Since we seem to have a "hygiene" issue about t.s.'s....

[grest Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close grest]

I never thought of myself as a fussbudget, but I do take off the bedspread and put it away somewhere for the duration of our stay.

I do this too, and I admit that I check for bedbugs, but otherwise I'm good to go.
Connie

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Our society has become so "germophobic". Our poor grandkids catch every bug that comes along because they have never played in the dirt, swam in the local public pool, or gone 24 hours without a bath like I did as a kid. There was no Purel sani wipes nor did everyone freak out about touching doorknobs. The best we did was put those paper thingies on the toilet seats in the gas station bathrooms!

For heaven's sake people...one is exposed to more questionable crap in the food we buy from the humongous food producers and fast food purveyors than in the average timeshare can possibly have.

Has no one here ever shared a glass of anything with a friend? Has no one here ever spent the night in a hotel bed? Why do so many Americans go so overboard on the prospect of a few germs? Or a spider now & then? Or a harmless gecko in Hawaii? Sheesh.....

I'm with you Julie and I have purposely NOT READ the last couple of threads because I'd never stay anywhere outside of my home ( and maybe not even there) comfortably again!

And I used to do investigations of suspected waterborne disease outbreaks.

Of course we're all exposed to them all of the time; that's why we have an immune system. But it's also clear that certain activities do cause increases in certain types of diseases.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't undertake those activities; there's a balancing of risk and reward. But you can't balance risk and reward unless you have at least a general grasp that certain activities actually are riskier.

For myself, I snorkel on vacation even though I know that there's about a 50% chance that I'm going to get an ear infection after a week of vacation in a beach location. The reward is worth it to me.

But there are also locations where I will not snorkel at all, Banderas Bay for example. Knowing that I have that susceptibility and having observed sanitation conditions in the area that ramps up the risk to a level that is no longer worth the reward to me.

Trouble maker.

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

What Billy said!! We look things over but if things look good then we're ok.

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

We never washed the dishes until I had a child. Now, I do wash them mainly because I don't want her to get sick. (Been there done that with a 2Yo and a husband with the stomach bug on vacation - not fun). Even ended up in the ER with the 2 YO.

I pull the bed spread and decorative pillows off the bed and store them somewhere else.

Have thought about washing the blanket on the bed - but haven't.

I do a very brief bed bug inspection also.

Will swim in the pool and the family uses the whirlpool tub. But, think I will run the tub a cycle now before use.

Ok people....how about the ice. Do you make your own. For some strange reason that is something I won't use. The ice that is already sitting there in the freezer upon arrival. I throw it out and make new ice.

I will also never use an ice bucket in a hotel. Knew someone that used it for a barf bucket one night because it was handy. Also knew someone that used it for toilet in a limo while stuck in traffic.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I'm a little against not kissing strangers.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

I never, ever use the face cloths provided by the resort/hotel/condo. I bring my own. Do I really want to use a face cloth that has cleaned baby bums or the nether regions of others on my face or elsewhere ? Uh, no, not moi.

I bring my own pillow protector, too as not only am I last of the big sleepy droolers, others are. I even bring my own hand towel.

I am a nurse first, last and always.

I have been known to bring the brown liquid Lysol (small bottle) with me for the Jacuzzi tubs.
I will fill the tub, throw some in, let it run, shut if off and then let it sit overnight. Bleach is good for this, too.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

This became quite a thread. We have never washed the dishes or sheets at any timeshare yet when we checked in as everything looked OK. However, after reading another article about pools and Jacuzzis, I am not so sure about them. I will link to the article when we get home.
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[Lisa P Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lisa P]

There are SO MANY potential causes of an illness like a stomach bug or a virus on vacation. There may be food preparation issues, crowds of people and/or recirculated air (as in a pressurized airplane), contact with a whole new set of microbes than you're used to back home, slightly depressed immunity from travel stressors, touching surfaces on doors, phones, pens, elevators, atm machines, handling money, etc. It's a tough thing for regular people (without an epidemiology lab ) to associate a certain case of illness accurately with a particular source, such as dishes - especially when the dishes appear smooth, clean and dry! So we just look first. Dark, wet or dried-on substances are different, harboring germs and fungi. I think we'll start bleach-soaking the whirlpool tub before first use.

Resort/hotel laundries generally use bleaching and/or hot water, hot dryers for towels and facecloths. Ice buckets normally have a disposable plastic bag liner. Using these items after unknown previous users can make us feel uneasy but we travel and eat out at businesses and friends' homes regularly. I'm not going to be pickier at a resort than I am in these places. If it looks clean, that's good enough for me. Most resorts where we've stayed have emptied and turned off the freezer ice maker before we've arrived. We don't use ice previously made where anyone may have reached in with their hands to retrieve some before us.

Standards are VERY different in hospitals, clinics or homes with sick populations than they are in general public places - for good reason. I'm a nurse too and aware of infection risks. But I think our hospital work can skew our perspective - the general healthy population simply does not have a frequent problem with these things.

We do wash our hands regularly and maintain good skin integrity - overuse of alcohol-based hand cleansers or very hot soapy water can be rough on skin. We avoid touching eyes/nose/mouth. We look first before using dishes, utensils, bedding, towels or anything in a resort room for the first time. Toddlers and small children will get into everything anyway and that's just how it is. They need to learn these general measures in a matter-of-fact way. I see too many children who are being raised with disproportionate anxiety over infection risks and I don't think that's healthy either.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

LisaP,

Yes, as nurses and nurse practitioners, we've seen what illnesses are borne out of contact with unsanitary items. This has given me my perspective. I've seen some nasty, mostly hot tub/jacuzzi, conditions that I do not want to catch.

We differ, however, on friends v. strangers items and the use of same. I mostly know the level of sanitation my host friends and families use, but not strangers who have come before me.

Laundries in hotels/resorts/condos leave sometimes leave something to be desired IMHO.

It's all in one's comfort level and finding it.
My quirks cause me only mild inconvenience, but help me to relax.

If there's a dishwasher in the unit, I will rerinse if they look "not right". If there's no dishwasher, I will wash in scalding water.

Good thread, Katiemack !

B.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I don't think I could do my job working in an ICU where I work with some of the worst bugs in the nation if I was so paranoid. Yes I have a healthy respect for the super bugs but I'm pretty comfortable with the less deadly bugs. (Doubt I'm gonna find too much VRE or MRSA in a dish in a timeshare.) After all this world is just not sterile. We share it with gazillions of bugs whether we like it or not. Might as well relax and remember why we are on vacation in the first place. (for me it's to escape the paranoia of the bugs).

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

And actually, most of those gazillions of bugs either help us or don't do anything to harm us. It's a relative handful that cause problems. Most things we do to sterilize kill the good and the bad, however.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Hey, what about bed bugs? Anyone had any in their timeshare?

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Hey, what about bed bugs? Anyone had any in their timeshare?

Yup, had them at Sheraton Vistana in the non remodeled room. When they moved us to a remodeled room no more bed bugs.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

This became quite a thread. We have never washed the dishes or sheets at any timeshare yet when we checked in as everything looked OK. However, after reading another article about pools and Jacuzzis, I am not so sure about them. I will link to the article when we get home.
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Here are the links. The first one will give you instructions how to clean the whirlpool at your resort, if you feel that it is necessary and you would like to use it during your vacation and the second link gave me the creeps as there are so many pools with swim-up bars in Mexico. I wouldn't be surprised.

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Jetted-Bathtub

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/22/pools.urinate.hygiene/

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

I am not looking for sterility, just a reduction in some potentially nasty bugs and basically, improved housekeeping.

Reduce the "icky" I say !