WTF? Seriously though, through my recent experience I've learned that bed bugs are a growing epidemic in the developing and developed world. They were almost eradicated back in the days by DDT to the point that the old saying "Don't let the bed bugs bite" became a childhood "WTF are you old people talking about?". Well, they're back and spreading like a plague throughout the world. If you haven't had a run in with them yet you soon will. You heard it here first.

So what happens is that you stay somewhere different, a new plates apartment, a friends apartment after the club, a 2 or 4 star hotel (doesn't matter) and you have this terrible experience and you struggle to figure out what the hell is happening to you. If you are fortunate then you'll have a very severe reaction to them and you'll know for sure that you're being bitten by something and so this will prompt you to figure out what the fuck it is. If you are unlucky (like me) you'll have a less severe reaction that will leave you wondering wtf it is ranging from allergies to detergent, a developing skin disease, etc. Truly maddening.

Now the huge problem here is that those little bastards can and will hop into your bags and try to make it to your pad to infest a new environment and they've been doing this for thousands of years. So what you need to do is to make your bags undesirable for them so that they simply won't crawl into them. My research has pointed me towards lavender being a really good solution for this. They can technically die from lavender but in reality its nearly impossible to hit them with a high enough dose. They will avoid it though and it smells good and it is the cheapest and most practical natural substance that you can use. So from now on every single bag that I own will have a pouch of strong lavender in it. It won't kill them but they really don't like it.

You really should read about these guys and to just be aware so that if/when you do get hit by them that you react fast and decisively and hopefully before your living space is infested. If you bring these little bastards into your house (which fortunately hasn't happened to me) then you will really regret it and they are apparently enormously challenging to get arid of and it can cost thousands of dollars or weeks and months of continued efforts that would make lice and scabies look like a picnic. The best and only real option here is prevention and if you get them then immediate and deliberate action.