Via Mint. Special thanks to Laura for sharing this in my Google Reader Shared Items.

As you may remember, I have been nervous about sleeping in hotels every since my mom gave me her little scabies story scare.

And shortly after we came back from NYC, scabies-free, I purchased an Allersac.

Not an actual depiction of FB sleeping

After using it a couple of times in some very questionable hotels,I feel qualified to properly review this product.

What is an Allersac or a travel sheet?

Allersac is a travel sheet designed to help shield you against unclean bedding, allergens, lice and bed bugs.

Allersac is 100% cotton, breathable, machine washable and dryable and features a large pillow pocket, an extra long fold-over top and a zippered closure.

What was I looking for in a travel sheet?

• Pore size below 10 microns – space measurement between the fabric threads
• Breathability and comfort
• Pillow pocket so you can insert and use the hotel pillow without having to bring your own pillow case as well.
• Fold over top sheet so you can use the blanket without it touching your body
• Quality (something that can be washed constantly)
• Zipper not Velcro, snaps or buttons to zip up the sheet
• Should be able to be hot water and hot air dried
• Affordability

Why did I feel I needed it

Because I’m paranoid and I wanted to carry my own bedding (my skin is very sensitive to everything as I have eczema and am a feast for all kinds of bugs and insects).

Sort of like Madonna and her silk linens. Except it’s for reasons other than being a Queen.

I wanted to guard against:

harsh detergents

lice

bedbugs

allergens (animal and dust mite dander)

unclean bedding

Hotels really use powerful detergents and bleaches to get rid of all bodily fluids left by previous er.. sleepers.

Some of the fragrances are very strong, and if you’re sensitive to them like I am, you have to protect your skin from those irritants.

Is it comfortable?

It’s pretty big to begin with, and there’s lots of space to move around in it, without it feeling like you’re trapped in a cloth prison.

I didn’t even notice I was sleeping in one until I woke up in it.

It’s extremely smooth, soft and comfortable. They are better than any hotel sheets I have ever slept in, because hotel sheets tend to be very scratchy and starched (at least, in the hotels we’ve been in).

It feels like your own bed sheet (which it is).

They also come in two sizes: Single occupant: 40″ x 90″ and Double occupant ( king size ): 80″ x 90″

The single is pretty large and totally fine for me, even while sleeping like a starfish.

But to fit BF in there as well? It’s just not big enough, you will need the Double occupant for that.

Was it difficult to travel with?

It was a bit of a pain in the butt to fold it up properly at the end of the hotel trip, because I have short little arms that can’t really get the corners straight.

But once you get it folded and tucked into its plastic bag it’s fine.

And you can’t be lazy and just stuff it unfolded into the plastic bag.

I tried. It won’t fit.

My suggestion would be to bring your own carrying case that’s slightly larger, so you can be lazy as you want, and just stuff the sucker in without folding it.

But it does take up more room if you don’t take the time to fold it.

How do you wash it?

Wash in water not exceeding 65C/135F and dry on any temperature setting on your household dryer. Shrinkage will occur—the pores of the fabric will get smaller, the weave will tighten, which only adds to the effectiveness of Allersac.

I actually saw a bit of shrinkage when I washed it, but it wasn’t horrible.

How much did it cost?

Around $60 CAD for the single. Which isn’t bad in my opinion, because the fabric was of a good quality, it had exactly what I wanted (pillow fold, blanket top pullover) and a zippered side that didn’t and won’t catch on my skin.

Not convinced? Think I’m paranoid?

Admittedly, some bacteria is good for you. Like the bacteria in yoghurt. But I am totally convinced that bugs are not a good thing for me.

For one thing, I was a bug feast in Portugal. I didn’t bring my Allersac because I wanted to cut down on what I was bringing in general, and I CURSED THE DECISION TO LEAVE IT AT HOME.

I was bitten by bugs ALL EVENING. Granted, they were regular bugs that come into the room at night to feast on people with or without an Allersac.

However I still wonder if I wrapped myself like a sausage in that Allersac, I would have been bug and bite free….

Never again. I’ll never leave it at home again. For any reason.

But just in case you aren’t convinced, check out the plethora of articles on unclean bedding:

• Science Daily: How to eliminate bedbugs
• ABC News: What’s Hiding in your Hotel Room?
• SixWise.com: Just how dirty is your hotel room?
• Gadling: What’s living in your hotel room?
• Check out the Official Allersac Blog and their disgusting Youtube Channel

And some other YouTube Videos for some visual proof:

But wait, there’s more!

Allersac contacted me after reading my first review about the Bed Bugs, and wants to give you, my lucky readers, a chance to win either a King Sized Sheet or the Single Sized Sheet FOR FREE!

He’ll even ship it to you, free of charge!

Lucky.

So how do I enter?

Tell me why you want an Allersac, or what you would use it for.

Who can enter:

Open to U.S. or Canada only

Email me at:

Subject:

You can only enter for either the King or the Single, so that I pick people who only want the King and others who only want the Single.

And yes, you can enter for both. But you will need to send me 2 emails.

• If you want the King size: Allersac King Sheet

• If you want the Single size: Allersac Single Sheet

I do filters and automatic labels on all of my emails so that I don’t miss anything, and if you don’t type in the subject properly just the way I’ve written it, I will have an Inbox full of emails to sort and label, which is really.. really.. freaking annoying.

Deadline:

September 30th 2009, Midnight EST

I am always on the lookout for a GOOD PC cloning software. I was turned on to Acronis True Image, so today, I am going to let you know my experience with Acronis True Image, a type of software that lets you make a copy of the hard drive.

I could have gone with Norton Ghost, but I couldn’t really find any unbiased reviews that really tell you what it’s like to use the software without any hidden agendas, so this is my attempt at letting you know how much I hated this software for any of you out there who are thinking of buying a disk cloning software.

Acronis was NOT free, it cost me $60 or so but I figured I needed something like this because I had such a great experience with a FREE software application for the Apple MAC.

The MAC equivalent of what I am talking about, is the absolutely fantastic software called CARBON COPY CLONER by Bombich Software.

It’s free, and hands down, THE BEST disk imaging/cloning software, EVER.

I am still on the hunt right now to find a similar CCC for the PC.

Short Answer:

I actually really, truly hate Acronis True Image software but I’m going to go over how it works, while making notes about what I hate about it and what I like.

It is NOTHING like Carbon Copy Cloner (of course), and it was between this or Norton Ghost, which I think I should have paid for instead.

Long Answer:

So you run it:

And this is the main page. I like how it’s clean, easy to understand (sort of), and the thing I want to do is to do Disk Utilities which is essentially making a copy of my hard drive.

There is is: Clone Disk. So far, so good.

I set it to Automatic.

IRRITATION #1 (IDE or USB? Can get confused here)

This is where I can see people getting a bit confused. I hate it because it doesn’t tell you that my hard drive (which I have named LILY), shows up on here as Lily.

You have to be careful and look at the very right column that says “Interface”, and choose the IDE Secondary Master as your Source Hard disk (essentially, your laptop’s hard drive).

And naturally, the second disk is by USB because I plugged in my Western Digital External Hard Drive to do the copying.

I always set it to delete partitions.

Then it gives me this summary…..

Irritation #2 (info lacking, both disk drives look the same and you doubt yourself)

This sometimes throws me off because they’re EXACTLY THE SAME without telling you enough information about which one was IDE Secondary Master (your laptop) or the USB.

So sometimes I get nervous and back out until I can see that I chose the correct Source & Clone disks.

That, and the information is all squished in the columns. WHY? WHY!!!! The software designer for this clearly did not use it with a clear mind.

So then it tells you what it does.

Irritation #3 & #4 (needs 2 reboots without telling you it needs to do ‘em so you just have to guess when it’s dead and cold)

Pay attention to where it says REBOOT REQUIRED, because that’s a real pain in the ass. What happens is that your computer will have a very unsexy black screen with white letters, showing you with the “#” symbol what portion of what operation has finished.

Then your computer may go on standby or some crap like that, and end up shutting off on you.

You WILL think your computer died or something, or the software killed it.

Then you realize it needs a reboot, so you have to press on the Power On/Restart button.

But does the software tell you that? NOoooooooooooooo you have to find out on your own!

Then after you press on the Power On/Restart Button, it goes straight into a black screen but you can see your hard drive blinking.

Now you will think: WTF? Is it working? Dead? Do I need to do a hard reset on this bitch?

And you will realize that it’s thinking. For 3 hours you will see the black screen.

Then it will shut off itself again and you will have to hit the Power On/Restart button again.

But does this summary screen tell you anything about all that BS?

No. Of course not.

It just gives you a slight warning “GUESS WHAT? REBOOT REQUIRED! But we won’t tell you when, how or why. BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA“

Then when you click proceed, be prepared to wait about 6 hours before the first reboot is required (and it doesn’t tell you when it needs one, you just have to guess when your laptop feels dead and cold).

And then you click reboot, you’re in a black screen (as mentioned), but your hard drive is still running, and 3-4 hours later, when your laptop feels dead and cold, it needs the second reboot.

Can’t they work this crap into the actual software?

Why do I have to keep pressing the Reboot button?

In contrast, CARBON COPY CLONER by Bombich Software (ONLY FOR THE MAC) (*huge heart*), does it all for you without wondering, doesn’t require reboots, and even has a cute little striped status bar to let you know when it is going to be finished, without ever shutting off or needing 2 reboots.

*sigh*

If anyone can offer up any other software that is either free, or under $40 and is reliable, please let me know. This is really, truly a piece of crap.

It does the job, but then when I go to check on the hard drive, I am not sure it did it correctly, if that makes sense. It doesn’t show me a second hard drive or the copy of Windows when I go into it.

I dunno, seems fishy to me.

Verdict:

I HATE THIS SOFTWARE.

I only use it now because I bought it and paid for it thinking it was good when in fact, it sucks.

DO NOT waste your money on this, or try Norton Ghost first.