Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Over the years I have noticed that I am a bit OCD on a plane like wiping down the controls"



I sure hope that the "controls" you are talking about do not involve the flaps, rudder, thrust levers, etc. :D

My wifes' a bit OCD.. always washing her hands..

Wiping down everything that she perceives has germs after we sit down.. She assumes everything is clean to start with though..

Its better when we travel.. she seems to become more normal, then at home..

For the most part I feel that my OCD is in check. I mean who doesn't like things neat and clean. I do count stairs when I walk (not out loud though). I have been working on a independent film called Machine Man and that is what made me bring it up. The movie is not about what OCD we have but much more extreme forms that are somewhat debilitating.

The only thing that weirds me out while traveling is the glasses/cups in hotel rooms, I bring a glass from home. It's a glass made out of the same material that nalgene bottles are, so it won't break.

Glasses are normally pretty clean in a room.. spotless in fact..

But I noticed the maids washing glasses out..

I thought they would roll in new ones and change em out..

Good call on bringing in glasses from home..

I noticed at the W the other day that the glasses in the room were shrink wrapped with a seal on the top. I am pretty certain the maids can't do that themselves but I am still cautious about glasses in the room.

You know what this thread has done for me? Made me realize my OCD skills are lacking. :)

You aren't OCD. You just watch too many Dateline type shows about the HORRORS of dirty hotel rooms.

Seriously. Every second TV commercial is selling a product that will kill germs that left unchecked will kill everyone you know.

Every few weeks there's some outbreak of something somewhere that if left unchecked will kill 2/3 of the world's population. H1N1 anyone? What about that thing in Europe last week that led to nobody eating salads? What do you know, 1/2 of the continent didn't die from eating a tomato after all. Imagine that!!

Humans are designed to be exposed to germs. We are exposed to millions of germs every day. Washing down the tray table will take that exposure from 10 million to 9,999,900. Not gonna make any difference. Because whatever germs you killed doing that, you've encountered that many germs and more by touching the in flight magazine or the cup of coffee handed to you by the FA or the boarding pass or your luggage tag or the other 1000 things you will touch that day.

+1.. People say they're OCD when they are not..

OCD is sorta like an uncontrollable desire to clean.. like washing your hands until they blister, and using soap and towels immensely and profusely..

Like my SO.. I by tens of packages of Bounty towels from Costco everytime it goes on sale.. fill up the back of my van.. and stock er up.. She's out within a month..

I am not so worried about germs because I haven't had a cold or flu in more than 30 years. I am more concerned about bacteria from people not washing their hands after the restroom or other disgusting bad habits.

My OCD goes way beyond these travel things but this is about the quirky things we do when traveling. :)

Um... I'm guessing that mystery material is "nalgene".

Actually, they're made out of polycarbonate, and transitioning to copolyester.

And yes, I take cleaning wipes (or a hot water soaked washcloth) and wipe down anything I will need to touch. This includes doorknobs, light switches, counter tops, fridge and stove/oven handles, faucet handles, hotel key, TV remote, etc. I’m not overly concerned with the shower floor, but the shower curtain bugs me, and I can’t figure out how to deal with that.

I also (when staying in a hotel with a kitchen) take all the dishes, silverware, pots, pans, silverware organizer, and cutting board and load them into the dishwasher for a cleaning before I use anything. Everything usually fits nicely in one load.

I do the same thing too. I even print two copies of the car rental and flight itinerary.

When at the on the road, I do tend to be a bit more thorough about washing my hands. Other than that, about the same.

My wife's got me trained to wipe my hands with wipes..

We buy baby wipes by the case loads from Walmart, Superstore and Costco..

I think two problems exists in this thread.

a) people clearly stay in substandard hotels
b) germs won't kill you - at all.

I agree that transfers from others, such as would lead to food poisioning is an issue but most bacteries die within 30 minutes in a dry environment. I bet half the people who do these things thinks nothing of leaving a wet wash cloth on the tap then drying down their the chop board hours later. You'd me more likely to catch a bug from that than a door knob.

And KoKoBuddy is right on what is an OCD. If you have an OCD you'd at least wipe everything down in the same order every time.