. I don't use the glasses anyway because I drink only bottled water or juice.
Every place I stay at, has glasses, cups, plastic that are in sealed plastic. Should I be watching out for them? Or are they disposed of?
Well the hotels I've visted have glasses which are wrapped in some sort of plastic and/or have those paper things over the lids. IMO, from now on, I'll be sure to bring my own coffee cups and bottled water and coke in the can I already bring the Lysol for the bed and rarely will I actually sleep on their sheets. I bring my own pillow if I've driven and if I've flown I usually put a towel over the pillow. This is one reason that I hate traveling but honestly, I never gave second thought about drinking glasses, but have always been leary of the linens.
I guess everyone knows about hotel television remotes?
http://www.everettpotter.com/blog/2007/06/dispatches_germ.html (broken link)
I, too, travel with my own pillow and blanket and tell the desk clerk to not bother changing the sheets until we leave (it's the green thing to do and I never stay at a hotel for more than 3 days anyway), but I never thought about the other germies in hotels until I read that article
Now I pack a mini-hazmat kit wherever I go. After retirement, we had hoped to have a small RV for travel, but high gas prices scuppered that. Now, we still hope to buy a small pop-up trailer; anything to avoid staying in hotel rooms
That one where she cleaned the toilet with gloves on and then the glasses made me want to upchuck.
I am not a germ freak, I sleep in the bed, but don't sit on the bedspreads. I also carry a travel pack of disinfecting wipes for the door knobs, phone and remote. And I use alcohol to clean my glasses each morning, so just spray that in the sink and on the faucets. But I do (did) use the glasses. If they have those factory-wrapped plastic ones, I stick the left overs in my suitcase. Now I will bring some of them along, just in case.
There is absolutely no way we can be assured of not coming in contact with germs (or worse! ) while staying in a hotel room....unless, the place is brand new, you are the first guest, the person who placed the bedding on the bed, etc., wore 'clean-room' attire...and the air in the room was completely free of germs. Ain't gonna happen!
As a guest, you have no guarantee the bedspread was recently washed and germ-free, or the pillows and blankets. And how germ free are the sheets? What about the carpet? Do you ensure you always wear shoes or slippers to avoid contact with the carpet....and more importantly, the floor in the bathroom?
Do you use sanitary wipes to clean the phone, door handles, light switches, lamps, tv remote (as someone already mentioned), all surfaces (including water faucets/shower faucets, etc.)...do you wear protective footing in the shower? Do you avoid sitting in the tub? Do you carefully wipe down the toilet seat? Do you spray the room with disinfectant to hopefully kill all germs in the air?
It's nearly impossible to de-germ a room..all you can do is be as careful as possible.
Oops, don't forget about clothes hangers, drawer handles; and if provided, the iron, ironing board, hair blower, coffee maker, phone books, curtain pulls. Anything you touch in a room has already been touched by someone else.
Makes us want to never stay in a hotel room!
Do you remember the bit on tv a while back about the bedbugs - and that even some of the most expensive hotels had them too? UGH!!!
I guess we could live in a plastic bubble, but doesn't sound like much fun to me. This is a serious subject, and we all need to be as careful as possible. Even when we are just out and about we're in constant contact and being exposed to germs. Hopefully we take good care of ourselves, keep our resistance up, and have good immune systems!
Life is too short. I can't worry about all these things.
Greenie (writing from her hotel room)
Absolutely! My point exactly! Enjoy your stay!
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I already bring the Lysol for the bed and rarely will I actually sleep on their sheets. I bring my own pillow if I've driven and if I've flown I usually put a towel over the pillow. This is one reason that I hate traveling but honestly, I never gave second thought about drinking glasses, but have always been leary of the linens.
