Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the tragedy in Paris. What is there for me to add? We live in a scary, crazy world where brainwashed individuals do unimaginable things to innocent people. But the thing is, my family is planning to go to Paris in 1.5 years. Yes, even after this incident.
Why Paris and not Egypt which I talked about last week? Well, there are a couple of reasons. Our families will feel better about us traveling to the first one, and that’s important to me. France is also much easier to visit than Egypt in relation to Belarus, my home country. It will be a stopover point, and help us break up our journey. If you have small kids, you know how important it is to set reasonable travel goals. Not that I’m a perfect example in this respect…
I honestly don’t think that Paris is safer than Egypt. In fact, I don’t think any place is safe at this point. We live in rural Florida, and just a few weeks ago, there was an incident in a neighboring city. One guy was planning to leave a bomb in a doctor’s office. We are talking sleepy town filled with retirees. Fortunately, he was caught before his evil plan came to fruition.
If we only choose to vacation in USA, what cities would be considered totally safe? New York? Washington DC? Charleston? I think we all know the answer to that question. I’m not planning to stop living my life and doing things that I love, like travel. Statistically, the most dangerous part of a trip is a drive to the airport. Yet, people drive every day and think nothing of it.
That said, it would be foolish not to take certain precautions. I was on the fence about staying in a chain property or a small hotel/apartment in Paris. I’m pretty sure we’ll go with the latter. Of course, it doesn’t guarantee that we will be 100% safe, but it would make us less of a target. We will also be careful not to broadcast our American and Russian origins, for obvious reasons. Talk about a perfect ethnic storm.
Most of the pre-attack, common sense travel advice still applies. Any time you go to a large city, you have to be vigilant and aware of your surroundings. As crazy as it sounds, in all likelihood, Paris will be the safest European city to visit for the next couple of years. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. So, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Paris, here we come! Well, 1.5 years from now.
Readers, have your travel plans changed due to recent violent events? Why or why not?
Image courtesy of Sira Anamwong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
I’ll keep traveling. We are trying to get to New York for our next trip. It makes me a little bit nervous, but we can’t live in fear. Like you said, we could get in an accident on the way to the airport. I’d probably wait a little on Paris though. Well, who am I kidding? We won’t be going to Paris anytime soon…but it’s not because of terrorists.
@Jennifer I agree! I hope you make it to New York. The thing is: You can stay home and something could hit you over the head, or your house could burn down. Where do we draw the line?
Honestly, I doubt we would be going to Paris in a near future if my family didn’t live in Belarus. The extra expense to add a stopover isn’t huge, especially since we have to spend the night somewhere anyway. So, I figured, why not Paris, right? Of course, I plan to add extra few days!
i would LOVE to run into you in paris! i think a year and a half sounds about right with the fear factor as it stands now.
@Jerri Sounds good! Though, I’d hate to disappoint you. My real life persona isn’t all that interesting. ;(
@Jerri I completely understand. You want to make sure that everyone is enjoying their vacation. If not, then what’s the point? Maybe it’s better for some time to go by. I asked my husband if our plans were still on, and he said Yes. If he told me that he was uncomfortable with Paris, I would go in a different direction. Of course, our trip isn’t going to materialize for 1.5 years, so things could change between now an then.
Thanks for sharing, and I hope you make it to Paris one of these days! Maybe we will run into each other.
ha. funny you should mention that. our family of 5 had plans to go to paris in january. of all the places in the world, that’s where we were going. 4 out of 5 voted to cancel. so that’s what we did. just made me sick to do it, but i would be so nervous walking the streets there, it just wasn’t worth it.