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Original poster

Anyone else feel icky away from home?

133 replies

lolaVie · 01/11/2023 22:16

Currently away from home for the week and experiencing a life long problem…genuine ickiness about hotel showers, beds, carpets, cups, kettles…you name it, it makes my toes curl. To the point that it makes me desperate for my own shower and bed! It’s not homesickness in the sense that I’m sad or missing home. It’s like a disgust response but there’s nothing disgusting!

But I never hear anyone else ever describe this feeling! Place we are staying seems clean enough and it’s not specific to this place anyway. It is anywhere! Not just hotels. Any kind of holiday accommodation.

I don’t feel this way staying with family (as in at the home of either of my parents) and maybe one or two close friends although it’s been a long time since I slept at a friend’s house.

Is this just me?!

OP posts:
WeightWhat · 02/11/2023 00:05

I agree this isn’t normal.

Hotels are generally obsessed with cleaning. It sounds as though you are transferring your anxiety to this issue.

Heartofglass12345 · 02/11/2023 00:07

I'm like this when we go away. We can only afford self catering caravan holidays and we always wash the dishes before we use them and clean the bathroom floor before a shower. My house isn't overly clean but at least it's only our dirt at home Grin

Watchthedoormat · 02/11/2023 00:21

The things that trouble me most are the kettle and the cups.
I worked in a hotel many moons ago and procedure was to rinse used cups under bathroom tap and dry off with a towel then put them back on the tray. No washing up liquid or dishwasher for the room cups!. Same with the glasses in the bathroom.
Kettles always limescaled and who wants to fill the kettle from the bathroom tap?
Cushions, throws and curtains were never washed. Sprayed with air freshener if stinky.

GoodToBeHome · 02/11/2023 06:01

If you read any of the multiple cleaning threads on here I am willing to bet that hotel rooms are infinitely cleaner than most homes!

rickyrickygrimes · 02/11/2023 06:07

Other than bedbugs and similar, is there any evidence that people contract any kind of disease or illness from hotel rooms? What ‘germs’ do you expect to catch? Presumably you have a fully functioning immune system which will deal with pretty much everything you come in contact with - as it does in your own home and everywhere else you happen to be. ‘Germs’ are literally everywhere.

MeinKraft · 02/11/2023 06:09

Tilllly · 01/11/2023 22:26

Doesn't bother me at all
I love it

Could you spray Zoflora everywhere to de-ick?

That's one way to make it even more disgusting

Doingmybest12 · 02/11/2023 06:31

Greatbigfluffytrousers · 01/11/2023 22:48

No but I come from a farming family and have literally had my head shit on by a dairy cow twice.

This made me chuckle, thanks for that on a wet Thursday morning.

stormyslippers · 02/11/2023 06:38

Well you have two choices

  1. Get medical help for your anxiety
  2. Stay at home

Good luck :)

SnapdragonToadflax · 02/11/2023 06:40

Nah, I love staying in hotels. I worked in a hotel many years ago, and I assume they're as clean as that one was.

I take any cushions or throws off the bed immediately, as they don't get cleaned much. I wash a cup/glass properly before using, and rinse out the kettle a few times. And since the bedbug outbreak I do check the bed for them. But otherwise, it's fine. Pillowcase, duvet cover and my own skin will protect me from anything else.

garlictwist · 02/11/2023 07:01

I'm currently in a holiday house with my husband, parents, brother, sis in law and their three kids and I am really avoiding using the loo. I just can't stand the thought of it having been used by so many people. I also avoid it at work for this reason. It's quite challenging.

RampantIvy · 02/11/2023 07:08

garlictwist · 02/11/2023 07:01

I'm currently in a holiday house with my husband, parents, brother, sis in law and their three kids and I am really avoiding using the loo. I just can't stand the thought of it having been used by so many people. I also avoid it at work for this reason. It's quite challenging.

You need help for your phobia. This is a ridiculous level of fastidiousness.

Doesn't cleaning it not make it any easier? It can't be good for your bowels or bladder to keep holding it in either.

RosesAndHellebores · 02/11/2023 07:08

Throughout my 63 years one or two hotels have bothered me but they were minging.

DottyLottieLou · 03/11/2023 10:10

😄 Nowt as strange as folk.

LoobyDop · 03/11/2023 10:21

Never on holiday, but I had to be away overnight for work this week and stayed in a Premier Inn. There was a bit of ick factor. Especially when I attempted to do yoga without a mat- the carpet managed to be both sweaty and gritty.

Girasoli · 03/11/2023 10:26

I've never had this, I'll happily sleep anywhere (overnight coach, in laws house, hotel, caravan etc.)

I am a bit funny about using in laws showers though (bathroom is down stairs and always freezing)

NotLactoseFree · 03/11/2023 10:29

In my head, I have called it the "homesickness feeling".

I am pretty sure I have a mild sensory processing disorder.

As I've got older, it's got both better and worse. Better in that it's not quite the same level of physical ickiness. I can quite quickly turn a new place into a comfortable environment in which I feel comfortable and I don't tend to feel the almost nauseous feeling I used to. Worse in that sleeping is harder and I really struggle with that now whenever I'm not at home. Whenever possible, I take my own pillows and I always aim to get extra blankets or duvets if I can.

Chemenger · 03/11/2023 10:32

I love hotels, I sleep better in a hotel than at home. I love the crisp white sheets and the shiny bathroom that I haven't had to clean. Some very cheap motels in the US have felt less than clean but we don't generally have to stay in Motel 6 any more. I'm not a fan of campsite showers, it puzzles me how much hair people shed in them.

fridaynight1 · 03/11/2023 10:53

I hate staying or eating anywhere that’s not home. Not sure it’s a germ thing because I’m not exactly Mrs Hinch when it comes to cleaning.
It hasn’t stopped me from going out or going on holiday but I can’t say I’m comfortable doing either. I do read reviews and never stay or eat anywhere that has anything but raving positive reviews.
There is a standing joke in my family that if there were a thousand wine glasses in the restaurant/pub we are in - I will be given the one with lipstick on. I always get the plate that’s not been rinsed properly or the fork with food stuck in the gaps. And it’s guaranteed in a hotel I always get the grottiest bathroom.
Last year on a family holiday, me and DH upgraded to a deluxe room with a balcony and sea view. Our 3 DDs were in a cheaper standard family room. Guess whose room had the sea view and balcony of my dreams. Whose bathroom was nice and new and shiny? And guess whose room had stained carpets and icky bathroom?

JohnPrescottsPyjamas · 03/11/2023 10:55

Not baiting, but have you felt more like this since Covid?

I think it made a lot of us hyper aware about transmission, hand washing and generally more conscious about others’ possible and potential contamination.

Clingfilm · 03/11/2023 11:15

I completely get you OP. It's baths for me, I can't imagine having a bath in a hotel no matter how lavish.

I don't do baths anyway but the thought of sitting in one that some hairy arsed bloke has been in makes me feel ill - I don't have the same feeling for swimming pools, it's just hotel rooms.

And yes, socks on, always, but then I think of the insides of my shoes getting the hotel carpet ming in them...

YogaLite · 03/11/2023 11:16

For me, yes, definitely worse since COVID. And i avoid hotels where you can't open windows, the thought of air-con cooled recycled air...uuuuggh - eg Premier Inns yuck

Yes, I know they supposed to use some percentage of fresh air but it all goes through the same pipes.

I suppose it's similar in big offices with no choice, thankfully this doesn't apply to me.

Similar with the gyms so I don't, I can just about handle the outdoor gyms (after using the disinfectant).

Lentilweaver · 03/11/2023 11:21

I think you and other posters need help cause this isn't normal and can't be fun for you.

JudesBiggestFan · 03/11/2023 11:24

No. I think people need to be clear this isn't normal. Where does it end? Not travelling on public transport? Not getting in someone else's car as they've had other passengers on the seat? You need to retrain your brain before you limit your life terribly.

placemats · 03/11/2023 11:49

If I'm travelling to my destination by car I will bring my own pillow. But I never sleep well in other beds - a podcast helps, my favourite to listen to is Lady Killers by Lucy Worsley (I'm always catching up as I always fall asleep). 😀

I understand what you mean, but I'm never usually in the hotel room long enough to get the ick. I also wear socks so my bare feet don't go on the carpet. To be honest I do this also when staying in my mother's house and friend's/daughter's house as well.

Stormyweathr · 03/11/2023 13:30

I have a fear of eating/drinking using crockery that anyone else has used it makes me feel physically sick so restaurants and pubs etc are a nightmare . Even if it’s my own family houses I just can’t do it. so your defo not alone

mine stems from a incident when I was a kid where I had a drink at a friends house and they gave me a glass of water but the glass had previously had milk in it and had not been washed properly, I got halfway through my glass of water before I noticed white stale bits of milk floating in it 🤢