When are the risks of travel low and I can do it right now? Where are the safest places to go right now? Where do I go to avoid booking a disastrous trip?
Have you noticed that there are a handful of countries that have good news every single day? Places like South Africa, Japan, Switzerland, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, China, Mexico and Spain.
These countries have cheap, reliable airfare to destinations where you won’t have trouble finding accommodations, parks to explore, and resorts to luxuriate in.
If this sounds familiar, then there’s a possibility you are lucky enough to live in the U.S. and in the Americas.
If this is you, then you shouldn’t be worried about travel safety right now. When you are in these countries, you are less likely to have problems like floods, hurricanes or violence.
These countries have high proportions of white people, which helps people travel easily. There are places in every country of the world where you will never find an American. So no problem!
If you are in the U.S., then the safest option is likely to fly between points in the States. After that, see the U.S. government website, which lists the safest countries to travel to.
If this doesn’t make you feel safe, and you feel like you have a lot of travel to do in a short amount of time, you should probably not fly. Don’t book a flight right now because when you do that, you will be revealing all sorts of information about yourself. Instead, plan your trip around when they will be the safest times to fly. You will have to ask your travel companions not to leave each other in the dark about what time it is. You will need to talk with family and friends if they won’t tell you when to fly. You will likely be traveling in busy areas, so put on your headphones or put on noise canceling headphones and watch “The Porgs” for some motivation.
You will also need to visit different countries for different reasons. A friend of mine is heading off to Nepal to visit family, so she is going to South America in the summer to visit some friends and go boating. This is not the safest place to travel right now, but she is heading to Europe and isn’t sure of the weather in South America. So go there anyway.
If you aren’t doing a trip right now, you should probably wait until the summer. It is peak travel season and you might be more likely to get through the airport as a passenger because everyone else will be waiting too. Take advantage of the opportunities that are available, and let us know how it goes!
Laurie Chen worked at the Washington Post for five years as a music editor, regional editor and senior editor. She now works as an editor at Tiger Woods magazine.