Yes, as long as there’s no active military incursion right before you go, I’d still take the trip.
No- even if there’s no active military operation taking place before you go, the situation is too volatile.
Other answer (please explain in comments)
0voters
Back in December, when it seemed like ‘TACO’ trump was just talking tough about taking military action with Venezuela, Mexico, taking possession of Greenland, etc. etc., et al; before the trump admin started commandeering oil tankers and going into Venezuela to take Maduro prisoner, we booked a vacation in Rivièra Maya the second week of February. We did pay for cancellation insurance, just in case.
Now, with trump’s increasingly unhinged actions and threats, I’m wondering how bad an idea our rapidly upcoming vacation in Mexico might be. Obviously, if our military starts making military strikes on supposed cartel sites in Mexico against the wishes of the Mexican government before we leave for vacation, trip’s cancelled. But in 2 1/2 weeks, if things are roughly the same as they are now, do we go? If there are surprise military strikes on supposed cartel locations while we are there, it probably wouldn’t directly affect us, but best-case scenario flights would likely be interrupted, as they were in the Caribbean during the Venezuelan incursion, and worst-case I’m thinking anti-American sentiment might make things difficult or downright dangerous. I’m sure even at this moment, Americans are not the most favorite visitors to Mexico.
In the meantime, I’m practicing my Spanish on Duolingo and am planning to memorize phrases like “No votamos por Trump y de ninguna manera apoyamos a la administración Trump. ¡Viva México y su gente!” (We did not vote for Trump and we do not support the Trump administration in any way. Long live Mexico and its people!).
I think the chances of a Trump military operation in Mexico are near-nil in the next month, and even if it did happen, I doubt it would affect you at all. I vote go.
IMO, it depends on how long you were planning to stay. If you’re going for a week, do it and have fun. If you want to stay for, say, 6 months, the Magic 8 Ball says “Reply hazy, try again.”
It’s silly to stop all international travel until trump is no longer in charge. It was a bad idea for an American to visit Venezuela any time in the last decade; trump didn’t change that.
It’d be silly to not visit Greenland just because the criminal in chief is getting noisy about it.
I would go anyway, banking on any military action by the U.S. to be sufficiently limited to not present an actual risk to me and mine (assuming I was an U.S.ian)
HOWEVER, there’s the possibility for something to go disastrously wrong (for example the USAF bombing a school full of toddlers or something equally horrifying) and then a violent backlash against U.S. nationals in Mexico, a low probability event for sure, but it would make me worry in the small hours.
I would not go, but I’m a chickenshit. With the current political climate, I barely want to think about any foreign (IOW, outside the US) travel. Hell, there are parts of the US I won’t go to right now. But I’m a chickenshit. Yes, I said it twice, because that’s how much of a chickenshit I am. (Three times!)
Echoing the others, I would go and relax and enjoy your vacation. The area you are going is well known and well secured by Mexico and is a major tourism location - Mexico wants you to visit and have a safe time (and spend US dollars). On the ground there it’s highly unlikely you will see any hint of international issues - people will be friendly as long as you stay clear of politics and religion, like in normal times. If our own government starts to stir-up shit in Mexico, it will likely be more gradual than the Maduro thing, so you will be home by then. Hopefully, we will behave and not antagonize our friends and neighbors, but in any case, enjoy your trip!
I would go, with the slight caveat that you might want to give it a little more thought if you are extremely rigid in when you need to be back. I’m thinking of the people who were stuck in the Caribbean for a few extra days when Trump attacked Venezuela.
I agree with you on that, certainly. But as the Op mentioned, even without anything at all happening militarily, trump could decide to shut down flights for no particular good reason.
I used to be able to pose this question in 5 or 6 different languages that I had no other command of. It came to me, however, that unless the person were able to simply point to the facilities, I’d still be lost. “Go east a block, turn right, go down the second staircase and there’s a public restroom” would have been entirely beyond me.
They often can point. I’ve asked that question in a lot of languages, and gotten helpful replies.
Err, not exactly “in a lot of languages”, but to people who speak a lot of languages. “Toilet” is an international word, recognizable to an awful lot of people. My MIL went further down the “can’t speak, can communicate” path by acting out the need while giving a questioning look. It probably helped that she was a beautiful young ballerina. (Which is why she found herself in a lot of different countries, her ballet troupe toured.)
Thanks to all for all the great advice! Nice to see the poll is well in favor of going through with the trip. I’m also feeling relieved that trump seems to have blinked on Greenland since I made this post.
Heh, reminds me of something that happened on my honeymoon in Aruba. One night my wife wasn’t feeling great, so she turned in a bit early. I took a Cuban cigar out to the beach and stopped at a tiki bar on the beach to grab a beer. Two attractive women were sitting drinking at the little bar, speaking Spanish with the Venezuelan bartender. I asked for a beer and he said “sorry, closed”. So I had to walk a loooong way back to a bar in the hotel. Back to the deserted beach, smoked my cigar, drank my beer and looked out at the stars and the waves.
Around 45 minutes later, beer was finished and cigar had gone out. I couldn’t relight it because the trade winds off the ocean had kicked up. I figured, eh, guess I’ll call it a night. I started walking back, when I saw the two women were still drinking at the tiki bar. I had a suspicion that these two attractive women had some other quality besides their knowledge of Spanish that gave them VIP status at the supposedly closed bar, but I figured hey, couldn’t hurt to try. What’s the Spanish word for ‘beer’?? Oh yeah…
“Uno cerveza, por favor” I said to the bartender who had shut me down almost an hour ago.
He smiled, nodded and poured me a beer. He saw I was having trouble lighting my cigar, so he even opened a little storage room on the side of the tiki bar to give me shelter from the wind to get it relit. So yeah, a few key phrases in the local language can go a long way!
My wife returns today from a three-week long trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. The latter two have been in armed conflict for quite a while now. She had zero problems, and – I’m quite sure – zero regrets.
IIRC, PJ O’Rourke – in a book about the Iraq War – commented about (somebody) drinking a cup of coffee a half-hour away from the fighting. He remarked about how calm it was. I think his statement was something like, “But then again, the people in West Bloomfield don’t know how things are going in Downtown Detroit,” which – as a native of the Motor City suburbs – was funny to me.
If and when there is widespread civil unrest in the US, I would advise people from other countries not to visit. Meanwhile, if and when its ongoing but very isolated … these are big countries. What’s been happening in Minneapolis has pretty much zero actual impact on my life in Colorado … so far.
Go. And enjoy yourselves. Be smart. Be safe. Take precautions. Trump’s insanity isn’t likely to be your biggest concern:
Ha, this is funny to me too, because I used to live and work in downtown Detroit (a long time ago), still visit (was down there the weekend before last) and I currently live in West Bloomfield.
I spent a week in Mexico City about three weeks ago (also with a drive to Taxco about three hours away by car).
Absolutely zero problems. Had a great time.
Like any big city (and it is very big) it has good and safe parts and dangerous parts. No different than being in Miami or New York or Chicago or LA or Dallas and so on.
And there are some parts of Mexico run by cartels that you really do not want to be in.
Stick to the main tourist areas and you should be fine. They make their money from tourists so are keen to keep them safe and having fun.