to ask what has bitten me?

[SilkeOvesen]

Second night in a static van. There are hundreds of mosquitoes around but I’ve been sleeping under a duvet, surely they wouldn’t have bitten my knees?

Not itchy at all.

I also have bites on my face but they’re not so obvious. A few on my hands. DH doesn’t appear to have anything much, one DC’s cheeks are covered in red spots like a sprinkling of freckles.

What are they?

Obviously there could be more than one issue here!

No, they're not bed bug bites. (I speak from recent experience) My bet is midges or mites of some type. I would check with a pharmacist.

Agree bedbugs sound the worst. Problem with bedbugs is they come home with you & are famously hard to get out of one's home once established. I'm mildly allergic to fleas & never had as many as OP plus mine are bigger. I can feel every bite & would know they were nibbling. Midges come up like OP's bites on me, but take 12+ hours to do so, so I never know until much later. I've been horrendously bitten by midges when no one else had a single bite. They seem very preferential about who like to prey on.

Yes OP,, both your legs and your DS look like some kind of viral rash to me. Maybe some sort of mite though? I would get seen sooner rather than later though. Your poor DS, must be so irritating right on his eyelids

It's really weird though that none of you are itchy. Although I did get a mosquito bite on holiday last week that didn't itch at all on day 1 but then suddenly became really inflamed and itchy so it may be worth starting to take antihistamine now in case they flare up.

To rule out bed bugs, can you check the mattress and bed frame? There are loads of ‘how to check for bed bugs’ guides online.

The formation of the bites on your legs (groups of three) look very much like bedbugs, and you wouldn’t necessarily be itching - some people barely react to them.

Best to try and find out what the bites are before you go home, just in case they are bedbugs.

Friends of mine came up in a similar rash on a UK holiday after using the hot tub, there was some bacteria in the water that they all reacted to or something. Could it be anything similar to that? Have you been swimming?

No swimming at all I’m afraid!

We’re on a farm which has horses, ponies and chickens but have had no contact with them at all until today (ie after sleeping here for 2 nights).

DH and I will be doing a bed bug search tonight and will report back.

They really don't look like bed bug bites to me, but with that many 'bites' I'd expect you to really easily find evidence of bed bugs if they are the culprits. Even if the sheets are dark, exoskeletons and eggs (like tiny grains of rice) should still be easily visible in the corners of the sheets.

I found tiny flecks of blood on my pillow. Anyway long story short, it seems that they’re throwing all the mattresses away and are going to replace them... no idea where I’m meant to sleep tonight. Replacing the mattresses isn’t going to help in the long term but there’s not much I can do about that

Pffff I’m not really the “OMG my holiday is ruined” type but this is hardly the relaxing break I was hoping for

I’m panicking trying to figure out how we avoid taking them home. And what a waste of my nice Samsonite suitcase. We have travel insurance but I can’t see it covering this without some official pest removal report or similar, which isn’t going to happen.

Oh no op! That’s rubbish. What a stupid person the owner sounds “oh the last family had marks over their faces too” but didn’t think to check the bedding .

I’m annoyed for you.

I bet there’s advice somewhere on how not to bring them home. Poor you. What a stress.

www.safebee.com/travel/bedbugs-how-avoid-bringing-them-home-your-vacation

Oh dear. That's grim. I guess life is an adventure.

Quite, mazeb

Well, they changed the mattresses while we were out and DH and I have agreed on a homecoming plan of action for after the holiday. These ‘new’ mattresses are clearly used ones anyway but hopefully free of bugs. If we wake up with more bites tomorrow we’ll have to go home

Apparently people with dogs stayed here last week so the owners think the bites are from fleas. I have my doubts but eh... Either way we’ll have to take the bedbug precautions on getting home so it makes little difference to me!

Take pictures and get something in writing from the owners if at all possible (email explanation even as opposed to verbal) and it's possible travel insurance might stretch to rentokill or new luggage (yes I know, unlikely but always worth a try).

And a review on trip advisor advising others might be a good idea. The owner sounds a bit unreliable. An infestation of fleas from a alleged dog the week before? Possible I suppose. Bedbugs from crap old mattress - no less likely.

Sympathy though, not nice!!