Worldwide Travel Warning

Just saw that the U.S. State Dept has issued a worldwide travel warning thru Feb. 24th 2016. Kind of scary. Do we do something, or nothing? Cancel, not cancel? Have Feb. booked in Carib. and July booked in Europe. I guess just wait and see. Any other thoughts? :confused::confused::confused:

Leaving next month for our South American cruise - not even thinking of not going! Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a place on earth that is guaranteed to be safe from violence these days :mad: but I refuse to let fear rule my life. Life is just too precious to waste a moment of it living in fear of all the things that could happen, but probably won't. If Oceania is still going - so am I!:D

Clearly, it's serious right now. But I wouldn't worry about the Caribbean ... and July is a while off.

Still, the advantage is with the bad guys. They can choose a place to attack while defenders have to respond. That gives the bad guys the advantage.

Even so, we aren't cancelling our trips, at least not yet. Our next cruise is to leave Barcelona on 10/4/16 and after that we leave Miami for Lisbon in April 2017. We plan on spending time in Portugal with Danish friends after that cruise.

I remember when we were touring France shortly after 9/11 and the concierge at a museum we were visiting asked if we were afraid after the attacks, and we said no. Something can happen anytime but many of us refuse to change our lives because there are murderers are out there. You could be hit by a taxi in NYC as well as being attacked by terrorists.

Now, we might cancel our 10/15 and 04/16 trips depending on how things develop ... but I don't think we will. Time will tell.

I just saw a reader review in International Travel News last night where they were in Egypt, had a wonderful trip and rarely met other tourists. You have to make your decisions depending on the risks.

Right now our upcoming trips are transatlantics and so maybe it is easier for us to feel secure.

A while back we were considering a trip through Portugal with our Danish friends that would have taken place in the next few months ... for other reasons we have had to postpone that trip, but recent developments would NOT have made us change our plans.

Mura

The advisory is very general and lacks specifics. Not enough information for us to cancel a cruise. We are in Midtown Manhattan twice a week and travel via subway ...... Don't intend to change.

I think you have to go with how you feel, if you fill OK-you should go but add a little care when you travel. If something is going to happen it could happen right at home.

Let's always look at the good size of things and don't let the bad ones run your life.

We have medical reasons right now so we can't travel, but sometime next year when we get the OK, we can't wait to go someplace---any place really.

Rick

No, we do not plan on making changes. We are in just as much danger here at home. We live within 20 minutes of one nuclear plant and 1.5 hours from another. :eek:

We will be cruising the Caribbean in February and the British Isles in May. We are staying in Amsterdam and even going to Brussels for a day trip. The end of the cruise we will be in France, near Paris.

Travel Alert expires on February 24, 2016.

Wonder how they picked that expiration date? The terrorists must have told the government that they would be finished their work by then...

We recently returned from six weeks in London and are scheduled to be back there for the month of May 2016 and have absolutely no thoughts of canceling.

Wonder how they picked that expiration date? The terrorists must have told the government that they would be finished their work by then...

 

We recently returned from six weeks in London and are scheduled to be back there for the month of May 2016 and have absolutely no thoughts of canceling.

I thought the inclusion of an expiration date was most peculiar.

I doubt we will change plans but the world situation bears watching.

Security at JFK fell apart yesterday when a gate agent routed passengers from Mexico straight to the luggage claim area, bypassing immigration and customs. Our home land security at work. God help us.

Not changing plans BUT it is a concern.

Have no issues.. Sitting in Bahrain today. My only fear is the crazy drivers here, nearly got hit twice yesterday.

Have no issues.. Sitting in Bahrain today. My only fear is the crazy drivers here, nearly got hit twice yesterday.

I have a friend who lives in Port St. Lucie - his daughter is stationed in Bahrain. Small world.

We had something in 2016 booked but we were not sold on the itinerary. We canceled and we will stay close to home.

We have travelled to Egypt Kenya and other places amid even more specific travel warnings. We were very safe

My wife always reminds me that gabby Giffords was shot in front of our Safeway here in Tucson.

We just don't give in to fear

There are places even she won't go. Eg Syria Iraq Lebanon and right now Paris and Belgium.

It's a personal decision

Have no issues.. Sitting in Bahrain today. My only fear is the crazy drivers here, nearly got hit twice yesterday.

No issues until you have issues. No one in Paris had any problems until they did. From a famous song... You have to know when to hold them and know when to fold them.... Everyone has their own level of concern. Not sure what mine is yet. Hope for the best prepare for the worst. :):):)

Just saw that the U.S. State Dept has issued a worldwide travel warning thru Feb. 24th 2016. Kind of scary. Do we do something, or nothing? Cancel, not cancel? Have Feb. booked in Carib. and July booked in Europe. I guess just wait and see. Any other thoughts? :confused::confused::confused:

We saw a recent Rick Steves video on the topic. Unfortunately he equated the terrorism with actuarial events like car accidents and US gunshot events. It is much more than that. Yet still, the odds are in our favor because there are many more of us than them. I only hope we and our allies wipe them out quickly and not leave a vacuum for another crazy group to rise up. Maybe that is why they posted the February date.

It is a travel alert that the State Department has issued, not a travel warning or advisory which is more serious. Our trip cancellation insurance only kicks in in the case of a government travel warning or advisory.

Imagine a world wide travel warning. It would cost the insurance companies millions, maybe billions!

I live in Europe and am planning on visiting the US in 2016. Since this is a "world wide travel alert" AND your TSA don't seem to be very efficient perhaps I should change my plans and stay here in Switzerland?? I don't think so. Terrorists want us to be afraid. I am not willing to do what they want and plan to continue my life as I want to lead it. Which includes travel to countries like the US and UK (and France which is on my doorstep so to speak) which are all a lot less safe than Switzerland.

I do not see how I could possibly do otherwise...

I live in Europe and am planning on visiting the US in 2016. Since this is a "world wide travel alert" AND your TSA don't seem to be very efficient perhaps I should change my plans and stay here in Switzerland?? I don't think so. Terrorists want us to be afraid. I am not willing to do what they want and plan to continue my life as I want to lead it. Which includes travel to countries like the US and UK (and France which is on my doorstep so to speak) which are all a lot less safe than Switzerland.

 

I do not see how I could possibly do otherwise...

H...You have given me some confidence as we have a river cruise and O Sirena cruise scheduled for Spring of April/May 2016. I have not been feeling very warm and fuzzy about this trip especially since the World Wide Travel Alert was announced.

We are going from Budapest to Prague (Danube cruise) and then Adriatic and Italy on Sirena. If I had not purchased the Business Class Air and spent so much time planning I would have definitely cancelled.

I still may cancel as I have time prior to final payment, but am today trying to stay positive. Tomorrow could be another story.

We saw a recent Rick Steves video on the topic. Unfortunately he equated the terrorism with actuarial events like car accidents and US gunshot events. It is much more than that. Yet still, the odds are in our favor because there are many more of us than them. I only hope we and our allies wipe them out quickly and not leave a vacuum for another crazy group to rise up. Maybe that is why they posted the February date.[/QUOT

 

At the present time there are only "allies"on paper ... with the exception of

French and Russian actions... no one is really doing anything. There is no big plan and US politicians feel everything is under control and not a big thing.

That's how this whole problem got started.. and its going to take years to stop. No one really has an idea on what to or how to do it.

Couple that with the pointed and direct announcement by ISIL that they will be actively targeting Americans in the coming months in the US and abroad ... Just look to where the Syrian " refugees" are going and you have a good idea of where the risks will be.

I think the Feb date is just relative and subject to a lot of extensions... I plan to travel but to do so away from popular destinations and off the map... Africa and the Mid east are off my list for a long time

We saw a recent Rick Steves video on the topic. Unfortunately he equated the terrorism with actuarial events like car accidents and US gunshot events. It is much more than that. Yet still, the odds are in our favor because there are many more of us than them. I only hope we and our allies wipe them out quickly and not leave a vacuum for another crazy group to rise up. Maybe that is why they posted the February date.[/QUOT

 

At the present time there are only "allies"on paper ... with the exception of

French and Russian actions... no one is really doing anything. There is no big plan and US politicians feel everything is under control and not a big thing.

That's how this whole problem got started.. and its going to take years to stop. No one really has an idea on what to or how to do it.

Couple that with the pointed and direct announcement by ISIL that they will be actively targeting Americans in the coming months in the US and abroad ... Just look to where the Syrian " refugees" are going and you have a good idea of where the risks will be.

I think the Feb date is just relative and subject to a lot of extensions... I plan to travel but to do so away from popular destinations and off the map... Africa and the Mid east are off my list for a long time

Very well said and to the point. Hope things get better and not worse.

TSA being not efficient. That is why TSA stands for Thousands Standing Around.

As far feeling safe -- I feel safer here (now in Qatar and tomorrow is a Kuwait day)) than when I lived in the metro DC/Baltimore area or when driving through certain parts of Miami.

Unfortunately Bob/Laraine -- now Syria I draw the line at :D (Beirut is OK).

I live in Europe and am planning on visiting the US in 2016. Since this is a "world wide travel alert" AND your TSA don't seem to be very efficient perhaps I should change my plans and stay here in Switzerland?? I don't think so. Terrorists want us to be afraid. I am not willing to do what they want and plan to continue my life as I want to lead it. Which includes travel to countries like the US and UK (and France which is on my doorstep so to speak) which are all a lot less safe than Switzerland.

 

I do not see how I could possibly do otherwise...

Hi - good to see you on CC. Just wanted to comment about efficiency of TSA. We flew out of Vancouver, British Columbia last week. While the terror alerts were not as high as this week, they were still pretty high. After clearing x-ray I looked for my plastic bag of "liquids" only to discover that I forgot to take them out and they were still in my carry-on bag. It was not reassuring that they did not notice. This is something that checkers in Heathrow would have caught in a second!

Still would not change our plans for anything. We are not going to live in fear -- this is exactly what terrorists hope we will do. I will admit to not flying on U.S. based airlines if we can help it -- not due to fear but due to service and attitude of crew on United, American and Delta Airlines (just to name a few).