Sleeping naked in a hotel room is 'perfectly safe', travellers report

Wannabe-travellers have been quizzing global jet-setters online in an attempt to find out the answer to a mystifying question – whether it is really safe to sleep naked in a hotel room.

Some of the travel 'experts' talked of hygiene, addressing fears over bed bugs, flying insects, fleas or simply "other people's stuff".

Others spoke with authority on fire and crime; namely, what to do if you're ever caught at risk, unawares – and in the buff.

And the general consensus? That it doesn't make a jot of difference whether you're nude or not, when facing up to robbers, infectious diseases or man-eating tigers.

In the question-and-answer thread, which appears on Quora, Rupert Baines - who says he has travelled to 63 countries and counting, for work and pleasure - states he sleeps naked in hotel rooms "all the time".

His riposte, which has been viewed 27,000 times at the time of writing, asks concerned tourists to analyse their fears.

"What are you worried about?" he writes.

"Pyjamas or underware [sic] won't protect you against bed bugs, robbers, man-eating tigers or the monster under the bed.

"So not wearing them is no less safe."

And he says that in terms of a fire, sleeping nude makes no difference because "I can slip on clothes in a few seconds".

"You would probably do the same," he adds. "Wearing pyjamas or undeewar [sic] and no shoes for half an hour outside would be unpleasant."

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John L. Miller, who says that he "learned to sleep here and there during travel", has had his answer viewed 57,000 times.

He writes that from his experience, wearing underwear is preferable when sleeping where other people have been before you.

"Hotel rooms may look clean but are well used by a long series of strangers," he says.

"You can look on youtube or search news articles for examples of investigations into how dirty they are, especially with, ah, discharge.

"Personally I would want to at least have underwear on to keep my privates from unintentionally being exposed to other people's stuff.

"Dangerous? probably not. Gross? Depends on your mindset."

The frank, and at times amusing responses have proved to be wildly popular with people doing research before heading overseas.

One answer, posted by Alan Jarvis, who says he has lived outside Canada since he was 22 and has "travelled lots for work and pleasure", has been looked at 62,000 times.

Mr Jarvis reminds intrepid explorers that wearing clothes beneath the sheets "won't stop anything from biting you", and in a tongue-in-cheek tone he warns that you can still get "Bongolian Red Spots Disease by wearing your silk sleep rompers".

He adds: "The bed bugs etc will go thru anything you wear: within reason. Flying insects too. And you still put bare skin on the bed: head, hands, feet.

"If this is a concern, I think international travel is not for you."

He also warns that it is of far more value to be concerned about personal safety, than hygiene.

"If it's safety you are concerned about, then catching cooties is the least of your worries," he writes. "Fire and maybe crime is a bigger risk.

"If you are higher up than the local fire fighters can reach (which might well be only several stories), then consider talking an escape mask to let you evacuate in a fire. And good flash light. Even your own smoke detector. And know where you shoes and outer clothes are.

"You can only get sick from the bulgy-uglies: you can die in a fire."

And his tips for trying to avoid itchy, annoying bites? Stay in a better class hotel - or bring a separate sheet or sleeping bag liner, your own pillow case or pillow, and some netting to ward off flying insects or mosquitos.

And if things are really bad, he says, then don't sleep in a hotel at all but "sleep in a tent outside".

Mr Jarvis ends with an anecdote: "The worst case of bed bugs I've got was in San Diego, in a 4 Star Hotel! OK in the South Sudan I did catch something dubious, but I survived.

"Couldn't sleep outside in my tent: land mines. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...."

One of the most prolifically read posts of all, from Maria Maath, which has had 875,500 views, is told from the perspective of someone who travels for a living and calls hotels "home".

"I really, really like sleeping naked," she writes. "I like the feel of the sheets against my skin and therefore, as far as the temperature allows, I sleep naked."

But, she warns, it isn't always smooth sailing - in Benghazi in Libya in 2011, she slept nude despite warnings about a female journalist who had had to jump from her balcony at another hotel in the middle of the night to escape two would-be attackers.

And in the middle of the night, hearing gunfire, she rolls over and ducks behind the bed, away from the window, thinking: "Are we under attack? Where's my damn clothes, I can't reach them?! What if a stray bullet hits me?"

She later realises it is, in fact, celebratory gunfire, and "went back to sleep. Naked."

She adds in the post, which was written last month: "Any sane person would take that as a sign to sleep with some decent clothes on, but, as I said, I'm a reckless one who couldn't care less.

"I am, right now, writing from my bed in my hotel room in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Naked."