Yes. Bed bugs can travel on you, but usually do so via things you are wearing or carrying. Bed Bugs can attach themselves to your shoes, clothing, briefcase and luggage if you are travelling.

In fact, a large percentage of people actually have a bed bug infestation because these little guys crawled into their luggage or shoes while travelling. Many people bring bed bugs home with them from a hotel, motel or even airplane ride without even knowing it.  There are specially formulated luggage liners to keep from bringing these pesky pests back home with you.

Bed bugs are commonly referred to as “The Travelling Bug.” It is believed that this is how bed bugs came to America — through travellers. You may be safe on the airplane, riding comfortably, while your lugguge is down below busy picking up some extra travellers. If someone else on the plane stayed at a location with a bed bug infestation and picked up a few bed bugs, they are very easily shared with other luggage in the luggage pit. One person carrying bed bugs in their luggage can easily turn into several people carrying bed bugs after the flight is over. It’s easy to see how bed bugs have spread so rapidly and vastly in just a few years.

However, bed bugs normally will not travel on your skin. They can actually feed off of you without having to walk on your skin at all. You can think of bed bugs as shy because right after feeding they will quickly run off of the skin and back into hiding. They actually prefer to touch your skin while feeding. This is how most people do not even realize they have bed bugs.

They can just feed on you without out touching you by just plugging in their mouthparts on your arms and legs while still standing on the mattress or sheets. Their bite is not very painful and most people do not even wake up while being bit by bed bugs. They don’t even realize it happened until the bites begin to surface the next morning.