Passport, Please

Is European Travel Safe? Oui, Si, and A Resounding Yes!

Since the November terrorist attacks in Paris and the foiled ISIS plans in Belgium, people all over the world have been canceling travel to Europe, including numerous Americans. It seems that tourists have concluded, almost overnight, that Europe isn’t safe anymore, and their travel plans are being impacted by fear.

The situation is understandable, especially given how television news inundates us with haunting images and alarming predictions of further incidents. These news stories perpetuate the fear environment, but that’s what the press is paid to do. Their business is to maximize market share by drawing in more viewers, usually through fear, in order to justify higher advertising rates. But it lessens their credibility as a go-to information source for travel decisions.

How, then, do we accurately determine whether it’s safe to travel to Europe? Quite simply, we take our emotions out of the picture and focus on the statistics. In other words, we consider the facts.

Take the age-old disparity between automobile and air travel. We all know that flying is substantially safer than driving, but studies have shown that the psychological impact of a plane crash, primarily because of the large number of fatalities tied to a single incident, causes people to develop a disproportionate fear of traveling by plane. That’s in contrast to statistics from the U.S. National Safety Council, which tell us that the lifetime odds of an average US citizen being killed in a motor vehicle crash is a sobering 1 in 112, whereas the same ratio for commercial air travel is just 1 in 96,566.

Let’s apply that same methodology to terrorism. Based on statistics provided by the National Counterterrorism Center, the chances of a U.S. citizen dying from a terrorist attack while traveling abroad is roughly 1 in 20 million—substantially less than the 1 in 5.5 million chance of being struck by lightning. In fact, only 350 U.S. citizens were killed in overseas incidents of terrorism from 2001 to 2013 – and the vast majority of those were in the war-torn countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, not strolling down the streets of Paris or Florence.

Furthermore, U.S. violent crime and homicide rates are among the highest in the industrialized world, not to mention several times the rate of most European countries. People might feel safer here in the States because it’s what we know. But in reality, we’d be statistically much safer spending the day in France, Germany, Italy or the United Kingdom.

The point is, we take risks every day by just getting out of bed, and even more by leaving the house. But we lessen those risks by exercising good common sense, and the same is true with traveling the world.

So here are a few tips: Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do at home, like roaming deserted streets at night, taking an unfamiliar shortcut, or whipping out a roll of cash for all to see. Make sure you have a cell phone with local network access, even if it means paying outrageous roaming charges, as they won’t matter in the event of an emergency. Concurrently, be aware of local emergency numbers and the location of the nearest U.S. consulate or embassy. If you had a crisis near home, you likely know exactly what to do, so make sure that’s the case no matter where you go.

Listen to the US Department of State. If you’re going somewhere unusual, check their website (travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings.html) to find out if they’ve posted a travel advisory for the area. Before heading out, register your trip with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/go/step.html), thereby allowing the state department to provide you with travel warnings, assist you in the event of emergency, and work with loved ones should you need assistance.

Give someone a detailed copy of your itinerary, and let them know every few days via email or text that you’re happy and safe. As tempting as it may be to post selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower during your trip, be careful about using social media while traveling, as you run the risk of alerting the world that your home is empty and ripe for the picking. And of course, make a copy of your passport and stash it somewhere different than the document itself. It will come in handy in the event of loss or theft.

Finally, advise your credit card company of your trip to avoid any declined charges. Not only will you avoid embarrassment, but it’s never a good idea to put yourself in a compromised situation, be it at home or abroad.

Is European travel safe? The answer is a resounding yes. So it’s time to hop on a plane and relish in the superb, historically rich experiences you can’t find anywhere else.

Bon voyage!

Kevin Streufert is a Park Hill-based travel advisor and an Amazon #1 bestselling novelist. He has traveled the world since age 3, with a particular focus on Europe. He can be reached at kevin.streufert@cruiseplanners.com.