The London Underground has seen terrorist attacks, but smart travelers don't avoid it.
Photo: Photodisc, Getty Images

by Wendy Perrin

In the six years since 9/11 we've seen a sea change in the behavior of international travelers. Shortly after 9/11, people's fear and anxiety were causing them to misperceive travel risks and, as a consequence, make poor travel choices. 

Remember after 9/11 when it seemed like everyone was choosing to drive rather than fly?  People thought driving was safer -- which, of course, it's not.  Remember after 9/11 when people were staying in the U.S. rather than traveling abroad, even though most of the cities we live in are statistically more dangerous than the foreign places we visit?   Remember after 9/11 when people were so worried about being harmed in a terrorist attack overseas that they were choosing trips that, in fact, increased their risk . . . of a lousy vacation?  They were, for instance, choosing cruises that sailed out of Florida instead of sightseeing trips to Europe, even though the chance of getting a gastrointestinal virus on a cruise ship was far greater than that of a terrorist attack ruining a European vacation.

Fortunately, today's travelers are doing a much better job of distinguishing between perceived travel perils and real ones. They've acclimated to the threat of terrorism.  We realize that an attack can happen anywhere, at any time -- on a train in Madrid, in a nightclub in Bali, at a resort in Africa, on the subway in London, at the airport in Glasgow, or on a street corner in Oklahoma City. We have a new sense of what's normal. Two years after 9/11 I remember interviewing Todd Gitlin, a Columbia professor and author of Media Unlimited: How The Torrent of Images And Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives, who told me that whenever there is a terrorist attack or a crisis that grabs the media's attention, the general public overreacts.  But after the initial alarm, "their threshold goes up and they form a new sense of what's normal."  The example he gave:  "It's now normal for a certain number of U.S. soldiers to be killed in Iraq every week. You adjust to a higher threshold of living with danger."

Thank God today's smart travelers have no problem going to Spain, Kenya, Bali, London, or any of the other vacation destinations where terrorist attacks have occurred since 9/11.  We've adjusted to the new normal.

A few helpful hints for traveling abroad in this world where a terrorist attack can occur anywhere, at any time:

*Don't focus on extraordinary risks -- such as the risk of being harmed in a terrorist incident -- to the point that you ignore ordinary ones.  
Worry about getting food poisoning or getting your pockets picked or losing your passport or having a rental-car accident. Focus your energies on these traditional threats, which are far more likely than a catastrophic event.  You're more likely to be struck by lightning than to be the victim of a terrorist attack.

*Don't do things to create a sense of control and safety that actually put you at greater risk.
After 9/11, many travelers opted for group tours, for instance, because they thought these increase their safety overseas.  They don't.  Because tour groups are marked and highly visible, they are targets in many parts of the world.  Better to travel independently.

*Don't rely too much on State Department travel advisories.
They have hardly been reliable predictors of terrorist activity.

*Drive carefully on your way to the airport!