Do you bring your own bedding?

[maigheann]

No, I won't be bringing any bedding. I will check for bedbugs first though. If none, I am okay just quaratining the bedspread.

 

[AutumnKlassic]

Yep I do! But not the usual reason. I looooove my flannel sheets. I use them all year long. I can't stand regular sheets. They make me uncomfortable, even my own! So I pack two king flat sheets and use them. Makes me sleep like a baby.

 

[CookingMama]

 

[terbethk]

No.

First, I have more important items to pack - items that the/any hotel doesn't provide.

Second, the linens ARE changed between Guests. Removing the spread (and blanket, if desired) and perhaps notifying housekeeping to keep them off is sufficient - so is requesting a freshly-washed blanket.

I'd be more concerned about the actual bedding, i.e. the mattress. And there's no WAY I can bring my own, so...

agreed.
I would never have even thought to bring my own sheets and stuff. And I would never waste room in my suitcase with extra linens/clorox wipes/etc...

 

[PaulaSB12]

No I use the sheets and the comforter on the beds. Walk around with bare feet inside the room and outside if going to the pool. In 2004 I went to Egypt and spent a couple of nights in the Sinai sleeping in the dessert in my sleeping bag on the sand out in the open it was wonderful (though I don't like these hole in the floor toilets they have)

 

[kaytieeldr]

Before we go overboard????most cashiers in stores already either attempt to maneuver your change in a way that they will not have to touch your hand and the rest of them wear gloves to avoid touching people

Huh? I must be shopping at different stores than you - but I'm going to start asking store or front end management when I shop.

 

[NMAmy]

Another tip is to have the first ADR at any buffet dining and bring our own fork from the table to put food on your plate.

Okay, I don't get skeeved out easily but if I saw other guests using their own forks to serve food onto their plates, that would do it. While I'm sure from reading your post that your fork is unused, CookingMama, if I saw someone using their own fork to serve from a buffet, my first thought would be that it was one they'd been eating with. Do you use a different fork for each dish on the buffet or clean it before putting it in the meat and then in the potatoes?

 

[MidgeHadley]

Heres our routine-
Check in. Nothing goes into our room till the beds are stripped down, mattress/headboard checked visual and with tapestrip. Unfed bedbugs are translucent. The tiny black ants are usually on the underside of the mattress. ebtwen that and the boxspring or they like under pillows. OPen the drawers, if you see powder ask for another room in another building. The powder means recent insecticide.
We bring our clorox wipes & lysol to do a through clean up. We bring our own patterned pillows and blankets, wear slippers in room to safe our socks. We do not use hotel comforters and blankets as they do not always get washed between guests. We put our dirty laundry during the trip into a trashbag NOT the dresser drawers. The dresser drawer is where you store the comforter. When we use an airbed, we use a sleeping bag and put the airbed on a clean shower curtain not on the carpet. Depending on how much room we have to pack, we sometimes bring an airpurifier too. Those are great for cruises or stuffy rooms. with FL humidity.
We always leave clean clothing in our suitcases and we dont leave those suitcases on the floor or the beds. We do not use their coffeepots or cups left in the room.
When we return home, we empty our stuff into the garage and everything goes directly into the washer machine off the garage. Suitcases do not enter the home, they get a no pest strip inside and then a sealed plastic bigbag.
If we are driving the next stop is our fancy shamcy car wash and we get that car ubbercleaned.
We are not paranoid. just very aware of the cost of fumigating our home & replacing all mattresses which is $$$$$ My husband travels globally with his work staying in a hotel room about 18-20 days a month. We also have a cousin that is a CM at DL and another family member my cousins daughter who is a CM at WDW. When I was a older teen I worked doing room service at a posh hotel. Our routine was developed by need because one of my children has had chronically poor health plus DH had some bad bad yucky hotel rooms and it works really well.
Another tip is to have the first ADR at any buffet dining and bring our own fork from the table to put food on your plate. When you have children in line that are young give them something to hold in their hands while waiting for the rides or shows like a kushball. When you go through a turnstile use your hip not your hands, my kids know to do the bump. Even from a young age they understood the need, we have passed around the pukes while on vacation before.
Once my daughter was hurt at DLhotel fell out of bed and cut her chin open (that was the same day we watched the fatal accident in Frontierland.) The hotel staff was very caring and attentive. If you do have an issue, be sure to bring it up right away. Especially an unclean room or stained mattresses. They will move you and if you wait to bring all your stuff in till youve done a good inspection, it isnt as big a deal or time wasted.

I hope I don't sound rude, I'm honestly just curious. Do you take precautions when going out to public places on regular days? Or is this just something you do in hotels?

 

[mandi5379]

Yes, we always bring our own sheets, but not for the reason most people. We actually fell in love with the 600tc sheets during our stay at an upscale hotel. As soon as we got home, we spent a fortune on new bedding and haven't regretted it since.

We do not like crispy stiff sheets. We always use travel size space bags to pack the sheets in our luggage. As for the comforter... they are just NASTY! Dried crusty stuff on our last year at OKW. Yuck!! We just put it out of site and be sure to tell mousekeepin that they are our sheets and not to change them. To be safe, we never bring our white sheets. Hate to lose them on accident!

 

[bavaria]

We are not paranoid. just very aware of the cost of fumigating our home & replacing all mattresses which is $$$$$ My husband travels globally with his work staying in a hotel room about 18-20 days a month.

I am genuinely curious. Does your husband do the same routine when he travels? I don't mean to single out your post but you have listed some very specific routines, and say that you are not paranoid, and that your husband travels quite a bit.

I live in hotel rooms about 300+ days a year. The majority of hotels around the world use duvets; in fact WDW is about the only place I stay which still uses bedspreads. I do remove those. I use the tray table on an airplane, and even the airplane blanket if I forgot to bring my pashmina. I walk barefoot in my hotel room, put my clothes in drawers, make coffee in the coffeemaker, and actually use the hotel room for the purpose for which it was intended. I even use the remote control. I have stayed in some very questionable places over the years, but I haven't wrapped myself in plastic or taken extra precautions.

I have a chronic illness which results in a compromised immune system, but I very rarely get ill. You do realise that you are doing your family a disserve by NOT exposing them to things? And as others have said, how to you control their actions in other public places? I truly am not trying to 'pick' on you however I am very concerned about our future when I read people overusing antibacterial products, the over prescribing of antibiotics, and the failure to expose people to germs.

I have been all around the world and stayed in places and used facilties which are not quite the German standard of cleanliness. There is of course a reasonable amount of care that we should all take to protect ourselves, but going overboard tips the balance and works against us.

And I do in fact have a lightweight duvet stored in my OL for WDW; not because I am squeamish but because I cannot stand the habit of sleeping with sheets and blankets (which again only WDW seems to use anymore)

 

[bavaria]

So where do you people eat and toilet when you are in the parks?

From what I have read many people use the bottom of their (dirty) shoe to flush, leaving dirt for the next user. I have also read in past someone bringing a portable toilet for their child to use while waiting in line, and others having their children use it inside the car or van. (I myself have fond memories of fertilizing a lot of plants by the side of roads in Germany as a child - but that was because we were travelling through a remote area with no hope of any toilet closeby!)

I would assume that someone with such a fear doesn't travel much and certainly not outside America as there are many many public toilets around the world with no toilet seat (even in Western Europe) and of course many many places with no western toilet at all (which is in fact more sanitary to the user)

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Well I guess I am just wild and crazy!!!!!!

I walk barefoot anywhere. If they would let me do it in the MK I would do it there too. I have walked barefoot in NYC so I think I will survive the hotel room.
I don't pack sheets or pillows. I do wipe down the light switches, remotes, handles of stuff etc. only because my kids have gotten sick in WDW. I do let them sit on the floor and watch tv and I sit with them.
You can't stop me! I am crazy!
I use the coffee pot and the cups. I do check them first though to make sure they are clean.
You touch a million things all day long. The best thing you can do is keep your hands off your face and wash them when you can. You can disinfect until the cows come home but unless you live sealed up then you will be exposed to germs. JMHO.

 

[psindone]

We have been going to Disney and other places for years. I never really had a problem. Although I don't know why but lately I find myself bringing my own sheet. My husband does not have a problem with the ones that are in the room. I bring a queen size flat sheet that I lay on and cover myself with. I have to say I sleep very well. I never let the blanket touch me....... I have always wiped down the remote and phone..... I also never walk around without something on my feet, but that is something I have been doing for years. The sheet is something I just started doing. I do like that someone wrote that they bring their own plastic liner for the shower. Oh god, I think I just might start to to that myself. Thanks for the tip....

I hope I don't get any more phobia's.....

 

[NMAmy]

Okay, I'll bite. WHY a plastic shower liner? I don't think I have ever actually touched the shower curtain with my body in the shower. I slide it back and forth when I get in and out but aside from that, I can't figure out why someone would need their own shower liner.

 

[bavaria]

Another tip is to have the first ADR at any buffet dining and bring our own fork from the table to put food on your plate.

I just read this.

I am frankly shocked. You do realise that you are cross-contaminating food if you use your own fork to put items on your plate? do you really use the same fork for each food item or do you bring a dozen forks along and use one in each dish?

If I saw that I would speak to the manager, and I am quite certain that they would at a minimum ask you to stop, and in some places ask you to leave. The restaurant would need to replace all of the food on the buffet line as you may have transferred food from one dish to another, and it would no longer be considered 'safe' for those with allergies. In addition, if one dish was contaminated you are spreading that to all the other dishes of food.

I realise that you are looking out for yourself, but you are potentially harming other diners. Do what you wish in the privacy of your hotel room, but if your habits have a negative impact on others it is not appropriate.

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

Heres our routine-
Check in. Nothing goes into our room till the beds are stripped down, mattress/headboard checked visual and with tapestrip. Unfed bedbugs are translucent. The tiny black ants are usually on the underside of the mattress. ebtwen that and the boxspring or they like under pillows. OPen the drawers, if you see powder ask for another room in another building. The powder means recent insecticide.
We bring our clorox wipes & lysol to do a through clean up. We bring our own patterned pillows and blankets, wear slippers in room to safe our socks. We do not use hotel comforters and blankets as they do not always get washed between guests. We put our dirty laundry during the trip into a trashbag NOT the dresser drawers. The dresser drawer is where you store the comforter. When we use an airbed, we use a sleeping bag and put the airbed on a clean shower curtain not on the carpet. Depending on how much room we have to pack, we sometimes bring an airpurifier too. Those are great for cruises or stuffy rooms. with FL humidity.
We always leave clean clothing in our suitcases and we dont leave those suitcases on the floor or the beds. We do not use their coffeepots or cups left in the room.
When we return home, we empty our stuff into the garage and everything goes directly into the washer machine off the garage. Suitcases do not enter the home, they get a no pest strip inside and then a sealed plastic bigbag.
If we are driving the next stop is our fancy shamcy car wash and we get that car ubbercleaned.
We are not paranoid. just very aware of the cost of fumigating our home & replacing all mattresses which is $$$$$ My husband travels globally with his work staying in a hotel room about 18-20 days a month. We also have a cousin that is a CM at DL and another family member my cousins daughter who is a CM at WDW. When I was a older teen I worked doing room service at a posh hotel. Our routine was developed by need because one of my children has had chronically poor health plus DH had some bad bad yucky hotel rooms and it works really well.
Another tip is to have the first ADR at any buffet dining and bring our own fork from the table to put food on your plate. When you have children in line that are young give them something to hold in their hands while waiting for the rides or shows like a kushball. When you go through a turnstile use your hip not your hands, my kids know to do the bump. Even from a young age they understood the need, we have passed around the pukes while on vacation before.
Once my daughter was hurt at DLhotel fell out of bed and cut her chin open (that was the same day we watched the fatal accident in Frontierland.) The hotel staff was very caring and attentive. If you do have an issue, be sure to bring it up right away. Especially an unclean room or stained mattresses. They will move you and if you wait to bring all your stuff in till youve done a good inspection, it isnt as big a deal or time wasted.

All I can say is WOW to this post. I am tired just reading all that you do. Me personally we take precautions up to a certain point and then that's it. Too much anti this and anti that after awhile it won't work anymore. We very rarely get sick. "knock on wood". Hey if this works for you and your family more power to you.

The only thing I don't agree with is the bring your own fork from the table. Sorry.

We don't bring our own bedding. The only thing that we do not use is the comforter. YUCK

 

[monsterkitty]

We don't bring our own anything except clothes and toiletries. Like a few others, we walk barefoot on the carpet and even use the remote. I figure that if I am going to catch something it will be from my students.

I do, however, ask for an extra blanket from Mousekeeping. DH tends to steal the blankets so I need my own.

Oops, I lied, I do bring Clorox Wipes but have only used them once.

 

[Denmark]

Well this thread is quite entertaining


Did anyone here know that chefs in restaurant kitchens uses the same spoon over and over while making soups and sauces WITHOUT washing it. Into the sauce, into the mouth, tasting, a bit more salt into the sauce, same spoon not cleaned into the sauce....

Enjoy your meal

 

[PaulaSB12]

Well this thread is quite entertaining


Did anyone here know that chefs in restaurant kitchens uses the same spoon over and over while making soups and sauces WITHOUT washing it. Into the sauce, into the mouth, tasting, a bit more salt into the sauce, same spoon not cleaned into the sauce....

Enjoy your meal

Why worry

 

[MidgeHadley]

Well this thread is quite entertaining


Did anyone here know that chefs in restaurant kitchens uses the same spoon over and over while making soups and sauces WITHOUT washing it. Into the sauce, into the mouth, tasting, a bit more salt into the sauce, same spoon not cleaned into the sauce....

Enjoy your meal

Actually, I think in the U.S. that is considered a health code violation. They have to use a new spoon/clean spoon for each taste. Not saying it doesn't/hasn't happen...just saying it's actually a violation.