Q – We are excited about a tour with Kensington followed preceded by a five nights in Stockholm which we booked ourselves online.
Yesterday, we happened to look up some of the expected “excellent” ratings for Sweden’s safety only to discover that our State Department has issued a level 2 Warning for the country warning of “terrorists with little or no warning” who might attack any place where people tend to gather in large numbers. This could include “airports, cultural institutions, and major sporting events” to list a few.
We have only been to Europe once before and this makes us very nervous. Should we reconsider this trip?
A – Absolutely – we think you should cancel all foreign travel and stay home in the safety of our own country.
Oh – wait a minute! Come to think of it, we currently rank # 134 on the International Safety Index, meaning that there are 133 countries in the world that are statistically safer than the United States. If you didn’t travel, you might be relying for your “view of the world” as presented by Whoopi and the ladies on “The View”.
Of course you should enjoy Sweden for all that it offers. The country ranks among the top three nations in the world on the “Happiness Index”. Its citizens would not be that happy if they feared for their lives.
In Gothenburg’s Ostra Nordstan shopping center and Old Townin Stockholm you could encounter some top-tier professional pickpockets.
And watch out for the famed Swedish Taxi Scam – the meters are in Swedish krona but they may try to convince you that the fare is showing in Euros.
Other that that – enjoy every moment. Our State Department has to cover itself just in case. What we would really urge you to remember is that as soon as you are buckled in to your seat awaiting take-off, your life expectancy starts to increase in relationship to the amount of time you will be away from the USA. Sad, but true. If you want to know why – well, it’s a long story but it has to do with the availability of guns, our absolutely awful driving statistics, and the fact that we have a culture translating to the largest number of incarcerated citizens of any industrialized nation on earth.
