The glamorous side of business travel

I really don't like sharing a hotel room when I travel on business.  Particularly when it's with some of these fine creatures. 

This, my friends is a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug.

Hello, can I come in?

No?  Who cares, I'm coming in anyway...

Right now I'm at a training class at a conference center in Virginia.  Apparently, the area has had an infestation of stink bugs this year.  It's bad enough in the summer, when they stay outside.  It's really not good in the fall when they all want to come inside.  The buildings at the conference center were all built many years ago.  I'm all for historic, but I'm also all for weather stripping.  It's good for keeping out drafts and unwelcome critters.

Last night I dispatched 10 stink bugs.  When I got back from class tonight, I dispatched seven more.  At dinner I was joking that if I made it to 20 I was requesting a room change.  I made it to 20.  I confirmed my room change at 23.  When I left a couple more of the little lovelies were crawling around.  One of them was even on the phone I used to call the front desk!

I don't want you to think I'm a bug-phobic girl (especially when the bugs won't hurt me), but come on -- 20+ bugs?  A couple even landed on my bed last night while I was reading.  Ewww.

What makes stink bugs extra fun?  If you squish them they release a skunky smell (hence their name).  Thankfully, I learned this before I squished one.  Instead, I captured them in tissue and sent them swimming down the toilet.  The hotel also has thin walls, so my neigbor probably thought I had a medical problem thanks to all of the flushing.

Now I'm happily in my new room, and (touch wood) no stink bugs to be found.  As an added bonus, the router for the building is in my room, so I've got a great connection!

Oh, and I am learning a lot of stuff that will help me in my job, too - in addition to gaining some exterminating skills!