I would dearly love to go to Ireland, sometime soon if not actually this summer. During a phone call about this last night, my mother was:
a) Surprised that I meant to do it, despite the fact I’ve been talking about who could go with me for several months now.
b) Aghast that I would be willing to go during “all this.” (I presume “all this” meant the 9-11 attacks, the war in Afghanistan, and the Israeli-Palestinian situation. As my mother’s a fearful person, “all this” is a highly elastic term.)
I’m really not afraid to travel. I’ve checked the State Department’s Travel Warnings page and found nothing new about Ireland. I have as much faith in the security measures at airports as I would at any other time. As the war in Afghanistan appears to lack a visible stopping point, I’d rather not put off planning a trip until it ends. I would, of course, curtail any travel plans if a serious incident did occur.
Is there reason to be afraid to travel? If so, is it any greater than at any other time? If it is, how much?
Well, I wouldn’t travel to the West Bank or Gaza Strip this week, but I don’t see any problem with Ireland. I just got back from a trip to Europe, albeit one that originated/terminated in Germany. The security in the Frankfurt Airport was it’s normal tight self, plus they added an extra, US-like security check were they made everyone get scanned and x-rayed a second time plus checked all shoes and laptops.
If you add in that PC-ness isn’t like it is here, eg, they don’t have an issue with racial profiling, I’d say it’s less likely to have some problems in transit. As for Ireland itself, I don’t think that Ireland is a big Taliban target. The other difficulties in N. Ireland/Ireland are as they are, there are Irish and Ireland based Dopers out there that can give a much better read on that than I could.
Net, life is not going to be on hold just because some bad stuff has happened. You can live your life and try to enjoy yourself or live in fear. Either way, shit happens. I’d go for it.
Of course it’s safe – why wouldn’t it be? As far as I know, Al-Qaeda hasn’t got any particular grudge against Ireland. Unless you plan to spend the whole time hanging around the U.S. embassy, you’re probably safer there than at home.
With all due respect to your mother, she sounds like she might have an irrational fear of foreign travel in general (which is, alas, all too common among Americans). Don’t let it hold you back.
Sigh… when I was a kid in New York, periodically I’d hear my elderly Irish relatives, adults fretting about hijackers and terrorists and “the troubles” in Ireland, and wondering if it was safe to visit.
But you know what? even at the HEIGHT of “the troubles,” I’d think, “For Pete’s sake! You live in New York City! We have 2000+ murders every year. Travelling practically ANYWHERE is statistically safer than staying put!”
Well, even though violent crime has dropped drastically in the US over the last 15 years, I think it’s a good bet that you’re STILL far less likely to get killed in Ireland (or almost anywhere else in Western Europe) than you are in any major American city.
Incidentally, at the moment, Ireland is quite prosperous. HOW prosperous? Well, when Alan Parker went to Limerick to make the movie version of “Angela’s Ashes,” he found (to his horror) that Limerick didn’t have any more slums in which to shoot Frank McCourt’s novel. Parker had to have set dressers build fake slums for the filming!
Crime is low, and home-grown terrorism is on the wane. Go, and have a great time.
Speaking as a native, the only thing you really have to be worried about is getting overcharged by taxis serving the airports.
Of course depending on your time coming there might be a tense atmosphere.
What with the World Cup coming up, people will getting up at the ungodly hour of 8am to watch football matches from Japan .
I am re-considering my trip to London. I want a bit more excitement (no, not the terrorist type). Been to Europe a bundle of times, perhaps now is the time for less refinement and tourist-y
things.
Maybe another 30 days on the road in Australia. Or back to Bangkok, boy howdy did I feel alive in that city. Or a return to my first ever big-trip city, Rio de Janeiro. I can taste the feijoada now.
Have a great trip. I think if you check the April issue of Conde Nast traveler (or maybe March or May), there is an article about Ireland. Cheers!
Your mum loves you & doesn’t want you to get harmed or in trouble. Travel seems safe to me. It has always been that way for me, & I traveled solo to different parts of the world, including “3rd world” areas. Planning to be in northern Ireland soon. Did some Net research, & the people seem very friendly there to tourists. Check out the Eurotrip.com discussion boards for more advice:
um. no offense meant, i think your mother is being a little over-protective.
where in ireland were you planning to visit? and when?
i would recommend that you stay away from the north in mid july and mid august, as it’s “marching season”. but that you should definitely include it in your visit, as the glens of antrim, the mourne mountains, lough erne, lough neagh and the giant’s causeway are very spectacular sights.
you’re american, which basically means that everyone will try and rip you off (as nicely as possible) but that no-one will actually try and hurt you, north and south.
i was born in belfast, went to school there and know the place well, and it’s perfectly safe as long as you know where you are and where you’re going.
for example, in all my drunken teenage wanderings, alone, at night, in the city centre, not ONCE did i encounter any trouble.
i’m studying in dublin, and i wouldn’t do the same here without thinking hard. but i’d still be safer than in new york!
ireland is one of the most gorgeous places in the world, with wonderful people and much fun to be had.
I sure as hell hope so, my parents just left for a trip there two days ago. If they make it back in the two weeks they planned, that should be a good sign it’s safe. That and the fact that everyone who’s on the board and lives there seems to be saying it’s alright. Europe right now isn’t in any big danger of anything crazy happening, all the big conflicts are out in the middle east, which to my limited geographical knowledge, isn’t anywhere close to Ireland. So, unless things with the IRA start to heat up or aliens invade, you should be fine. Just avoid dark alleyways, don’t make it too apparent you’re a tourist, and bring me back something nice
Don’t believe any of the above! Your mother is right, as all mothers are. Everything may appear calm in the US, but things have just gone from bad to worse in here Europe.
We’ve stopped counting the number of planes flying in from the US that the Taliban forces stationed outside the airport have downed. The army have tried to storm their position, but as long as they keep getting supplies flown in from their command centres in mainland Europe they’re safe. The Real IRA are helping them out with their spy satellites, and no-one can do anything about them as long as the Liberian pirate spaceships are in orbit.
Last week a 757 was hijacked mid-flight by a single Egyptian fundamentalist tank squadron. So much for airport security! If it wasn’t for the fact that they couldn’t swing the turret around inside the aircraft they could have flown it all the way to Atlanta!
They were killing American tourists in my street last night, herding them up like sheep and butchering them for their Nike trainers. People just watched from their windows, well, the ones that haven’t been shot out by the Palestinian snipers. I would have gone out and helped, but there’s a gang of marauding Iraqis who have set up their tents in my garden. They stone all white-folks on sight after dark.
But for pity-sake! Don’t go Ireland! We don’t know for sure what’s happening over there, communications got cut off in February. But people say they’ve reverted to tribal cannibalism. There’s a big pot on permanent boil at Dublin Airport and the steps off the plane just empty straight into it. The few that manage to escape are hunted across the countryside for sport by Unionist Terrorists with big sticks. People turn out in the weekend to cheer them on.
People and the media are lying to you! Europe is just one large smoking crater! Don’t come here!
.
I love you guys/gals!