3 of Idaho's Favorite Holiday Destinations Are Crawling With Bed Bugs

Whether you’re traveling by plane, train or automobile, Idahoans are ready to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. AAA estimates that nearly 464,000 Idahoans will celebrate the holiday somewhere at least 50 minutes from their hometown. 

If you’re one of the Idahoans traveling by car, AAA says that if you want to avoid heavy traffic the best time to hit the road is in the early morning November 26-December 2. They also expect Thanksgiving Day itself to have low traffic volume all day. The heaviest traffic is anticipated on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons when the regular afternoon commute blends together with holiday travel. 

READ MORE: Idaho TSA Says No To These Banned Thanksgiving Items 

So where are Idahoans headed for the Thanksgiving holiday this year? This time around Anaheim, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Honolulu, Phoenix, San Diego, Bend, Ft. Lauderdale and Jackson are the Top 10 domestic destinations for Idahoans.  Some of these cities are destinations that will keep the family busy. Others are relaxation destinations. Each of them offers something cool in their own right, but unfortunately there are several that have the dishonor of being on the list of the most “Bed Bug Infested Cities in America.” 

How Dangerous are Bed Bugs?

These little blood suckers aren’t known to spread diseases like West Nile Virus or Dengue like mosquitoes do. They’re more annoying than anything else. The CDC explains that if you become a bed bug buffet overnight, you may not realize it when you wake up. Before enjoying your blood, bed bugs inject you with an anesthetic and an anticoagulant so it’s highly unlikely that the bite would wake you up or leave behind evidence that you were bleeding. A few days later, those bites may swell or become itchy like other bug bites. Bed bugs have also been linked to more serious, non-visible symptoms like insomnia and anxiety. 

Why Are Bed Bugs a Travel Concern?

Well, bed bugs are sneaky travelers themselves. Their bodies are skiing and flat, which means they can creep into everything from seams of your luggage, to folds of your clothes or inside a pillowcase on the pillow you brought from home. They can go quite a while without feeding, so they’ll just hang out and wait till you unpack your belongings at home. That’s when they’ll emerge, enjoy you as a meal again and start to spread in your bedding, furniture or other areas of your home. 

When you travel to areas known to have a high infestation, your risk of bringing them home rises. This list is important to check because bed bugs aren’t prejudiced. They’re just as likely to infest an upscale room at a luxury hotel as they are college dorm rooms and homeless shelters. 

How Can I Tell If My Room Is Infested with Bed Bugs?

They’re tiny, so detecting them with just your eyes can be difficult. They’re also known to hide in more areas than we listed above. Cracks, crevices, indentations in headboards or behind wallpaper are also popular hiding spots for bed bugs. The most tell-tale sign that a room has a bed bug issue is rusty colored blood spots on the mattress or furniture. (And if you’re not asking questions about blood stains in your hotel room or Airbnb, we’ve got questions for you.) You may also find their molted exoskeletons or smell a sweet, musty odor. 

3(ish) of Idaho’s Thanksgiving Destinations Rank Among America’s Most Bed Bug Infested Cities

Orkin releases an annual bed bug report which ranks cities based on the number of bed bug treatments they performed between December 1, 2022 and November 30, 2023. We cross referenced that with AAA’s list of most most popular Thanksgiving destinations for Idahoans and discovered that three-ish of the cities overlap. 

Seattle ranks as the #4 most popular Thanksgiving destination for Idahoans this year. It also ranks #44 for bed bugs. 

What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas…except for bed bugs. Vegas is the second most popular Thanksgiving destination for Idahoans and made the bed bug report for the first time. You’ll find Sin City at #35. 

And finally we say “three-ish” because while Anaheim, Idaho’s #1 destination Thanksgiving 2024 doesn’t appear on the list, but nearby Los Angeles does. They’re #5 for bed bugs! 

Planning a trip elsewhere? Here’s a look at Orkin’s full list to help you prepare to be on the lookout for signs of bed bug infestations when you arrive at your hotel or Airbnb.