Safety While Traveling

Safety while traveling is a common topic of conversation, especially when the media continuously brings up concerning situations that have happened to travelers. Clients that are currently booked for a destination or considering their next getaway often ask themselves and me as an experienced travel agent, "Is it going to be safe to travel to ____________?". Unfortunately, there is no one easy Yes or No answer.

 

The media loves when something bad or concerning happens somewhere and they start to blow stories way out of proportion, along with finding past stories in that same destination to bring up so that the general population gets more and more concerned. These news stories generally don't have the full truth or there are various 'holes' of information missing.

 

In the grand scheme of things, millions of people travel to these "troublesome" destinations each year and yes, legitimate issues certainly do arise. However, the majority of those travelers have no issues at all. Also, millions of people living in the United States or traveling around our own country each year have safety issues and security concerns. But, that doesn't mean we should just stay at home and never travel.

 

The truth is that we live in a world (regardless of location on the map) that sometimes has some very disturbed people who want to cause harm to others. It's not isolated to countries outside the United States and unfortunately, I believe there's really no way to completely avoid possible harm. I do believe that you need to be aware of your surroundings and exercise caution no matter where you are.

 

My goal isn't to persuade people to travel somewhere they won't feel safe, but I like to put everything into perspective. Though there may be possible safety and security concerns in a certain destination, I am certain that there are also safety and security concerns even 'in our own backyards'.