Random Musings
I’ve been doing some stuff for BaliBlog today, and I got to thinking about visiting. I’ve mentioned this before, but I was supposed to visit Bali in December of 2002. After the bombing in October, however, I changed my mind and decided to spend time in Western Australia instead. Although I loved my time in WA, I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t visit whenever I read Nick’s entries and look at comments from people who are so passionate about the island. At the time, I justified my decision not to go as saying that it would cause my family unnecessary worry, I’d already been someplace where terrorism is a concern and in hindsight, knew it wasn’t the smartest idea (Israel in the summer of 2001), and that my Aussie boyfriend had already been there, so there was no reason for us to spend that amount of money to go someplace that he had already been.
The bombings wouldn’t stop me from going there now, and I hope that fear won’t stop me from visiting places in the future. There is smart fear and stupid fear. The problem is drawing the line between ‘ok, with caution’ (whatever that means) and ‘no, I think that’s stupid.’ For instance, I wouldn’t go to Iraq right now, but I’d probably go to Bosnia if the opportunity arose. I’d also probably go to Georgia and a number of other not-so-nice, but that’s probably due to the lack of media coverage and thus, my ignorance. There is so much of the world to see, I don’t feel compelled to take on the world’s most dangerous places…whatever they are at the time. I guess the most dangerous place is wherever the bomb goes off that day, and you’re there.
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Comments
Court raises an interesting point, and leaves me wondering… how do you “handle” uneasy family when their concerns have some traction? I mean, its all good to dismiss them as worry-warts, but if you’re going someplace that has (as Equifax would put it) “recent negative history,” what can you say? Perhaps one way is to remind them (at least for us ‘Mercans) that by many standards, we live in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Is that legit? I dunno, I’ve got grits for brains right now.
Great comments here by people who are in the “travel” mindset. Anyhow, my take is that a certain amount of fear is healthy, consideration for others is also fine, but in the end, you have to follow your heart, your gut and if that means somewhere that may be a bit more dangerous than others (is there a “safe” place?) go, don’t look back.
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I agree completely Court…working in the escorted, group tour industry with a mostly older clientale this is a true concern all the time. What is ironic though, is that people will over-react (thanks to our lovely media coverage overdoing everything), cancel a trip or change to a different “safe” location. Then something will happen in the “safe” country and they’ll want to change back to the previous destination. Unless a place is TRULY unsafe…such as Iraq right now, Sierre Leone, etc these terrorist attacks are so random there is no way to gauge how safe you’ll really be. It comes down to common sense, paying attention to your surroundings, and not looking like the obvious rich American. Thank goodness for the web now providing invaluable on-the-ground info from people who are actually in these locations so you can know before you go what the real situation is.
Safe travels all!
Rhonda