And on a less fun note...

[Aaron O]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110323/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_lebanon_kidnapping

I wonder why they were cycling through an area like that? I'd have to think before cycling in unstable countries, I'd do some research. Still - I hope for a speedy release.

[Dlevy05]

Sad story. It's not just cycling in unstable countries -- Lebanon is controlled by Hezbollah.

Any foreigner is a target in a country like that.

[Aaron O]

I don't want to be political here, but I have to think Syria and Lebanon are two areas I'm probably going to avoid...as is anything within 10 miles of Iran.

[oldguy00]

Kind of like people from North America deciding to go on a hike along the Iran border for fun........................I don't get it.......

[tele]

I don't want to be political here, but I have to think Syria and Lebanon are two areas I'm probably going to avoid...as is anything within 10 miles of Iran.
+ a zillion
words to live by

[Aaron O]

Idealistic youth who don't think anything will hurt them and the threat was probably overstated? I also don't believe they entered Iran for a minute, they were kidnapped hostages, but I have to think being anywhere near there is a bad idea.

[Nil Else]

Like sailing anywhere remotely near Somalia or, *hiking* near N Korean or Iranian border somehow without knowing where you're or clear purpose (?)... *There's always one in the crowd* phenomena.

[rcnute]

http://www.korea.net/detail.do?guid=46399

[Pete Serotta]

have much risks. I am at a loss as to why US (looking) folks go to some of the terrorist hot spots, anti american, and/or just plain dangerous places. I just can not figure it out.

Example- My daughter who teaches was trying to find places that are warm and cheap for spring break (and she did not want the ones in in US because of costs. Mexico was high on her wish list but the dangers these days are just too ramdon to even be secure minded to me.. We had quite a talk and I offered her some VERY good and much cheaper USA places BUT while that worked for me sending her to Miami last year (she speaks fluent spanish) it was not working this year and luckily she and a female friend are looking for something different later in the spring (in US or Europe)


Yes I like the world and over the many years with a corporation and prior to that with the USMC I was overseas having some wonderful experiences and meeting some wonderful people :beer: :beer: Today the mid east and some of Latin America are just not places I want to visit. I love bike riding and there are more places that I would rather go.

Many world places can be dangerous these days and risk should be measured against your reward. At one point I had a group of consultants and spent time in many countries of Latin America. (but not a few others that were in the paper in the 1980s as hot spots for violence. ) Mexico, where I went quite often in the past, is not one for me until the cartels can become law abiding. :crap: :crap: