In Reply to: Traveling as American posted by ackmra on Wednesday, 26. November 2008 at 21:12 Bali Time:
in the early 60's(!!!!!) I remember facing the same question, and someone told me at the time that if I waited until "things settled down" I'd never go anywhere. Well, I went, and:
I sailed past Cuba at the time of the Russian blockade and saw the gunfire on the coast. I was in Berlin when the wall went up, and my plane was buzzed by Russian MIGS as we flew the corridor between Berlin and Munich. I woke in Marseilles one morning with tanks on their way to Algeria rolling past the pension where I was staying. I have been in Bali at the time of two elections (one when there were a few problems such as fires on the bypass near Sanur as well as in Singaraja). In 2005 I was warned by people that travel to Bali was still risky, (I had returned within in a couple of months of the first bombing) but I went, and my son went off to London where there were no travel warnings. Guess what? While in Bali I learned that my son had been fairly close to the London Underground bombing.
As many people point out, there is no certainty of safety anywhere (I wonder how those who have chosen to go to Thailand instead of Bali now feel in light of current events?)
If you do choose to travel, all I can say is .. keep an eye on current events in the part of the world where you are travelling, use your good sense, and just be sensible (as a young woman I always found the latter to be the most difficult - LOL).
Enjoy...