bed

Bed bugs can be found in various accommodations, and if you bring them back into your home it will swiftly become a nightmare. Here’s expert advice on avoiding an infestation

Millions of Brits are embarking on their Christmas getaways. Whether you’re jetting off abroad or visiting relatives across the UK, there’s one crucial thing you must bear in mind.

Bed bugs can hide virtually anywhere, and if you inadvertently transport them back to your house, it will rapidly turn into a living hell. These pesky bugs are notoriously difficult to eliminate once they’ve invaded your property and frequently require costly professional extermination services.

Your best defence is preventing an invasion before it takes hold.

The specialists at Thermopest have revealed their essential strategies for maintaining a bed bug-free household.

Upon arrival at your accommodation, the initial step involves conducting a meticulous examination, reports the Express.

James Rhoades from Thermopest advised: “Don’t place your luggage on the bed as soon as you arrive.

“First, inspect the mattress by pulling back the sheets and checking the seams and corners for dark spots. Also check the headboard and any upholstered furniture for signs of activity.”

Should you discover any evidence of bed bugs, demand alternative accommodation straight away and insist on a room positioned as far from the contaminated zone as feasible.

According to James, suitcases represent one of the simplest methods for transporting bed bugs back to your residence. He suggests keeping your belongings away from fabric surfaces.

He explained: “Store it on a metal rack, bed bugs struggle to climb smooth surfaces. Avoid placing bags on the floor or bed where they might be hiding.

“Bed bugs find it harder to get onto hard surfaces, so opt for hard-case luggage rather than a fabric one.

“If possible, keep your luggage closed or zipped up at all times, or use large plastic bags to seal your luggage throughout your stay.”

These pesky critters also have a tendency to burrow into clothing, making it essential to safeguard your garments as well.

James explained: “Bed bugs tend to gravitate towards the scent of humans, so keep your worn/dirty clothes in a separate plastic bag until you can wash them.

“Don’t leave your clothes out, especially if you suspect bed bugs, try keeping them in vacuum-sealed bags during your trip to prevent them from getting in.”

Upon returning home, thoroughly examine your luggage for any telltale signs of bed bugs to avoid bringing an infestation into your house.

James advised: “Unpack everything, directly into the washing machine and run a hot wash.

“Inspect your suitcase inside and out, especially pockets, seams and linings, for dark spots, shed skins or live bugs. Frequent travellers should make this part of their routine to catch infestations early.”

TV legend Bryan Fuller, known for his cult classics “Pushing Daisies” and “Hannibal,” just earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for first feature. It’s somehow a surprise that the well-known creator just directed his first movie, after spending almost three decades working in television on series like “Dead Like Me” and “American Gods.” Now he turns to the world of indie film, reuniting with actor Mads Mikkelsen, his Hannibal Lecter, on the dark fairy tale “Dust Bunny.”

Fuller has a thing for idioms, extending them to their most extreme ends (e.g., “pushing daisies”), and so in “Dust Bunny,” he imagines what those bits of fluff could be if our nightmares came to life. He also posits an outlandish notion: What if a kid hired an assassin to kill the monster under her bed?

Aurora (Sophie Sloan) is an imaginative young girl who hears things that roar and scream in the night. The dust bunny under her bed is a ravenous, monstrous thing. When her parents go missing, she’s convinced they’ve been eaten by the monster bunny, and seeks out the services of an “intriguing neighbor” (Mikkelsen, that’s how he’s credited) whom she has seen vanquishing dragons in the alley outside. With a fee that she purloins from a church collection plate, she implores him for help and he agrees, as he learns more about this young girl’s challenging childhood.

At first, “Dust Bunny” feels a little light, the story skittering across its densely designed surface, with very little dialogue in the first half. But it grows and grows, more bits and pieces accumulating as Fuller reveals this strange, heightened world. We meet Intriguing Neighbor’s handler, Laverne (Sigourney Weaver), revealing the larger Wickian world of killers that he inhabits.Weaver chomps through her scenes like the monster bunny chomps through the floorboards — literally, as she consumes charcuterie, dumplings and “suckling pig tea sandwiches” with gusto. Some monsters grin at us from across the table.

The film is essentially “Leon: The Professional” meets “Amélie” (one of Fuller’s favorite films), but with his distinct wit and flair. That style also means that “Dust Bunny” is quite fussy and mannered and if you don’t buy in on the film’s arch humor and stylized world, you’re liable to bounce right off of it. As Fuller opens the world up, revealing a sly FBI agent (Sheila Atim) and more baddies (David Dastmalchian, Rebecca Henderson), the plot becomes more intriguing beyond its unwieldy childhood-trauma metaphor, but there’s also not quite enough embroidered on this tapestry. It feels shallow, not fleshed out.

Fuller demonstrates a strong command over his visual domain but the pat allegory he presents about the monsters with whom we have to learn to live feels a bit muddled. Sloan and Mikkelsen are terrific together, but you feel that there is much more they could have sunk their teeth into here, and perhaps the limits of the tale reveal the limits of the budget, carefully wallpapered over with opulent production design — explosions of patterns and color crafted by Jeremy Reed, captured with shadowy but lush cinematography by Nicole Hirsch Whitaker.

It’s a first feature that feels like one — a bit of a surprise from someone so experienced. But the project has Fuller’s signature style, even if it doesn’t add up to much more than a neat kiddie-centric hard-R genre exercise.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.