Should I Stay, Or Should I Go? (To London)

[Plaid Adder]

So, in the vast ocean of heinousness that has swamped the world today, a very tiny drop of it belongs to me:

I have been planning a business trip to London for months now and my flight is supposed to get me there on Sunday, July 10. The tickets are nonrefundable (and friggin' expensive). By paying a large fee I could possibly get on a flight that would get me there a few days later, assuming I can get my hotel reservations changed. My schedule won't allow me to push it back by more than a week at the most.

Initially I thought, well, the Heathrow Express is still running and everyone says the Underground will be back up on Friday, and probably they won't really have normal service for a while but with that and the cabs I can probably do this. The hotel (which is, because that's just the kind of luck I have, pretty much at Ground Zero for two of the bombings) says they weren't damaged and they think everything should be back to normal by Sunday.

On the other hand, after reading the witness descriptions, the casualty numbers, and the fact that a lot of the roads in the affected areas will be closed for 48 hours, I'm starting to wonder whether it makes sense to do this, or whether indeed it is a selfish and irresponsible thing for me to go over there and add one more body to what must already be an unbelievable people-moving nightmare.

On yet another hand, I don't, you know, want to LET THE TERRORISTS WIN by depriving central London of my hard-earned cash.

And on the fourth hand, I don't want to be blown up.

I won't get fired or anything if I can't go on this trip; I will just lose a lot of money and a big project I've been working for a long time will not turn out as well as it might have. So I don't know. Should I go or not?

eep,

The Plaid Adder

[Metatron]

1. If it was me, I would go.

But you should do what makes you comfortable.

[LaurenG]

2. You go and you have a great time and work hard

You'll be all right. Unless you really have a horrible feeling about going. Trust your gut.

[MrMonk]

3. Go

The Londoners intend to hold business as usual, and you'd might as well join them.

[Sannum]

4. Go

Don't live with fear.

[GOPisEvil]

5. I would go.

You have to live your life.

[Maple]

6. Go

It's over. They missed you.

[Clark2008]

7. I'd go... but, then, I went to New York just after 9/11.

I don't let fear (and clogged roads) veer my plans. It may sound hokey, but that DOES allow the terrorists to win.

By not being afraid of them, they lose a lot of power.

And, have an enjoyable time. I know there will be a pall over the country, but London's had terrorist attacks before and have weathered through them. This is not a first for them. I'm sure they will be delighted to see an American who hates Shrub!

[judy]

8. I'd say go.

I went to Paris after a bunch of bombings in the 80's, Nairobi after the bombings, and to Bali after the bombings. I thought "the bombings have already happened, these are probably the safest places in the world right now".
Also, people want to see life go on, and they like it that people are not afraid of coming to visit.

But that's just my 2 cents...

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Go, and make sure to wear your anti-Bush pins prominantly.

[Taxloss]

10. Come to London.

we're fine. everything's close to back to normal.

[JimmyJazz]

12. It's nice to see you posting.

:hug:

[Plaid Adder]

14. Thanks, Taxloss. Hang in there! n/t

[splat@14]

11. Go. You'll be safe and get better news coverage. Have a pint!

[roguevalley]

13. Go. I love London. Go, go, go. You should go. Can I go too?

[yurbud]

15. Don't go--but give the ticket to me

I'll go see if it's safe and let you know. I haven't been over there for a while.



Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[Oversea Visitor]

16. Go

The chance of getting kill in a terror attack is less then
Road accidents
So dont cross road
Dont drive
Somking kill more people
Dont smoke
Drinking related dead kill more people
Dont drink alcohol
The list is too long hey.

[Lilli]

17. Follow your instincts

but i wouldnt worry too much about being one more person to move...i expect there will be a great push to normalize transport fast...plus i'd hate to think people dont go and revenue loss hurts businesses

if you feel your personal saftey would be ok...i'd go

and for purely selfish reasons, i'd love to read your assessment of the trip when you return

[blondeatlast]

18. Go. My somewhat Arab-looking hubby (he's Punjabi--no turban)

just returned fronm business in Malaysia and Prague, by way of London.

He's due to return to both places in August.

Just think--over there, you have the benefit of better intelligence from the rest of Europe--you may be safer there than here (at least that's what I told Mr, Blonde at Last this morning!).

[Lisa]

19. A family friend had to make the same decision ...

She's up in Stirling (near where the summit is taking place!) and had made arrangements to go by public transit to London this weekend, for her grandmother's wake. She's decided to stick with her original plans, and go. Partly because she doesn't want to miss what's going to be a spectacular party and family reunion -- but also because she doesn't want to give anybody the satisfaction of stopping her. (She's of Middle Eastern descent and way anti-Bush, too.)

I asked her about whether having extra people coming into town might overload the hospitality and transportation services, and she doesn't think so. London's used to making alternative arrangements -- the number of times they've had to plan for special events, like that big peace march a while back -- it's one of the reasons they won the Olympics bid.

So don't feel guilty about that -- you won't be imposing. Most of the potential congestion would be due to local traffic anyway, and if only a fraction of commuters take Friday off as they're being invited to do, that would clear up a lot of the problem. I wouldn't be surprised if complete strangers, hearing you're from out of town, spontaneously offer to take you along with them.

[Catchawave]

20. I vote for Go !

Have fun :hi:

[XemaSab]

21. By all means go!

You could be hit by a meteor tomorrow while wanking in the bath! And I'm sure London will dry up and blow away without your tourist dollars!

[amazona]

22. well I would go but can't make the decision for you

I went at a time years ago when the IRA was setting off plenty of bombs in the subway. I made my will and went ahead.

I dunno, I tend to think the big show is over and life must go on.

[Karenina]

23. If you ain't on a "no-fly" list

Board the silver bird and GO GIRL!!!

[amazona]

24. even if you are

Just leave sufficient time for secondary and go anyway. My partner has a common name and is now apparently on the dreaded list. He can still fly, there is just an added hassle.

[LiberallyInclined]

25. if you go, there will be trouble...

and if you stay it will be double...



so, i guess that it's up to you.

[WeRQ4U]

31. We think alike.

Lol

[Tsiyu]

26. Another "Go" to add

Unless your gut tells you otherwise.

Besides, you can write about the experience and share your wonderful perspective with us.

[chalky]

27. I had the opposite dilemma once...

I was in Leicester the tail end of August and beginning of September in 2001. Before I returned home I was going to spend three days in London. I was due to fly out of Heathrow to the States the Sunday after 9/11.

I was on the job the day the planes hit. The support from my coworkers--both Muslim and Christian--was amazing. They all worried with me when I tried to reach my niece who was living in Manhattan, rejoiced with me when I finally received the email from her letting me know she was okay, then shared in my horror as I read the entirety of the email (my niece was stopped on the bridge off the island and was witnessing the collapse of the second tower as she typed).
The day before I left a coworker asked me if I felt comfortable in flying back. I didn't but said I did. I wanted to be home with my family, you see.

The cabbie that drove me to London told me there would be a moment of silence later in the day to honor the WTC victims. He dropped me off at the hotel ten minutes before the moment began. I was used to the half-assed, semi-mournful "moments of silence" that I've witnessed here in the states. But in London, there were signs on door after door of the shops warning customers not to expect to conduct business during that time. And when the bells began to ring, everything stopped. Shops stopped in the middle of their transactions, the bell-hops and clerks at the hotel stopped moving, the people on the street stopped in the middle of walking--London, hell, the whole country SHUT DOWN for three minutes to show their solidarity.

The next day I went past the American Embassy. The grounds were a sea of bouquets, an acre of flowers everywhere, little notes--I'm not one to tear up at the drop of a hat, but even thinking back on it can make me cry.

And I was watching "The Last Night of the Proms" on TV when, for the first time since the end of WWII, "Rule Britannia" was replaced with the most beautiful elegy ( I wish I could remember the name of the tune). There was little debate around the change. The celebratory "Rule Britannia" was deemed "not right" after what had
just happened, so the change was made, without much fanfare and without any boasting.

Then there was the news--I watched the news constantly from the moment I found out that the planes had hit. It was comprehensive, concise, thoughtful, balanced--all the things I soon realized our MSM was not.
When I arrived home, there was no more "world response" to the event. It was all about the US, and soon degenerated into the stupid crap that makes our MSM famous--the concert to raise money, how Mariah Carey looked at the concert to raise money, what George Clooney did with the raised money. With the occasional shot of Muslims dancing in the street thrown in to get that anti-Muslim hatred wheel a' turning. (Another realization surfaced when that footage aired for the fortieth time--where once I would have watched that stereotypical clip with cynicism, now I was mortally offended after having spent the last month working shoulder to shoulder with Muslims and having the most enlightening AND educational conversations with them, both before AND AFTER Sept. 11th).

In fact, my withdrawal from that wealth of REAL information was what sent me stumbling to the internet for news.
Which--long story not so short--in turn led me here. So you could say that England turned me from the casual Liberal I was before to the screeching radical harpy that I'm proud to say I've evolved into today.

I guess you can figure out where my long, looooong post is leading. I definitely vote that you go. You don't know me from Adam, of course, so I won't be offended if you take more practical issues into consideration and decide not to. But if you do go, do me a favor. Just in case by some freakish occurance an opening appears in a conversation, tell them a woman in Texas was changed by everything she witnessed during that time in England, and she feels their loss as strongly as they felt ours.
Then raise a pint to honor England's citizens for me.

[Plaid Adder]

28. As of now, have decided to go. Thanks everyone. n/t

[Theres-a]

29. Safe trip!

[Taverner]

30. Go. And if you can find the time, volunteer

But if you dont have the time - just go

[bikebloke]

32. Go

My colleagues in London were able to make it home last night. Earlier, it was thought they'd have to sleep at the office (King's Cross area). It should be fine.

[48pan]

33. London is great! Go.