Random side topic: My wife went out to lunch with a friend yesterday (she's from Europe, married an American and lives here now) and my wife mentioned we were going to Europe in August. Her friend said that it was a bad idea to go there because of all the terrorism that has been going on lately. (she used to go back to Europe every year with her husband but hasn't been the last couple of years because of "terrorism")

Is it really that bad? I just assumed it was a few small incidents that the news media blew out of proportion, and sure it "might" happen but I could be hit by a bus today but that's not going to stop me from crossing the street.

What do you guys think??? I never even considered not going because of "terrorism/crime/anything like that."

Yes there is muslims djihadist patroling the streets with kalachnikivovs in most major cities, the countryside has mines all over the place, women without veils get stoned to death and we must respect to Sharia to the letter.

Thousands are killed everyday, but since they militias took over the media, the world doesn't know about it. Only a few courageous Fox news reporters dare venturing here and spreading the truth, most never come back. It's a real warzone.

Love ya YOLO lol

Seriously. One person gets murdered in Paris and it's world news. One person gets murdered in Chicago and you keep eating dinner.

The biggest concern one can have is pickpocketing. But that's the case almost everywhere.

LOL

goddamnit people suck


you're more likely to be run over by a (non jihadist driven) car etc... come on man you don't need us to tell you this

I figured as much, but didn't see any harm in asking.

You hear things about how Americans aren't really appreciated in some parts of the world, or how dangerous New York used to be before it was cleaned up. I'm a country kid from a city of 80 people, don't really know much about you big city folk lol

I'm an American who's been living in Lyon, France for 8 months and before that Nice for 3 months and visited ~8 neighboring countries. Never felt unsafe and never felt discriminated against b/c I'm American. I'm sure it helps that I speak decent French and make an effort to learn a couple phrases when I travel to new countries, but I don't get the sense there is any anti-American sentiment unless maybe someone acts obnoxious and hates the local culture and just wants everything to be like it is in the USA.

Nor should you. Even if you happen to be visiting a specific city on the day that a random attack occurs, it is still extremely unlikely that you yourself will be targeted or affected. My wife and I were in Berlin at a Christmas market last December on the day of the terrorist incident, but were back in our hotel room when the incident took place. Ironically, we first heard about the attack when we started receiving texts from friends and family back in the U.S. asking if we were all right. We didn't cut short our trip or cut back on our tourist activities at all. In fact, we were walking through Christmas markets again as soon as they reopened 2 days later.

We're going to be traveling to France next month and spending a week in Paris while there. Once again, this latest terrorist incident will have no impact on our current plans to enjoy all that Paris has to offer.

I had absolutely no problems travelling through Nice, Lyon, and Paris this past February. If anything, I felt that people were very friendly towards me throughout my entire trip. This is despite the fact that nearly every French person I spoke to said that all other French people are rude *******s.

The real key is the second half of your last sentence. If you do have an obnoxious attitude and/or fit the common American stereotypes held in Europe, you're probably more likely to be disrespected. As I am almost the complete opposite of those stereotypes and keep a low profile, I don't face any sort of anti-Americanism from locals.

This. Millions of people were in New York during 9/11 and they didn't die.

So far, I've been lucky enough to not have a brush with terror while travelling. The closest I came was being in Paris when the guy stole a gun from a soldier at Paris Orly. I was very, very far away from that despite still being in Paris.

Thanks for the input about crime/terrorism/all of that guys. Sounds like overblown media hype (coupled with a nut job friend of the wife). My wife just knows I no longer watch the news (used to watch it daily, got sick of blatant bull**** so I totally quit watching it, so I wasn't really able to argue against her "informed friend"....I ended up googling terrorism threat levels by European countries, and most are either safer/right around the same danger as America, which is obviously lol safe so the issue is put to bed and my wife is cool with it all).

Would love some more input on WWI/WWII locations/museums/anything of the sort And cool castles

I think we're locked on England (with a focus on London) and Germany (unsure which city is particular)

Berlin if you're into history as you say you are. Take a day trip to Potsdam (a city adjacent to Berlin) as well.

I only went to Euro a couple times.

Lisbon: enjoyed but prefer others
Seville: My favorite, small town feel, tapas bars on every corner, nice Moorish architecture
Florence: no need to go to a museum, the city is a museum. it's like walking around in assasians creed, awesome gelato on most every corner. good food
Barcelona: crowded & pricey, still enjoyed it
Cinque Terre: Nice little towns on coast of italy
London: reminds me of NYC, which is not an insult, two awesome cities...