Eliminating bed bugs from the equation

Whew! We dodged a big snow storm here. Sorry, New England.....can't feel too sorry for you. After all, we have had our share of blizzards and ice storms. It's time to share the slick roads and shoveling duties with my friends in the north.

Today, I am taking BP Grandmom to a Flyers hockey game. We have tickets for the season and I nominated her to join me. Yep, five rows from the ice, I'll get Grandmom one of the big foam fingers and paint her face orange and black. Now, there is a fan. Actually, she told me that she does not like hockey. I really don't either, but the tickets are sitting here and since dad and Tink are working, I wanted to treat Grandmom to a new experience.

OK, so how is the big kid? Well, he seems to be fine yet salty. In other words...status quo. As the season approaches, I have been making travel arrangements. The oddest part of the preparations is that I cannot find a hotel near the games in Virginia. They are all booked in this area OR have had such bad internet reviews that I refuse to book there and would rather sleep in Tink's car.

What kind of reviews? How about this one:

"The beds were loaded with bedbugs!"

"The cable service was fuzzy and did not match the channels listed in the room. Wifi signal was strong but bandwidth was only workable."

"It was dirty, noisy and not taken care of."

 

"The motel was dirty from the carpets to the bathtub. We had to hand clean everything before we used it and if it had not been the only motel where we could find a room. We would have left immediately."

" Facilities old and worn. No Internet. Had to pay for Ice. Not as clean as I'd like. Overpriced."

 "Bathroom very run down, calk missing, door unpainted, hair on the sheets."

" It was a dump, run down, the smoke smell was terrible."

"Smelly, broken furniture and appliances."

 

"Room was smelly, furniture was in poor condition, appliances either didn't work (fridge) or marginally worked (AC). When I asked to change rooms, was told that because I had reserved online this wasn't possible (seems like cop-out to me)."

Here is my favorite and yes, my skin is crawling......

"Bedbugs in room 312. I was bitten over 100 times all over my body. The manager did not show up to talk with me when I checked out. No effort was made at compensation. I left luggage and contents in the room as not to bring home any bedbugs. They did move me to a new room after the first night but the damage was done. Do not stay at this hotel."
 

Ahhhh!  Yes, I will do anything for my little guy, but staying in a dirty, bug infested hotel even if it has a mini bar is over the top. It would truly test my love. And I have to admit, I may fail. A few years ago, he had to sleep on the floor of a hotel in this city and he came home with a rash all over his body. it was so bad that I had to take him to the ER for treatment. The nurse walked out to the waiting room and shouted: "Where is the kid with the rash?" Where was HIPAA on this one?

OK, back to traveling.....and so, I may stay out of the city and find a nice quiet inn on the outskirts of town and travel back and forth to the games. I just don't want to feel gross-out for the entire weekend. Many know that I am a bit of a germ-phobe and clean the hotel rooms when I get there with my Clorox and place the TV remote in a plastic bag so that I don't have to touch it. That's right...I care about my health.....

And so, I am leaving it to dad. Perhaps he can find a hotel within 25 miles that does not have bed bugs, filth or a rating of less than 2 stars. I would rather have cleanliness and comfort rather than convenience....

and the beat goes on.....
 
let's go Flyers!