Over the years travelling I made many acquaintances with these horrible, horrible, little beasts. They seem to love my blood, it´s terrible! Usually they live somewhere in the furniture ot the rooms and come out when you lie in bed to bite you and suck your blood. Their bites are truly horrible and usually itch two to three days.
So here are a few quick tips to deal with them. If you are in an infected room and they bite you, the only option really is to change the room. No matter how much of the hardest insect repellent you apply the find a spot to bite you. The once bit me in the face, when I covered my whole body with the hardest insect repellent. Fleeing is the only real option. If you change the room insist of getting a room far enough away, as they can easily travel through walls. Even one floor up or down is no problem for them. Also be aware that they could be travelling in your luggage. You don’t want to take them home with you! But after a few days in a different location without any new bites you should be safe. Although they do crawl into the luggage to spread to new places I never had one in my bags. If you do have them with you it is recommended to tumble dry all of the things. The heat is what kills the bugs. You can also try washing, but they usually can still survive that. Also you can put your belongings into a freezer. That apparently kills them too. You want to make sure they and any possible eggs are dead!
If you got bitten my best tip to sooth the horrible itching is to rinse the bites with warm or hot water. Like this the itching gets worse for a few seconds, but after that it is a lot better for a few hours. The hotter the water, the stronger is the effect. What it apparently does is killing the enzymes that the itching stuff is made of which makes the itching a lot better (for a while). That helped me more than soothing cream from the doctor.
If you are bitten really bad and have really bad swellings you should consider going to the doctor. The bites can get infected which can be really bad.
After many attacks I now have the experience to spot them. At the beginning there were like invisible ghosts for me. Now I know where to look: They are usually somewhere in your blankets when they attack. They also love to crawl along the walls. Dead bodies of this evil insect can often be found at the bottom of the walls in infected rooms.
If you are in an infected room in an hotel or hostel and they bite you, the only option that really could help you is to change the room. No matter how much of the hardest insect repellent you apply the find a spot to bite you. The once bit me in the face, when I covered my whole body with the hardest insect repellent. Fleeing is the only real option in my experience. If you change the room insist of getting a room far enough away, as they can easily travel through walls. Even one floor up or down is no problem for them. May be you even have to change the hotel if you want to get some sleep. For me it was often unbearable as the bites are extremely itchy!
Also be aware that they could be travelling in your luggage. You don’t want to take them home with you! But after a few days in a different location without any new bites you should be safe. Although they do crawl into the luggage to spread to new places I never had one in my bags. Also be aware that they could plant eggs in your luggage.
If you do have them with you it is recommended to tumble dry all of the things. The heat is what kills the bugs. You can also try washing, but they usually can still survive that. Also you can put your belongings into a freezer. That apparently kills them too. You want to make sure they and any possible eggs are dead!
Ressources/Links:
an explanation with tips and with nice illustrations
wikihow
here are two websites dedicated only to bedbugs:
What are your experiences with bed bugs? Do you have any techniques to deal with them?