IF there is one thing that will always love me, it isn't my mum, but it's mosquitoes.
No matter where I go – be it Margate or Marbella – I am always the one that ends up with huge welts up and down my legs from the critters.
And I'd tried everything, including the foul-smelling insect repellent so strong it melts your nail varnish off.
However, I then discovered the use of mosquito bands – plastic bands coated in citronella.
Costing just £10 on Amazon, each bag comes with 10 of the bands, which claim to last up to 300 hours.
I decided to try them out on a recent trip to Columbia where I would be staying on a jungle island, so being bitten was a given.
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Taking no chances, I put one on a wrist and one on the other leg.
And after five days on the island? Not a single bite.
I couldn't say the same thing for my fellow travellers, many of which found their ankles and knees covered in bites.
My bag of 10 quickly dwindled after they all begged me for a few themselves.
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While I'm not sure they last as long as you say, especially if you are jumping in and out of the sea, I couldn't quite believe how well they worked.
And just to prove it even further, I decided to not wear them when back on the mainland – and was bitten multiple times just hours later.
When the smell has worn off, rather than throw away more plastic, I now keep them as hair ties or bands to tie things together.
It's not just me who loves them either – one Amazon reviewer wrote: "Whenever I’m going on holiday or out where mosquitoes may be, these bracelets come with me. A month in Peru, Costa Rica and Amazon jungle and only 2 bites."
Someone else agreed: "I wore mine continuously in Mexico and didn’t get bitten. My husband and daughter did not and got eaten alive. They kept saying they don’t work. Well they did for me!"
They can be found on Amazon from £6.99 for 10 here.
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