I freely admit that when I travel, my luggage goes right on top of the dressers. It does not touch the floor. The bedspreads ALWAYS come off the bed, because they only wash them about once a month, if that. And before I settle in, I pull the covers loose and check the mattress. When the bedbugs were so rampant...or reported to be, I contacted a company that supplied me with a spray that would kill them, and not be toxic to my dogs. I travel with support dogs, and they are not going to be "bugged" by anything.
Your chances of bringing bedbugs home from Macy's, Penneys, Walmart, etc, are just as great as bringing them in with fabrics you picked up at yard sales. One reason I REALLY like our Salvation Army stores is that they have all the furniture treated and sanitized before they put it in the stores. Frankly, I would NOT buy from the Goodwill stores.
Lice. I hate those things. When I worked with patients, I hated the beginning of the school year, because it seemed like they started school with the kids. But lice don't seem to like dirt, from what the school nurses told us. I got the creeps any time anyone talked about them. Eewww. I never had them, never want them, and they are a heck of a lot more common then bedbugs.
Speaking of the covers on the beds in motels and hotels....am I the only one who undoes the tight covers on the beds? I can't stand being tied down in the bed, lol. I wonder how tall men stand it?