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Not a great resource. Look at it, but don't be dependent on it. Lots of the listings are warnings are either overly cautious or more directly and honestly, they're political in nature.
It is actually a great resource to use seeing how it is 100% focused on Americans traveling. The list lets you know the reason behind the threat, etc. Also, that was not the only resource provided. If you go to TripAdvisor, like I mentioned, and type in a place you want to go it will alert you what is safe or not.
In addition to anecdotal comments from CD (that can vary case by case), you should also look at hard facts of what is going on in different parts of the world.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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I never said Tripadvisor wasn't a good resource not that the SD was the only one provided. Just that the SD warnings aren't very helpful a lot of the time. You should/can look, but not rely on it to steer you away. Most countries I've travelled to are perfectly safe, yet an amazing number of them in central america have some silly SD warning.
Oh okay gotcha. Yeah, in my initial post I didn't say it was the end all be all when booking travel. Just using it as a guide, which I do find helpful.
The SD warnings are more reasonable than they used to be. For a long time they advised against travel to Spain because of the miniscule chance of an ETA terrorist attack.
My personal barometer is comparing foreign travel to domestic travel. The US isn't exactly a safe place to visit, either. If a country is more dangerous than, say, Miami, I'll avoid it.
Wow that must've been terrifying!! Were they there on vacation? I really can't imagine anyone going there unless they had family or some ties there.
My nephew was working overseas and visited a relative who was working at the American Embassy. He's dragging around a fair amount of PTSD over that one. Not very often, but he flips out every once in a while. There are no party masks in his future.
Appears that most people are looking at the safety standard as the possibilty of being robbed or assaulted. I believe that you should also look at other things, such as traffic safety. For instance, there is a very small chance of being physically assaulted in Thailand, but it has the second highest traffic fatality rate in the world. For this and other reasons, a higher rate of Brit and Aussie tourists die in Thailand than any other country
Agree with the above, what does one term as safety? There are property crime issues, traffic issues, disease and health issues, con and scam issues, privacy and security issues for businessmen (*cough* China), etc....
The US State Department website by the way gives very detailed safety warnings for each country.
It is actually a great resource to use seeing how it is 100% focused on Americans traveling.
Which is exactly why it isn't a great resource for me, a non-American. Countries that are regarded as friendly to Americans are not necessarily friendly to me. A good example is Australia.
I personally wouldn't go back to Egypt. Too many young men hanging around giving Americans the stink eye. There were also 2 armed guards on the buses we took to see the sights.
I personally wouldn't go back to Egypt. Too many young men hanging around giving Americans the stink eye.
How can they recognize who is American?
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