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Opinion: Bucket list travel decisions yours to make

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Mexico has long been one of our favorite travel destinations. My husband and I like to fly to popular coastal locations and spend some time on the country’s fabulous beaches. Then we rent a car and travel up the coast or to interior locations. In January, we drove to Merida, capital of the Yucatan state, where we savored its colonial architecture and delved into its role in the dramatic history of the nation. When we returned to Springfield, excited to report on the beautiful people we met, the picturesque villages we visited, the delicious foods we ate, and the natural and man-made wonders we experienced for ourselves, we were met with the same question time and again.

“Weren’t you afraid?” we were asked. Well, no. We plan our trips, do our research and then set out on our adventures. Sure, we take precautions. We try not to travel at night, and we know where we are going. And yes, we know there is violence in Mexico. And we know there is increasing violence around the world. But we choose to travel independently and carefully. Mexico values tourist business like ours, and for the most part we feel that we are well – even militantly, if you understand my meaning – taken care of. As we grow older, we plan to travel in the delightful Mexican air-conditioned buses that stop in every little village. Those are experiences we will relish.

In light of the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, we will not be curtailing our bucket list. Now that at last we are beginning a new stage of our lives, we will not be denying our dreams of travel. We will be selective, however, and grateful that we already have visited Turkey and marveled at the sensory overload that is Istanbul. There are so many places we still want to go, and time is nipping at our heels.

I am passionately holding onto the belief that we are personally standing up to terrorism by refusing to be afraid to travel freely. If our wanderlust is controlled by reports of violence, terrorist threats and actual incidents, then the miserable hoodlums of the world will win.

In preparation for this column, I talked with our oldest granddaughter, who has recently returned from a whirlwind European tour with her uncle, aunt, younger sister and exchange student friends from Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Indonesia.

“Were you afraid?” I asked this young woman who is headed to university in the fall, and who is so well-versed in politics and current events as a part of her five-year career in speech and debate.

“I was worried before I went, and I experienced a moment of fear when I stepped onto the plane,” she said. “But I realized that I was more worried about what was going on at home, since it was the same week as the Orlando massacre.”

My next question was about her conversations with her European exchange cousins. What do they think about Americans’ expressed fears about visiting their countries? Her friend from Switzerland, who recently spent a year as a high school student in Nixa, was quick to answer.

“The media makes it out to be worse than it actually is,” he said. “With the type of security we have in Europe, it’s sufficient. American security is too much. Europe has less security and it’s doing fine for them.”

This was, unfortunately, a couple of weeks prior to the horrific slaughter in Nice, France.

“Overall,” my granddaughter said, “I think that [statement] is justified. Our gun policies are so different. The risk [of death] exists in every moment.”

On another trip to Mexico, this time to the Guadalajara area and Springfield’s sister city in nearby Tlaquepaque, a longtime friend there reminded me that Mexican parents who have long-cherished plans to send children to the United States to study and polish their English skills are now questioning their decisions out of fear generated by media reports of murders in schools and in the streets of American cities and small towns.

So now I think, wherever we are, we must decide for ourselves whether we’ll go places we’ve never been or stay at home. New York? New Orleans? Madrid or New Madrid? Be careful out there. Watch when you step off the curb.

Will you make the judgment for yourself? Or will you allow terrorists or would-be terrorists to decide for you?

Dianne Elizabeth Osis is founder, president and chairwoman of Springfield Business Journal and SBJ Publishing Inc. She may be reached at delizabeth@sbj.net.

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