At Least 10 Dead in 'Massive' Istanbul Tourist Zone Blast

[Valmy]

Hey, if he was the right age, the US Government would have given him an all expenses paid trip to visit Vietnam. 

I always enjoy a vacation where you can get out of the tourist traps and really get out there and mingle with the locals.

[lustindarkness]

Sad.

[alfred russel]

I bet I could have visited Egypt and Turkey in the 60s and everything would have been cool. Hell I could have visited Afghanistan and Iraq just fine as well.

The reporting and 24 hour news cycle plays into a lot of the perceptions. I'll give you that Iraq and Afghanistan are more dangerous now than in the 60s, but I'm not certain about Egypt and Turkey. There was more terrorism in general back then. I think I would feel safer now in the sense that with mass tourism and the internet I could easily arrange a visit with security the whole way.

Actually I think Istanbul is still reasonably safe.

[lustindarkness]

I would like to go to the Egyptian pyramids without going to Egypt.

[Barrister]

I bet I could have visited Egypt and Turkey in the 60s and everything would have been cool. Hell I could have visited Afghanistan and Iraq just fine as well.

The reporting and 24 hour news cycle plays into a lot of the perceptions. I'll give you that Iraq and Afghanistan are more dangerous now than in the 60s, but I'm not certain about Egypt and Turkey. There was more terrorism in general back then. I think I would feel safer now in the sense that with mass tourism and the internet I could easily arrange a visit with security the whole way.

Actually I think Istanbul is still reasonably safe.

There's always been terrorism.  The 1960s were notorious for airplane hijackings, for example.

But what is quite different now is the rise of suicide bombers, which were unheard of back then.

[Josquius]

Had a conversation last night with a very young American tourist telling him that the reason I wasn't in Istanbul was that I knew that terrorism was going to get worse.  He was going to Istanbul the next day (today) and disagreed with me vehemently.  Very sad to be proven right.

I'm planning a trip ending in Istanbul for March/April 

I had been thinking of it for sometime between Feb and April.


I'm surprised it was Istanbul they hit though and not one of the myriad tourist towns on the Turkish coast; are not some of those rather close to Syria?
This will ruin Turkey's tourism anyway, its quite a big source of wealth for them.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

It's a shame too, because I would LOVE to visit Istanbul myself.

Yeah it is one of my dream vacations. Ah well. I really want to go to Egypt also. Maybe decades from now when all of this is just a bad memory.

Hate to tell you but this has been business as usual there for most of the past 12 000 years. People just didn't have explosives

I bet I could have visited Egypt and Turkey in the 60s and everything would have been cool. Hell I could have visited Afghanistan and Iraq just fine as well.

and most women wouldn't have looked like persons too

[Valmy]

and most women wouldn't have looked like persons too

Here are women in Afghanistan in the 1960s.



Now I am not a great biologist or anything but those resemble persons to me

[garbon]

It's a shame too, because I would LOVE to visit Istanbul myself.

Yeah it is one of my dream vacations. Ah well. I really want to go to Egypt also. Maybe decades from now when all of this is just a bad memory.

Hate to tell you but this has been business as usual there for most of the past 12 000 years. People just didn't have explosives

I bet I could have visited Egypt and Turkey in the 60s and everything would have been cool. Hell I could have visited Afghanistan and Iraq just fine as well.

Exceptions are not the rule.

I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere in the US say from the 1960s or earlier.

[Malthus]

I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere in the US say from the 1960s or earlier.

Push that back a little over a century, and in the right states we could have had us a good old fashioned garbon sale. 

[Valmy]

Push that back a little over a century, and in the right states we could have had us a good old fashioned garbon sale. 

Well legally I think your mother had to be a slave to be a slave. But, you know, it is not like he could have sued you in the courts very easily.

[garbon]

Well I guess it isn't everyday you get to have people talk about owning you.

Anyway, I don't think that would be true about Canada.

[Valmy]

Well I guess it isn't everyday you get to have people talk about owning you.

Sorry my history nerd obsession came into play there.

[Malthus]

Well I guess it isn't everyday you get to have people talk about owning you.

Anyway, I don't think that would be true about Canada.

Well, it isn't like we actually established a price. Maybe Languish couldn't afford you. 

[Maladict]

I'm planning a trip ending in Istanbul for March/April 

I had been thinking of it for sometime between Feb and April.

I'm going ahead with planning for now. The trip is not really about Istanbul, it's just the last destination. I'm okay with avoiding the city centre if I have to.