Safe in France?

We are going in early April. I am planning to live my life and not panic at every shadow. Obviously we may all be living in a nuclear wasteland by then which will make this all moot, but short of that I am not changing plans. Taking a 12 year old with me too. Our state department has pretty good intelligence; if it is perceived to be seriously threatening there will be information put out to help you make a last minute change. But chances are you will feel really foolish to cancel a long planned trip when nothing much occurs.

I am certainly not a specialist in International Relations but I am going to France, Belgium and Netherlands for a month starting in April.

I will ask if your Mom has ever traveled internationally? If not, please just set her worries aside. Many people in the US who don't travel internationally get all worked up about things going on in other parts of the world which will not affect a trip to Western Europe except for perhaps price hikes on things.

Turn this around and realize that European Moms are probably warning their kids against traveling to the US because of the potential for random gun violence and domestic terrorism. That doesn't stop you from going to the grocery store or a restaurant or attending some event (not considering Covid).

So...pack your bags and go enjoy your time in France. Two weeks will fly by. Text or email your Mom daily if that will make her feel better. Include pictures of cherry blossoms, tulips and spring in France!

No one can predict the future but I'd say that you will be as safe as you would be in the US. Ukraine is not even close to France and Macron is actually engaging in dialogue with Putin.

Moms worry a lot- tell her you will keep in touch and have fun.

Edited to add, we traveled to Istanbul and Western Turkey during the Syrian conflict and many Americans warned us we would be in a war zone- we actually had a great time and watched surreally the news reports about the Boston Marathon bombing. Many Americans only know what the news tells them.

If something catastrophic happens, it is going to affect you wherever you are. There are tons of experienced travelers here who are not canceling any plans, that should make you feel better. I know rationality is not often part of these kinds of concerns, but perhaps you could show her how far apart those countries are on a map.

Doing a month in Spain and Portugal via quick stop in France in April. Absolutely no plan to cancel.

Oh and double on 'Moms who don't travel and panic' --- We had neighbors who couldn't believe we were traveling to France (years ago) because the 'French hate Americans' and are 'soooo rude'. and it is dangerous on the streets. I asked about her experiences and apparently they had once been on a guided tour where fellow country club Americans whined to each other about how horrible it all was. We have had very few negative experiences with the French -- just as we have had a few, but very few, in Chicago. And as to general safety -- well America is probably the most dangerous country in the developed world for an international visit since much of the country allows people to shoot people who annoy them with no consequences. Note that someone was just found not guilty of murder for shooting a guy in a theater who was texting on his phone during the trailers and who when challenged threw some popcorn at the guy. This is justified homicide in the US.

If a ground war breaks out we'll know about it in time to cancel. Not worried. And I feel so much safer in France than in the US.

We are still planning a trip to England at end of May. France is probably safer than the US-I think Hitler 2.0 is just itching to send nuclear bombs our way.

Toward her last years, my mom ended up in the ER several times just before my trips. After a day of tests and worry about her, it was always just dehydration. But I saw a pattern.
I learned to tell her we were leaving only a couple of weeks before. And she could call me whenever I was.

She's no longer with us. I'm leaving for France this weekend. She probably would have been hysterical, but like millions of others, we live part of the year there. Everyone is just continuing on with their lives. My 7-year old granddaughter is coming to visit. And we'll just continue on.

LoL kerouac.

You’re safer in France than you are here.

Will there be some disruptions? Yeah probably. Airlines will have to reroute some flights and perhaps cancel or reschedule them. There will be protests in some cities. You have to take your own travel temperature, are you a Damn the torpedos type, or a nervous nellie, or somewhere inbetween? Only you can make your decisions.

Phred nailed it. You won't enjoy yourself if you will worry the whole time. Mom's do that, and mine was no exception. I suppose I do the same with my kids to some degree. We are all seasoned travelers overseas, and I have one living there. We are going in April, and unless anything drastic happens to change our minds, we will keep our plans. There are no silly questions.

I have plans to travel mid/late March and we are watching the situation. Presently, we don't feel the need to cancel our trip. Still, an Italian friend from Naples put it into perspective for us when Putin started the invasion: the distance between Ukraine and Naples is the same as the distance between San Diego (where we are) and Lake Tahoe (in Northern California). The invasion really brings home the reality of the very sweet period of peace we saw post Cold War. I think, sadly, we have entered a new period of geopolitical instability and climate disruption. Perhaps we will make far fewer trips than before. Better go while we can.

You may have done this already, but if not, go ahead and register with the STEP (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) run by the US State Department. That way, you’ll receive alerts about any upcoming events that may impact your trip. https://step.state.gov/

I will be traveling to France a little later this spring — no plans to cancel as of right now.

I sure hope I'll be safe here in two weeks, yikes!

Thank you all for your kind responses! They do put me at ease. I have enrolled my trip with the Embassy via STEP, and obviously I will be watching the news. Thanks again.

Good to hear. You also have to learn how to filter STEP. It will send an ALERT! for something that is quite a distance from you, but when you see ALERT in your in-box, it can be jolting.

If you’re fully vaccinated no need to worry. The Ukraine is a non-NATO nation and FR isn’t so no need to worry about Russia invading FR too.
Kaitlin suggested that you enroll in STEP which I do when traveling abroad. This way you’ll be informed by email of any safety concerns.

58 year old solo traveler. I just returned from Paris yesterday. Walked about half a mile to the RER at 5:30 AM to get to the airport and felt safer there than on the train here at home. Everyone thought I was crazy to go to France and told me I'd better cancel because of the high Covid numbers. I had a wonderful time and would return today if I could.

Jaczxy - Your friend is a bit off in his calculations. It’s about 1500 miles from Naples to Kiev. It’s only about 500 miles from San Diego to Lake Tahoe. You would have to travel to Vancouver or beyond to go as far as Naples-Kiev.

Balso -- me too.

If Putin is successful in Ukraine, no place will be safe. So now is a good time to go.

I am planning to leave for Paris in less than 2 weeks.
I figure that as long as the Louvre is not packing up it's art work to ship to the Loire Valley as they did before WW1 and WW2, it will as safe there as anywhere.
Maybe you can promise your Mom to call her every day or so to reassure her.

For the OP. I hope the distance between Paris and Kyiv is comforting.

It's about 1500 driving distance miles from Paris to Kyiv, or 1258 straight line distance miles. A US comparison with straight line distance first is that it's about 1500 straight line distance miles between Chicago and Las Vegas, but 1750 driving distance miles.

When you use the website I used to get the distances, it will show the straight line distance in red and the driving route in blue on a map. Between the search boxes and the map are the distances described in a variety of ways, including both straight line and driving distances. I'm sure there are many others, but this is the website I used: https://www.mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php

I didn't load any app. I just put in the cities and clicked on Calculate Distance.