i picked the worst time for a europe vacation :(

[chin311]

I can see why you would hesitate but if I booked it, I'd go. Not only because you are going to lose the $$ for nothing if you don't but because like already stated, what are the odds?

Personally, I have far too many places I want to visit inside the U S of A before I even think about going overseas, doesn't really interest me that much at this point in my life. That and I hate long plane rides lol

 

[Perknose]

Lol, in 1968 my parent's huge tourist bus got rocked WAY back and forth by protesters in Paris.

In the mid '70s, I had to evacuate a huge dance bar in London for a bomb scare. The scare was real, the IRA had bombed the Woolwich Aresenal, the next stop on the line from Woolwich (London suburb) where I was staying in a house with a group of actors in the Royal Shakespeare Company, having met the ex-gf of one while crossing the US previously.

A couple of years later, a group of us in a car got "extra judicially" stopped in France right next to Monaco by a phalanx of German plainclothes operatives, automatic weapons drawn, searching for the Red Brigade folks who assassinated Hans Martin Schleyer. Unlike US swat teams, they were polite and professional.

Which reminds me . . . some years earlier in LA, I was walking/hitchhiking home to Hollywood from Venice Beach one bright, sunny Monday. I was crossing a big boulevard on foot in front of a long row of motorcycle mounted swatties. Unbeknownst to me, Nixon was visiting Century City. Anyway, I about halfway across this array, alone on the pedestrian path, long hair just a flowin' in the wind, don't you know, when I hear a big, booming voice say, "You're in trouble now, boy."

I just kept on walking.

Good times! :biggrin:

 

[MarkXIX]

Statistically you're far more likely to die in a car accident in either country than you are to be a victim of terrorism.

When I deployed to Afghanistan a few years ago my wife's co-workers and friends at the university more or less chastised her for "allowing" me to do something so unsafe.

I pointed out that more people would die in traffic accidents in our home state daily than were dying in Afghanistan at the time that I was headed there. At first she didn't believe me, so I showed her the stats.

Funny how dumb the average person is with regards to such things.

 

[Perknose]

Did anyone else read the thread title and immediately think of Airplane?

 

[sontakke]

I read in the news that a young American lad called Mason Wells, survived the attacks in Belgium at Airport Zaventem. He is heavily wounded but lives.
He was present in the same city with previous terrorist attacks already, for a total of three.

The first attack in Boston Massachusetts (within a mile), marathon bombing , April 15 2013.

The second attack was in Paris France, last year, November 13 2015.

Poor kid.

If this guy's name was Abdul Salam, would you still say "poor kid" or would he be already in the custody? Think about it!

 

[JoeBleed]

Did anyone else read the thread title and immediately think of Airplane?

no, but now i want to watch Airplane.....

 

[Imp]

Statistically you're far more likely to die in a car accident in either country than you are to be a victim of terrorism.

When I deployed to Afghanistan a few years ago my wife's co-workers and friends at the university more or less chastised her for "allowing" me to do something so unsafe.

I pointed out that more people would die in traffic accidents in our home state daily than were dying in Afghanistan at the time that I was headed there. At first she didn't believe me, so I showed her the stats.

Funny how dumb the average person is with regards to such things.

I got shit from my entire family for even seriously considering enlisting -- desk/tech jobs, not infantry or other combat.

Well, I didn't. Instead, my job had me walking on freeway shoulders, a foot or two from trucks doing 70 mph. Got to cross freeways and highways all the time, stand in active traffic lanes with my back to traffic, climb up/down steep embankments in the middle of nowhere, etc.

 

[ElFenix]

I got shit from my entire family for even seriously considering enlisting -- desk/tech jobs, not infantry or other combat.

Well, I didn't. Instead, my job had me walking on freeway shoulders, a foot or two from trucks doing 70 mph. Got to cross freeways and highways all the time, stand in active traffic lanes with my back to traffic, climb up/down steep embankments in the middle of nowhere, etc.

One of those guys collecting trash from the side of the road, eh? Those orange jumpsuits look hot.

 

[zinfamous]

yeah but plane tickets be cheap soon. some would say it's the perfect time.

 

[zinfamous]

Did anyone else read the thread title and immediately think of Airplane?

well, yeah, but most of every day of my life is "X made me think of Airplane!"

 

[Perknose]

I got shit from my entire family for even seriously considering enlisting -- desk/tech jobs, not infantry or other combat.

Well, I didn't. Instead, my job had me walking on freeway shoulders, a foot or two from trucks doing 70 mph. Got to cross freeways and highways all the time, stand in active traffic lanes with my back to traffic, climb up/down steep embankments in the middle of nowhere, etc.

Thank you for your service. ()

 

[MixMasterTang]

Did anyone else read the thread title and immediately think of Airplane?

What's your vector Victor?

 

[Imp]

One of those guys collecting trash from the side of the road, eh? Those orange jumpsuits look hot.

Oh, man, I wish I worked in a chain-gang... That would have been funner and safer.

 

[biostud]

Visit the countryside.

 

[zinfamous]

You're more likely to die from a lightning strike than be killed by a terrorist.

More likely to get killed crossing the street or driving to work as well.

Just go, and stop panicking over the "if it bleeds, it leads" media hysterics.

P.S. Homicides by firearm are another overblown media frenzy. Those have trended down for the past two decades and your relative risk of dying from any sort of violent crime is really, really low.

you know..maybe? When people use these numbers, they tend to use them across the entire world population, so, yeah: no shit.

How about the chances of being in an attack in a region of the world where the potential is far more concentrated? I wonder if rolling off those numbers to an Iraqi is actually useful? I doubt it.

You know who's more likely to get killed by a coconut than in a plane crash? The guy that's stranded on a desert island with nothing but a single palm tree, that's who! and you know...I bet that guy would love the opportunity to die in a plane crash. :Hmm:

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I'll be there in July. I figure LA or NY is just as likely to be hit anyways.

 

[JEDI]

well, if there's an attack and i stop posting, then you'll know why

can I haz your stuff?

 

[brianmanahan]

9/11 happened in the U.S., and the OP didn't move out of the country for the sake of safety. In other words, the OP is either trolling, or an idiot incapable of assessing realistic risks.

but living in the middle of nowhere ohio is a lot different than living in new york city

the state department has issued a warning until june and CNN reports that

Ahead of the Paris attacks, Western intelligence received fragmentary information that ISIS external operations division dispatched 60 operatives to hit five cities, including Paris, London, Berlin, a major city in Belgium and another city. Paris mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud boasted of some 90 ISIS operatives already in Europe.

so they knew about paris and belgium getting attacked... and those attacks happened.

now i feel stupid for buying these tickets in the first place. i should probably just play it safe. nobody in my family has been outside of the US or canada in the past 100 years and they were all fine. maybe when i'm retired things will be better and i can go then.

i think i'll call priceline tomorrow and see if this qualifies for a cancellation, or at least a credit to another vacation package. i doubt it but you never know.

 

[JEDI]

now i feel stupid for buying these tickets in the first place. i should probably just play it safe. nobody in my family has been outside of the US or canada in the past 100 years and they were all fine. maybe when i'm retired things will be better and i can go then.

i think i'll call priceline tomorrow and see if this qualifies for a cancellation, or at least a credit to another vacation package. i doubt it but you never know.

your being overly paranoid.
plus only 30ish people got killed in Belgium in a city of millions.

now if they nuked the city and millions died... then yeah cancel your plans.

go, enjoy yourself.
stop being scared of your own shadow

 

[AznAnarchy99]

but living in the middle of nowhere ohio is a lot different than living in new york city

the state department has issued a warning until june and CNN reports that



so they knew about paris and belgium getting attacked... and those attacks happened.

now i feel stupid for buying these tickets in the first place. i should probably just play it safe. nobody in my family has been outside of the US or canada in the past 100 years and they were all fine. maybe when i'm retired things will be better and i can go then.

i think i'll call priceline tomorrow and see if this qualifies for a cancellation, or at least a credit to another vacation package. i doubt it but you never know.

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/03/24/state-department-warning-europe-safe/

 

[WelshBloke]

nobody in my family has been outside of the US or canada in the past 100 years and they were all fine. maybe when i'm retired things will be better and i can go then.

Try living a little before you die.

 

[brianmanahan]

maybe i can just avoid the underground and busses. i could just rent a bike and use that all week (except for going to and from the airport).

holy crap... i just realized that 2 of the 7/7/2005 london bombings happened within 1500 feet of my hotel...

 

[SSSnail]

Have you seen those Final Destinations movies? Well, if it's your time to go, you go. You can't escape death. What if by avoiding this trip because some silly nonsense, you die on your crapper because of a light fixture fell on your head?

 

[disappoint]

maybe i can just avoid the underground and busses. i could just rent a bike and use that all week (except for going to and from the airport).

holy crap... i just realized that 2 of the 7/7/2005 london bombings happened within 1500 feet of my hotel...

Holy crap I just realized that all the bombings we know of all occurred on Earth. Better GTFO the planet little one.

 

[Markbnj]

Brian, you are a broad and burly man. Surely you understand probability? Go and have a good time. Of course, if you do go and have a good time and then get blown to shit I won't feel bad because probability.