Recently I can see why people might be a little anxious about traveling abroad. Riots in Brazil, bombings in Europe, and countless airplane scares, like this one, where an Islamic man was talking to his uncle in their Arabic tongue, which made an over paranoid lady a little insecure. She alerted the cabin crew and the Berkeley student was kicked off the plane. But what are the odds of one of these affecting your travels? Lets pull some statistics out.

So in order to travel pretty much anywhere, you’re going to need to start off on a plane. But people nowadays want to be the local hero, which sometimes turns into straight up racial profiling. These men you view as threats on the planes with their turbans and cloaks are merely expressing their religion. Anyway, these Middle-Eastern men and women have gone through the same tedious security we all go through, that's why they’re on the plane with you. All I’m saying is don't jump to assumptions and end up embarrassing someone and ruining their travel plans. And as for rationalizing your fear of being apart of a plane attack, according to Gizmodo, your odds of being a victim of terror on a plane are around 1 in 10,000,000. You’re more likely to be struck by lightning.

Now regarding the recent bombs in Europe, we live in a crazy world. We can’t control the inhuman actions that some people are responsible for. Every day we are exposed to danger, but we still go on living our normal lives. Traveling through any country is potentially dangerous. But that's just the risk you accept traveling through foreign lands. We can’t stop that. But think about it like this, if you walk down the street here in America, you are subject to being one of the 16,000 annual victims killed by a drunk driver. So it’s not like you are any safer from death here in America. Reading through the warning issued by U.S. Passports & International Travel, they advise travelers to be aware of their immediate surroundings on streetcars, trains, busses, etc. They also say to avoid big tourist destinations, which is a good excuse to get lost in the city.

Break out of your shell; accept culture and different ways of doing things. Explore different perspectives by visiting as many places as you can all over this beautiful mother earth, and don't be afraid to travel. So many elder people I've talked to have all told me to travel young. Because as you get older, the more difficult it becomes, and the less adventure you can have. If you stay in one state or one country your entire life then you haven’t lived. Don't be a Britney Spears and say that you’ve “always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff.” Be courageous. Be driven by the unknown. There’s so much to see, and so many places to go!