Has terrorism affected your retirement plans?

audreyh1 said:
Attempted coups make things more difficult for tourists. Rules can change suddenly. If there is civil unrest - can be really bad.
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Yeah, I've experienced this first hand. Tanks and soldiers everywhere give a certain new perspective. :(

Wasn't suggesting it was ok to go right now, just that once (and if) things settle down, you can still plan on visiting. No rush. :)
 
MichaelB said:
Yeah, I've experienced this first hand. Tanks and soldiers everywhere give a certain new perspective. :(
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Oh, yeah!
Was in Argentina a few weeks after the coup in 1976.

Most interesting airport security I've ever seen. You had to line up with your bag and an Argentine Air Force soldier would stick the muzzle of his automatic rifle up your left nostril (as I recall it :D ) while opening your bag with his other hand and feeling around in it for (whatever). You just hoped his hand didn't encounter anything suspicious. When he was satisfied, he withdrew the muzzle from your nostril and you were allowed to zip up your bag and continue on to the boarding gate.

There were sandbagged machine gun nests on most intersections in downtown Buenos Aires, and roving patrols everywhere.

Interestingly, apart from those details, the city was utterly normal and it was a perfectly delightful visit.
 
Only indirectly. Flying has become so miserable DH and I rarely fly anymore unless it's a REALLY long distance (think Midwest to Alaska). It's partly the race to the bottom in service and quality of flying, but the TSA process is so awful and unpredictable that I find my blood pressure decreasing substantially once I get past the checkpoint. OK. Now I REALLY know if I'm on time to make my plane.


We were never big on the idea of traveling to the Middle East, even Turkey. I could see us staying away form France right now if we were planning a European trip. I feel very bad for all the good people in France who depend on tourism for their livelihood.
 
No, it hasn't affected our travel plans. I have always thought that when I die, it would be better to go being eaten by a tiger on some glorious adventure, than drowning in my own spittle in a nursing home. So, no, other than avoiding obvious war zones, I say go for it.
 
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Zika has pretty much ruled out South/Central America for the short term, at least until more is known about what the disease can mean. (I'm one of those people who gets 25 bites for your 1).

Other than that, no. Pretty much every major passenger flight disaster (4/5 or so) of the last few years... I was on different flight within a 24 hour window of each, and I don't travel THAT often. So either fly with me, or stay grounded when I'm going airborne.
 
Aerides said:
Zika has pretty much ruled out South/Central America for the short term, at least until more is known about what the disease can mean. (I'm one of those people who gets 25 bites for your 1).

Other than that, no. Pretty much every major passenger flight disaster (4/5 or so) of the last few years... I was on different flight within a 24 hour window of each, and I don't travel THAT often. So either fly with me, or stay grounded when I'm going airborne.
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Zika is one I haven't worried about since I'm well past childbearing age and the onset is mild, from what I understand. It can be sexually transmitted, but I am in a monogamous relationship. Guess I have to work that one out with DH.

Dengue is more frightening. They are finally making inroads with a vaccine. The problem with Dengue is that there are four strains, and exposure to one makes you more susceptible to bad outcomes if exposed to other strains. The vaccine has to handle all four at once otherwise they put the vaccinee at greater risk.

Chikungunya is pretty miserable, but not life threatening like Dengue, from what I understand.
 
The whole point of terrorism is not to kill a lot of people just to kill them, but to thereby spread fear and affect the lives of as many people in the target country as possible. If I change my plans due to the acts of a terrorist, they have been successful. As a matter of principle, I will not do that. It is the same reason that I put on my suit and went back to work in Manhattan on 9/12/01.

Besides, I have to die someday. I might as well make the news when I do.
 
Yes I'm past the child-bearing age too, and DH got that taken care of for me. But it seems the experts still aren't sure on all that it can cause, for men too (guillain Barre etc.). So I'd rather wait till that's better understood. Just figured no rush for costa rica next year which would be a go to otherwise. We love to go to Japan which seems to be a non-target area, but that's more likely a plan for 2019 (nicely ahead of the 2020 olympics), we were just there last year and I don't need to be tempted to go back!
 
We have written off a few countries due to the terror or unrest, like Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, etc.
Largely the issue is not that we expect to get killed in a crowd, pretty unlikely.
It's more that we are tourists, we don't know the area, we can easily be tricked/led or found wandering around a deadly place.

Someone mentioned the killing rate is high in Chicago, and it is currently about 2,100 shootings with 300 deaths so far this year, sounds pretty bad, but if you know to stay out of the South and West parts of the city, it's pretty safe.
I'll go to downtown Chicago for various things and only worry about normal crime. I stay out of the West and South side.
 
I own a small apartment in Paris I rent to tourists, mainly American. 2015 was way down - not surprising with horrible attacks at both the start and end of the year. This year seems to be tracking more like the average with no last minute cancels. But the world is a messy and ugly place - unfortunately no where is perfectly safe.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
When I heard about the attempted coup in Turkey last night, I thought "Wow... guess my comment on E-R.org about avoiding Istanbul was more prescient than I expected." Of course, this wasn't related to terrorism, but still, being trapped even for a day or two in a country undergoing a military coup would be pretty terrifying. I just think it's wise in this current era of geopolitical upheaval and Islamist threats to think very carefully about visiting certain countries for a while. Turkey is definitely near the top of my "most eager to visit" list, but I'm OK waiting until things get a bit more stable before making any trip plans.
 
I'm making sure my car tail lights are working properly.
 
We had a trip to Istanbul booked for this August, which we ended up cancelling a couple of months ago (we're spending more time in Italy instead). At the time, it was mostly because our non-stop flight was changed to a stop-over flight that wasn't nearly as convenient. But this was a booking we hedged and made sure we could cancel without penalties. In retrospect, I'm glad we did. I'd really like to visit Istanbul, but we decided that as tourists, we want to be on vacation, not thinking about security, etc. Istanbul isn't going anywhere.

We are visiting Paris for a few days, in addition to other bigger European cities, and aren't worried. Odds are that we'll be fine.
 
I have gotten to the point where cities and large crowds make me uncomfortable, and the TSA has made airline travel unbearable. If I cannot feasibly drive there, I generally do not want to go.
 
Unfortunately its in everyones minds now. Whether you want to admit it or not. Doesnt mean you have to change your travel or retirement plans...but in the back of your mind creeps the thought of terrorism. Its what they wanted and its what they got. The media doesnt help either.
 
ponyboy said:
Unfortunately its in everyones minds now. Whether you want to admit it or not. Doesnt mean you have to change your travel or retirement plans...but in the back of your mind creeps the thought of terrorism. Its what they wanted and its what they got. The media doesnt help either.
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So is fear of cancer, drunk drivers and the IRS, to name a few that I'm much more afraid of.
 
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