By Dane Steele Green // Originally Published on the Huffington Post
So. Another city bombed. What do we do now?
Terrorists would not be terrorists if they warned everyone beforehand of their targets. There is nothing for it: This is the new normal. And it isn’t particularly “new;” gunmen later identified as Muslim anti-Israel extremists turned Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, and Schwechat, in Vienna, into shooting galleries back in 1985. The Brussels attack followed that blueprint, a check-in desk is guaranteed a huge crowd, and thus huge casualties.
Pass/Fail
So where do we go? Where is safe? From a travel writer’s perspective, the best advice I can give is to travel-nuts either not travel ever again, travel only by your own personal automobile, or go to places so off the radar that they simply don’t have the high profile to be a nice, juicy, fear-inducing, story-generating, paranoia-fueling, finger-pointing, blame-flinging, cause-appropriating, ass-covering target. While I am sure you will have a lovely stay in Guyana, the Cook Islands, or Togo, it is naive to think that even those places are immune to attack simply because they haven’t yet been attacked, and every place as its own set of security problems, imported or otherwise.
And now let’s talk practicality. No offense to Guyana, but Paris is more of a draw and will be for years to come. Oh, sure: there will be a dip in travel numbers; there is already speculation that the Summer 2016 travel season will be a dismal one (at least, with regards to air travel), the same thing happened after 9-11. But dips rebound. Maybe memory fades, maybe people get used to the “new normal.” Or maybe people simply aren’t going to be terrorised. Paris and Brussels will recover. Not right away, but they will.
There is no “maybe,” however, in that Belgian law enforcement bungled this just enough to give ISIS an edge. When Turkey deported one of the bombers, IDed as Ibrahim el Bakraoui, in 2015 to the Netherlands, warnings were sent along with him, warnings that seem now to have gone unheard. Belgium, whose Flemish and Walloon halves are disdainfully gridlocked up and down the political spectrum, has an internal security now so layered with red tape, distrust, discommunication, and mind-numbing bureaucracy that it may as well not be there at all. Authorities in France, whose anti-terrorism measures are fairly up to snuff, were little surprised the Paris bombings were planned in Brussels, and Belgium is now being roundly slammed for this critical blind eye. In the wake of the Brussels bombing, it is now becoming clear that Belgium, and not perennially-blamed bugaboos like Bosnia, is the terrorist gateway to Europe. This places the entire European Union in danger; haul out a map and see just how close the country is to Paris, London, or Amsterdam.
The Belgians will learn from this, now that it has finally happened to them. Unfortunately, terrorism, even in this day and age, is still largely seen as somebody else’s problem, which ignores the plain fact that we are all somebody else to somebody else. America’s security was lax before 9-11, Japan’s was before Aum Shinrikyo, Spain’s was before the 2004 Madrid train bombing. As Lady Gaga sings, “…’til it happens to you…”
Say What? Do What?
In the meantime, travelers are urged to “exercise vigilance” when they hit the road. It’s a maddeningly catch-all phrase, but what it comes down to is this: don’t make yourself a target. When it comes to airports, ports, or train stations, get in and out as fast as possible. There are dozens of electronic check-in options to make things faster once you arrive, and even something as basic as only going with carry-on can get you through security in a jiffy (pack for a week, it will last you a year). The quicker you can get to a secure area, wherever it is, the better. Not dilly-dallying is good advice, anyway.
It also means to keep an eye out. “Us vs. Them” thinking is a slippery slope, and few threats look the same every time around. The only thing amiss about the Brussel’s bombers were that two of them wore one glove each. It was a simple ruse that, some officials now believe, hid detonation devices. But it is these subtle clues that we now need to watch out for.
And the US State Department has the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), a free service to allow U.S. citizens and nationals traveling abroad to enroll their trip with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate, should anything go south once you are actively traveling. If such a misfortune does happen, American officials will know beforehand you are in the danger zone and can sweep in fairly quickly, be it anything from a terrorist attack to a tsunami.
And in the meantime, we have to keep on enjoying the beauty and wonder that the world has despite the actions of a few individuals. The issue of terrorism like what happened in Brussels is not going to be solved over night, nor will it end overnight. But I am not going to lock myself into my room thinking that is the only way to stay safe. I am not going to be scared by anyone. I am not going to imprison myself because of anyone. I’ll admit that I am saddened by a terrorist act, and perhaps more cynical. But scared, nay, terrorised? No.
www.SteeleTravel.com