Has terrorism affected your retirement plans?

[Avocadorunner]

One of the most common post-retirement plans is foreign travel. Has the "new normal" of terrorism changed your travel retirement plans? DW and I are now reconsidering the walking African safari trip. Yes, we had events in San Bernardino and Orlando, but I'm still more confident in the security at LAX compared to Addis Abada.

 

[Ronstar]

Not worried about our upcoming trip to Ireland and England, but I'm a little nervous about going to the Chicago Tall Ships Festival

 

[Sojourner]

Definitely, yes. There are a number of places I would love to visit, like the pyramids in Egypt or the historic city of Istanbul, that I would be very reluctant to go anywhere near these days. When a massive terrorist attack can hit a quaint city like Nice, you have to think that it's a serious problem worth paying attention to when planning any kind of international travel.

 

[audreyh1]

No.

We will be in Nice in two months. Not making any changes.

9/11 happened two years after our retiring. That's a long time ago now. It didn't change our plans then, but once the airline carry on rules changed to one bag we were no longer able to carry on our large camera gear. So we quit flying to photo destinations with long lenses.

But we didn't stop traveling. There were plenty of places not safe to travel to in 2000.

Personally I don't think major cities in the US are any safer than Europe.

 

[Sojourner]

Personally I don't think major cities in the US are any safer than Europe.

As much as I'd like to agree with this, I think you just have to count the number of terrorist attacks across Europe over the past year or two and compare that with the (much, much smaller) number of attacks in U.S. cities. Of course, the absolute risk of being killed in a terrorist attack is very small, even in relatively dangerous places. Still, though, it's pretty clear that Europe is more dangerous from a terrorism perspective right now than the U.S. is.

 

[MichaelB]

We're headed to Germany next week, and shortly after returning will go spend a couple of weeks in Florida. Never even considered changing our plans and hope to do more later in the year.

Can't and won't spend my life living in fear, and there's no reason to think we're any safer staying at home. My guess is the local highways are just as dangerous as any trip.

 

[Alan]

Terrorism hasn't changed our travel plans. My wife was in England when the terrorist attacks hit London in 2005 but it didn't stop her spending a week in London the following week. (her closest Tube station was closed due to damage from one of the bombs).

We are in England at present and will be spending 2 weeks in Belgium next month, driving there with BIL and his wife, and meeting up with SIL and her husband who will be joining us for 1 of the weeks.

 

[languagefan]

Brazil

I travelled across Brazil last year and am convinced that US is as dangerous a place as Brazil and other countries in the continent.
My son is an American citizen [mod edit]

 

[Bestwifeever]

Not really. We were in Germany last month and I will say we traveled more quietly and with our eyes wide open in the airports. I didn't notice a very high level of security, though--they must stay in the background. We did have a second level of screening at our layover in Stockholm.

 

[W2R]

No, it hasn't.

TRAVEL:
We don't have any desire to travel in retirement. I suppose in an imaginary world, in which there are no terrorists or TSA and in which coach seats on planes are huge with lots of leg room, we might have flown to Pittsburg or DC for a weekend just for casual fun. But overall, flying has become a drag over the past 50 years or so and recent terrorism isn't the only factor in that.

LOCAL EVENTS:
Local events with massive numbers of [-]targets[/-] people in attendance generally do not appeal to us very much because of the crowds. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is just an unavoidable sea of people everywhere but at least we do not go down to Bourbon St (we stay home, and the parades come to us since we are on a parade route). We don't have any desire to attend Saints games, concerts with thousands in the audience, or the malls just before Christmas.

Life in retirement is just what we wanted.

 

[braumeister]

We had a trip to the Munich Oktoberfest scheduled when 9/11 happened, and our flight was just two weeks later. Didn't even consider cancelling the trip, and actually felt very safe due to all the new extra security (although DW is still miffed at having her monogrammed Swiss Army knife (all of 1.25 inches in length) confiscated by the Munich airport security.

What the bad guys want is to scare us, and I refuse to give them what they want.

 

[MRG]

I refuse to let anyone or anything control me, so no!

I was one of the first, for Megacorp, back on an airline after 9/11. My manager asked for volunteers to go. Another fellow and I went, we were told we could rent a vehicle and drive for 18 hours. We both said thanks how about an airplane.

I remember in '96 traveling with DW to the Netherlands. The first day there the news about TWA Flight 800 broke. It was particularly difficult for us, the French class that perished was from our little home town. They'd published the names and we recognized some kids who were children of our high school classmates. While terrorism was not found to be the cause at that time no one knew.

I can't control anything in this world but myself so when it's my time...

 

[aja8888]

No, it hasn't.

We don't have any desire to travel in retirement.

Also, local events with massive numbers of [-]targets[/-] people in attendance generally do not appeal to us very much because of the crowds. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is just an unavoidable sea of people everywhere but at least we do not go down to Bourbon St. We don't have any desire to attend Saints games, concerts with thousands in the audience, or the malls just before Christmas.

Life in retirement is just what we wanted.

Same for us. Our "big" travel days are over. A few U.S. trips here and there are all that is planned and those will be near our spread out families.

I (not DW) have been in enough third world dangerous places for previous work assignments that were not safe years ago and I would guess they are way less safe now.

Seeing what is going on now, even the "safe places" are really not as safe as before and appear to be potential targets for the bad guys. That takes most international travel out of the equation for us. (plus we have been to all we care to visit previously)

 

[Lakewood90712]

It has for me. No overseas travel. I am now solely responsible for an elder and care , If something happened to me it would have a major effect on that.

As for me, if it was only me, I would go ahead and travel anywhere. If I was killed in some incident, I sure wouldn't care.

 

[W2R]

I (not DW) have been in enough third world dangerous places for previous work assignments that were not safe years ago and I would guess they are way less safe now.

+1000
You really "get it", IMO. I spent my childhood being dragged through some of the worst places imaginable and have no desire to go back. To call these places armpits of the world would be too complimentary. Disease, famine, wrenching poverty, war, massacres, political instability, and so on are not very appealing characteristics for a destination.

Seeing what is going on now, even the "safe places" are really not as safe as before and appear to be potential targets for the bad guys. That takes most international travel out of the equation for us. (plus we have been to all we care to visit previously)

Same here. International travel is just one type of life experience, and there are other aspects of life that I missed throughout the years and that I'd like to experience now.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Yes. It was why we chose Iceland this year as opposed to European capitals. I doubt I'll ever see Egypt although I would love to.

Fortunately, I'm not all that interested in seeing too many cities. Nowadays with Starbucks and McDonalds, they no longer feel unique.

I also think we should stop labeling these jackasses "terrorists" and "militants" and simply call them something horrible and shameful in their language that translates do something on the order of "dung beetle".


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[FIREd]

Our retirement plan has always been to spend part of the year in Europe (and a fair amount of it in France). Last time we left for Europe was the day after the Brussels airport was attacked. We did not have to think very long to decide to go ahead with our trip. The recent attacks in France won't dissuade us to spend time there either.

 

[brett]

We have toured Turkey and Greece independently several times over the past few years. Cannot say that we would stay home. We either went through London or Paris. Both cities have experienced terrorism.

The only time we have really thought about it is Egypt. On our bucket list but we have never come down to making a decision. We hesitated for a moment when deciding a car tour of South Africa. Not because of terrorism but because of the high crime rate. But in the end we went and had a wonderful three weeks.

There has been terrorism in many places. Certainly in our country and in the USA. We are as much concerned about crime and the preponderance of guns when we visit certain areas in the US as we are about terrorism.

 

[bclover]

As much as I'd like to agree with this, I think you just have to count the number of terrorist attacks across Europe over the past year or two and compare that with the (much, much smaller) number of attacks in U.S. cities. Of course, the absolute risk of being killed in a terrorist attack is very small, even in relatively dangerous places. Still, though, it's pretty clear that Europe is more dangerous from a terrorism perspective right now than the U.S. is.

But we do have a very serious homicide problem especially with gun violence in major cities. I mean dead is dead whether it's by a terrorist or a random act of violence.

I'm not a huge international traveler so it maybe that I have no horse in this race so to speak but these events have not made me rethink any of my plans.

I still went to see the fireworks on the Ben Franklin Parkway, I still plan on going to the DNC activities (I'm not politically active but it is a huge event here in Philly). I don't live to far from where the annual Made in America outdoor concert is held so I still plan on going there. all are events that will draw a bunch of folks and have the potential for something happening.

what other choice do I have?? I do want to go to Greece and I will get around to going. terrorist is so far down the list of worries for me.

 

[Options]

Not mine, but I wouldn't be surprised if some from the Bahamas didn't change their plans. Chicago is a bit of a war zone with the murder rate being what it is, and I'd be concerned if I were going there, but I'm not.

 

[Meadbh]

There has been terrorism in many places. Certainly in our country and in the USA. We are as much concerned about crime and the preponderance of guns when we visit certain areas in the US as we are about terrorism.

I agree!

 

[frayne]

Nope, still planning on my backpacking trip in the Hindu Kush area of Pakistan and Afghanistan next month. What could possibly go wrong.

 

[Lcountz]

ALl the focus on plane travel, large cities, large public gatherings at significant events..

How about these new super size cruise ships that hold 6500+ people? I don't even want to think what could happen if one were attacked at sea.....

I get anxious now when I turn on the TeeVee each morning....what will today's tragic story be?

 

[FUEGO]

Not so far. We're 1 hour away from heading out on a trip to Toronto for a few weeks and I figure that must be up there with other major cities as targets.

It has made us think carefully about a potential 2017 summer trip to Europe. We haven't even begun looking at dates or flights so we aren't at the go/no-go decision point yet. A few more of these attacks might deter us toward another safer destination (like a road trip across the US or a couple months in Mexico lol).

 

[Dash man]

We actually just booked a transatlantic cruise to Barcelona for this spring. Planning on flying to Paris after a couple days in Barcelona since DW has never been there. She is nervous and doesn't want to book anything that isn't refundable yet. We'll see...


Enjoying life!