Fear of terrorism and war. Does it rule you?

[Davros]

Most definitely not. I concede that I would cancel if I was planning to take a trip to Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey or Iran in the next month or so, but other than that - NO WAY. You will have a more dangerous time in the traffic in Rome and Paris than you will have of being involved in a terrorist attack (I mean that - some of the driving is crazy, and it's all on the wrong side of the road - remember that when you want to jay walk across 8 lanes of the Champs Elysees - I did when I was half way across and found I was NOT loking in the direction of the oncoming traffic ).

Have fun, take lots of film, and invest in a digital camera.

[Kakero]

no and don't worry about it. enjoy your holiday. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Desdicado]

Of course it doesn't.
In the UK we lived with a terrorist threat for over 20 years (the IRA), an organisation I might add funded in large part by American supporters.
It's strange that the IRAs willingness to stop blowing up innocent folks coincided with America realising that people blowing up your citizens is kinda unpleasant.
It didn't stop us Brits doing anything so why let it stop you?.
There were bomb blasts every week here in the 70's 80's and 90's.
Why let one single attrocity stop you ever doing anything again.
I don't even think about it, if it happens it happens, (but it probably won't).

Enjoy your holiday and make sure you visit Scotland.

[ 03-03-2003, 05:03 AM: Message edited by: Desdicado ]

Doesn't do anything at all to the way I live. If you actually follow common sense type things, there really isn't anything in the world worth worrying about.

1. Have a stash of food and water in case of natural disaster/terror attack
2. Have emergency plans for friends and family in case of natural disaster/terror attack
3. be aware of your surroundings and not oblivious/lost in your own little world when out and about.
4. Enjoy life, any thing that you cannot prevent and is not covered by one of the above rules is out of your control any way.

No reason at all to change your life style.

[Cloudbringer]

In a word, NO! I figure we've let them win if we all cower under our beds and don't live the way we usually do. Of course we take precautions- I wouldn't sit next to some unclaimed bag on a bench in front of the federal building for long... But it's not making your life any better to sit and shake with fear about what might happen.

Doesn't mean I don't worry about the state of things in the world or here at home, just that if I stop shopping or going to work it only makes things bad for me.

Still, International travel is something you have to be concerned about, definitely. I guess it would all depend on how bad the traveler's warnings were when I was ready to go. I hope you have a good trip!

[Desdicado]

You know it's strange how Americans view international travel so differently to Europeans.
I read somewhere that 75% of Americans don't own a passport and have never left their country, that is amazing if it's true.
Most Europeans, even British who live on an island go abroad once or twice a year. In mainland Europe obviously it's much more.
So perhaps we don't worry about it so much. I suppose America is so much bigger so travelling to a different part of it would be just as different as going to another country?.

Desdicado, not so strange whenyou realize that "going abroad" for europeans only means traveling an hour on a train, it is similar to going state to state here, most people who live on the border with canada or mexico do eventually cross over for a visit now and then...its a matter of scale....

[Rikard_OHF]

Originally posted by Desdicado: You know it's strange how Americans view international travel so differently to Europeans. I read somewhere that 75% of Americans don't own a passport and have never left their country, that is amazing if it's true. Most Europeans, even British who live on an island go abroad once or twice a year. In mainland Europe obviously it's much more. So perhaps we don't worry about it so much. I suppose America is so much bigger so travelling to a different part of it would be just as different as going to another country?.

Going from brittan to holland is a lot closer then going from Washington to Florida not to mention California
If Dutch people wanna see either snow or sun we'll have to go abroad coz we have neither

[Attalus]

LOL, yeah, I love in a state that is almost as large as all of Europe. Johnny posted once that you can drive across all of the Netherlands in four hours. That will about get me to Austin. Which is indeed "abroad" from the rest of Texas.

[Rikard_OHF]

BTW Hierophant: please note that security measures on flights to USA and Canada are incredibly severe
Ur not allowed to acarry any kind of sharp object in ur hand luggage (this means that you will have to put ur nailclipper in ur checked in luggage)
Als they want to know where you live and where you gonna stay in the US which means you'll have to be on the airport like 3 houres in advance