Does Fear Affect Your Travels?

The world is not what it used to be.  Terrorism, from radicalized groups and homegrown, seems to be regular events now days.  This is especially true of big cities like Paris, New York, Boston, London, Los Angeles, Orlando etc.  Sometimes the event is simply a scare, while other times a few people get injured, and others are serious events with mass casualties.  Given this, does fear affect your travels?

Everyone is different and handles terror events and random acts of violence differently.  I know some that think it’s safer to avoid places that have recently experienced a significant act of violence.  Others think traveling away from home is too dangerous; period.  Then there’s the train of thought I believe; what happens, happens.  There’s no reason to let fear rule and limit you.

I firmly believe anywhere you travel will not be completely safe.  And as scary as these larger terror-type events are, they really aren’t that common.  Violent crimes are far more common, and even those incidences aren’t super common.  What’s more common are everyday dangers, such as driving to the airport or crossing the street.  Of course all frequent travelers know that saying that “you’re more likely to die in your car on the way to the airport than in a plane crash.”

Well, in my opinion, the same holds true for being a victim of one of these terror events.  Terror isn’t even the most likely incident to happen, too.  If the past years has proven anything, it’s that home-grown, non-terror related crimes are becoming more common; especially hate crimes.

To me, while you can never truly prepare for these events, but you should always remain vigilant.  Especially in a large city you aren’t familiar with, you should be vigilant for things like pickpockets.  So instead of just watching for pickpockets, watch for any unusual behavior, period.  And while those naysayers here in Hawaii think they’re completely safe, that isn’t necessarily true either.  Yes our crime rate is low and the chance of a big incident is minimal, Hawaii remains a VERY strategic target.  We are home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, the Barking Sands Missile Test Range, etc.  We are a prime target for any North Korean, Chinese, and maybe even Russian aggression.

So, what happens, happens.  Just live life!