Don't let fear keep you at home

03-02-2003

To travel or not to travel: That is the question.

Whether 'tis nobler in mind to suffer

the slings and arrows of outrageous service

Or to take flights against a sea of anxieties,

and by opposing, end them?

With apologies to William Shakespeare and his Danish prince, these are difficult days to be a travel editor.

Even in the best of times, it is common for readers to ask where and when they should travel and what they should see and do once they get there. I am usually hesitant to offer suggestions.

Under normal circumstances, these are hard questions to answer intelligently. I am not a travel agent, and any recommendation about where to go obviously depends on a person's specific circumstances. Everyone's interests, abilities and sense of adventure are different.

But these are decidedly not normal circumstances.

Considering the present geopolitical uncertainties, the security concerns, financially iffy airlines, the prevailing economic doldrums and all the other matters making up front-page headlines, answering these questions takes on a whole new level of complexity and responsibility.

Ditto for selecting the destinations this travel section should cover.

Many people are fearful about flying, fearful that terrorists will bring down commercial airlines with smuggled bombs or shoulder-held missiles. They're fearful about traveling overseas, anxious about anti-American sentiments they may encounter. They're suspicious of swarthy strangers and people who dress differently. They're mad at the French and Germans for failing to support the Bush administration's plans for war against Iraq.

Others, mindful of orange security alerts on the home-front, worry about being far away should anything unthinkable happen in their absence. It's one thing to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting at home. How can you pack all this in suitcases -- which, of course, will be weighed and inspected for bombs?

With all this emotional baggage, it's a wonder anyone wants to go anywhere.

But, apparently, they still do.

A February poll of 757 adults nationwide by The New York Times and CBS News found 55 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn't take a vacation overseas in the next six months, even if they could afford it and had the vacation time. More than half of this majority said they had no desire to travel far away. Twenty-one percent were "afraid in general," 18 percent specifically cited the threat of terrorism. Five percent said they feared consequences of war with Iraq.

Before jumping to any statistical conclusions, also consider that 55 percent (although not the same 55 as above) also admitted they'd never been anywhere overseas before.

And don't forget that 43 percent said they'd jump on the next plane headed across the ocean if they had a chance, an attitude far more prevalent among travelers who were either younger or wealthier than average. Seventy percent said they plan to get away somewhere in the next six months.

Compared to a decade ago in the wake of the last Persian Gulf War, more people are planning trips, and significantly more of them expect to fly. That's partially a reflection of the fact that bargain air fares are lower today than they were back then, but it also must indicate that traveling has become a part of more people's lives.

All of the security procedures carried out over the past year and a half have greatly increased the cost, inconvenience and uncertainty of air travel, but have they prevented a single act of terror in the air? After a year of federal air marshals flying incognito on planes, fewer than a dozen passengers have been arrested, none related to terrorism.

Yet the statistical reality remains that, other than that one terrible September morning 17 months ago, the incidence of attacks against American air travelers has for decades been insignificant when compared with the total number of passengers and flights. Even on air travel's worst nightmare morning, the odds of being on one of those ill-fated flights was at least 10,000 to one.

Meanwhile, all this enhanced security has cost American travelers upward of a billion dollars in the past year, according to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, more than six times as much as the airlines have put out to secure their departures. And that doesn't measure the lost time and added turmoil of all these passengers jumping through security hoops. The new Transportation Security Administration is fielding 5,000 complaints and comments a week from air travelers regarding the new procedures.

Few air travelers object to paying extra to be safe, but something is clearly amiss if, after that investment, people remain too fearful to venture out of their regular routines and environs.

The State Department's warnings that American travelers should be on their guard abroad have a similar impact to Homeland Security cautions at home.

What option is there other than to be aware and carry on with life?

So, if you have the opportunity and inclination to travel almost any place on the planet, the overwhelming odds are still that everything will turn out fine. And if you don't, then don't go.

But don't let fear keep you from the pleasures and benefits of experiencing other places and people. Antipathy toward American foreign policies may be more pronounced in some places, but to date that has been seldom directed toward American visitors. Indeed, most places are eagerly awaiting our arrival.

Encountering different places and points of view is always an eye-opening and generally rewarding process. Although the "going there" is temporarily and unfortunately fraught with uncertainties and hassles, the "being there" is just as sweet.

Newspaper travel sections, Travel Channel programs, virtual vacations and online explorations are never the same as firsthand experience.

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