Gross reason why you shouldn’t unpack your suitcase right after trip

A doctor has revealed a gruesome reason why you should never unpack your suitcase as soon as you get home from a trip. 

While some travelers might applaud themselves for immediately sorting out their luggage upon their return from their travels, Dr. Jason Singh, from Virginia, has now detailed why procrastinating your unpacking may actually serve you in the long-run.  

In a now-viral TikTok video, Jason warned that opening up your suitcase straight away could lead to an infestation of bed bugs – which can lay eggs in your clothes and belongings, and ultimately invade your house after traveling back with you in your luggage. 

According to Jason, ‘bed bug eggs typically hatch within six to 10 days’, with the doctor adding that the babies – known as nymphs – ‘require a blood meal after hatching in order to continue their development’. 

If, however, the bed bugs remain locked in your suitcase, they will not be able to feed, and will therefore ‘die due to starvation or desiccation’. 

However, there’s a catch: keeping your suitcase closed for a few hours or even days won’t prevent an infestation, with Jason explaining that travelers should leave their suitcases sealed shut for two weeks in order to avoid the spread of the nasty critters.

‘So here’s why you shouldn’t unpack your suitcase right after coming home from a vacation,’ Jason began the clip, which has racked up more than 592,000 views since it was posted in June. 

‘Okay, so hear me out, especially if you stayed in a hotel, and that’s because of bed bugs.’

He continued: ‘Bed bug eggs typically hatch within six to 10 days, and the nymphs require a blood meal shortly after hatching, to continue their development. 

‘Now, if your suitcase remains closed, and undisturbed for at least two weeks, well any bed bug egg or nymph present will likely die due to starvation or desiccation.  

‘So now you have a reason to be lazy, just like me, and just let your suitcase hang there in the side.

‘I mean, let’s be honest, what kind of psycho unpacks right away? Let me know.’   

Jason’s advice came as a welcome surprise to many ‘lazy’ travelers, several of whom took to the comments section to rejoice the news that their procrastination could actually be working in their favor. 

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One person wrote: ‘So me procrastinating is doctor-approved. Perfect.’ 

A second person commented: ‘My luggage stays in the garage or mudroom for hundreds of hours!’ 

A third person added: ‘Thank god. It takes me ages to muster up the energy to unpack.’  

A fourth person wrote: ‘I’m safe then because I’m lazy.’  

A fifth person commented: ‘Omg yaaaas, I take months. I just take the dirty clothes bag out and wash it, and that’s my “unpacking.”  

One person added: ‘Never been so glad to have ADHD, [cause] my suitcase remains unpacked for ages.’  

Another person comedically wrote: ‘I haven’t fully unpacked from my 2019 summer vacation.’

Other followers admitted that they unpack as soon as they get home from a trip. 

One person wrote: ‘I unpack and throw everything in the washer as soon as I get home. I need all my stuff [that] I travel with!’

A second person commented: ‘I am the psycho who unpacks once I get home.’

A third person added: ‘I unpack [as] soon as I walk in. Wash everything and then Lysol the suitcase.’

A fourth person wrote: ‘I always unpack right away. I have to have my house in order before I can relax, and looking at an unpacked suitcase will annoy me.’

A fifth person commented: ‘Who has two extra weeks of clothes that they don’t need when they get back from holiday? Or am I just a peasant and only have a week or two of clothes in total?’

One person added: ‘I unpack literally within an hour of arriving back home. Mostly because I need all my toiletries, and I just dump everything into the washing machine.’              

Another person wrote: ‘If I don’t unpack straight away, I won’t unpack for a month.’

According to Travel and Leisure, it is recommended to unpack your clothing from your suitcase directly into the dryer first, instead of the washer. 

Eric Braun, who is a a board certified entomologist, told the outlet: ‘You [can] wash them after you dry them, but the high heat will kill the life stages.   

‘The water isn’t hot enough to kill them, so they could survive a washing.’

He continued: ‘You’re going to remove all the clothing from the suitcase [and] all the clothing that you’re currently wearing, and you’re going to place that in the dryer on high for about 30 minutes.

‘If you have some items that can’t go in a dryer that need to be dry cleaned, you would bag them up and take them to the dry cleaner.      

‘You’re going to then look at your luggage [and] inspect your luggage. If you suspect that there’s bed bugs in the luggage, you’re going to have that professionally treated.’