I lived just outside of Washington DC on 9/11. My commute took me past the Pentagon each day, one of the sites attacked that day. I was acutely aware that I was, by extension, a primary target. Yet nothing ever happened to me in the ensuing 13 years that I continued to live there.
I will return to Paris in a matter of weeks. I’m not changing my plans.
There’s risk every time we get in a car. I’ve lost friends in car accidents, I’ve even seen it happen.
Could there be follow-on attacks? Of course, though I’m not sure the risk of that is any greater today than it was yesterday. Indeed, in some sense the risks may be lessened because there are now fewer people in Paris aiming for such an attack than there were yesterday, by virtue of their having completed it.
I grew up in New York when New York was a very different city. I always carried my wallet in my front pocket, a habit that took a long time to break after I moved to California. It’s still good practice in certain places, think Las Ramblas in Barcelona and… Paris, where there are plenty of scams near tourist sites.
I’ll go for the breads, meats, cheeses and the macarons and crepes. And to just hang out in the cafes, the museums, and take in the city itself.
We should certainly take precautions against risk, but we also live our lives. And there are few cities as alive — for a visitor — as the City of Light.
Do you stand with me on this?
YES!
Liberté, égalité, fraternité !
I’ll ne there for a couple of weeks, in a couple of weeks.
I agree. Most dangerous part in most journeys is the car ride home from airport. I too was in DC on 9/11. We’ll be in Paris next March ✈️
I’ll be there in less than 2 weeks, as well. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Very well said Gary. I was in the WTC on 9/11 and came about as close as was possible to being a statistic as was possible (you can read my account here: https://goo.gl/dmRUWQ).
I refuse to live my life in fear. If we do that, the terrorists have won. I go about my day in NYC without a second thought to the fact that the city is likely a target of future attacks. I have a trip planned to visit Paris in a few months as well, and like you, I will not change my plans. In fact, I feel a strong need to go to show solidarity with the French people.
I sincerely hope that one day the world will be a safer place, but living in fear is not living imho.
I’ve visited Bangkok in the midst of the anti-government protests during the recent coup, I’ve visited Israel right after and during terrorist murders of innocent Israelis, and just 2 weeks after 9/11, I took a 4 country trip around Europe using airplanes every couple days. While always vigilant and careful, I won’t let those bastard terrorists win by forcing me to change my life. Go to France, support them in these difficult times, and put money into their tourist economy which will no doubt be hurt by this senseless attack by these ISIS monsters
Fully agree, Gary. If I had a vacation or business trip scheduled to Paris, I’d be going ahead also. And I’d view it as a practical matter of safety, as well as a matter of principle, in that terrorists tend to pick targets of opportunity and Paris will be on full alert in the wake of these despicable attacks. Having said that – and I’m just speculating here – be prepared for a city that might have more police on the streets and perhaps more paramilitary units near key political, cultural and tourist sites. And there are respects in which the city, for all of its glorious light and life, will remain traumatized by two terrible waves of terrorist attacks in the past year. And you may even witness some ugliness in the air, in terms of the Far Right there exploiting these attacks in connection with upcoming elections regional elections on Dec. 6-13. But, getting back to principle, sympathy from visitors can be a good show of solidarity. And getting back to Paris, it’s truly one of the greatest (and certainly most romantic) cities in the world. Have a great trip!
Hi Gary, I’m writing an article for CNN on how the Paris attacks might affect travelers’ plans. If you’re available and willing to talk about your trip, please let me know. I’m interested in sharing your blog’s perspective for the piece. Thank you,
Melonyce McAfee (melonyce . mcafee @ Turner . com)
Gary,
I’m a natural born New Yorker. I met with my clients (PANYNJ/IAG) a few days before 9/11 at the WTC. The only thing that these fools achieved on 9/11 was our resolve to crush them. Now a related group of fools (murderous douches) are doing it again.
I love Paris and the French people. If I was going today, I wouldn’t change a thing. Have a terrific trip! Bon Voyage!
—SE Rob
It’s my favorite city in the world. I was there in May and look forward to my return, which won’t be soon enough. Paris, je t’aime!
I’ll be visiting Paris in 2 weeks.
@Gary,
Thanks, I respect and admire your decision on coming to see us in Europe,
Once we stop visiting, they have won, and we loose
Have a memorable visit to Paris
I was in Paris during 9/11. I was very impressed at how the Parisians reached out to me as an American and their deep concern for our country and what had occurred.
Totally 100% right!! I happened to be on the WTC on 9/11/99….and will go to Paris in a few weeks. Terrorism is about fear and those mad men will not win and not change my life. We, all of us together, will win in the end. Freedom will always prevail, but it is not free.
Hope the people hurt and their families will find a way to carry on and not replace love with anger. People love freedom and want to live a happy life, all over the world, including jew, muslim, christian or whatever people. Don’t let this young male fanatical crazies spread hate, then they will achieve their goal. And find the people who organised these attacks. It’s as always about power and money, they just use religion as an excuse, now terror is the weapon.
Paris, united we stand…!
I am going to Paris / London in 4 weeks and have no intentions of cancelling my plans. If I cancel my trip, then they win.
Family Christmas vacation planned to Paris in 2015. Vive la France !
Resounding YES. I was just there and the city is as unique and worthwhile as ever. You hit on the key, which is to continue leading a way of life which ISIS could never comprehend or attain. It’s our unique abilities, interests, religion and desire for culture that make us great. It’s the best way to defy them. Love for Paris and all those there.
I’m flying to Paris tonight. Worried but not scared. Neither reckless nor paranoid. Using best available information to make decisions. Only work, no venturing out.
Oui! I’ll be there in ten days. Nothing is ever 100% safe. I’m sure not going to let some fundamentalist nutjobs dictate my plans.
Gary – Molly and I were actually going to Paris on Monday for the first leg of our honeymoon. We don’t have plans to change but watching this closely.
If we all refrained from traveling (or charged plans) every time there’s a terrorist attack somewhere in the world, the terrorists would be winning the “war”, no?
I love this post and these comments — Paris will definitely be on my next European itinerary!
I’m supposed to head to Paris tomorrow from LA for work. Not sure I ought to put pressure on anyone to participate in meetings by being there whatsoever. Seems sort of “cheap” and insignificant to talk about business right now.
Give them the second amendment and I will go. The attacks appear to be increasing in frequency not decreasing did your forget the attack on Charlie Hebdo? That happened less than a year ago. When was the last attack before that? I am not afraid of terror attacks I am afraid for the citizenry that have no ways of protecting themselves and therefore no way to protect their fellow man. They must depend on the government police forces that couldn’t stop the attackers before 150+ people were killed. In the last two attacks the terrorists have shown up with ak 47’s despite it being illegal for citizens to possess. The police are outgunned and even ran away during the Hebdo attacks. Let’s not forget the “refugees” pouring into the EU from Syria. If you are willing to bet your life on that by all means. If I ever get caught in a gunfight I want to have a chance and without a gun there is no chance. Had there just been 10 or 20 armed french citizens there would have been no way 150+ people would have died.
Well done Gary !! I too am a NYer. I was at,Ground Zero from day1. The city,didn’t whimper one bit. Tourists and locals flock here to support us as a symbol of togetherness. I was in Paris in April and will return to support them once again.
I pray for the victims and their families
Absolument! We live in a neighbourhood with hundreds of French ex-pats, and our son attends their school (despite us not being French), so we are acutely aware of the pain from these attacks. But despite that, we’re meeting our siblings in Paris with the kids for Christmas, and neither this attack, nor the prior one, nor any to come will have an impact on that decision.
Vive le république et vive la France!
@Roger hope you have a fantastic trip! In many ways it’ll be a special time. I remember the outpouring of affection among New Yorkers post-9/11. It was a very different city..
I’m looking for airfare right now. It has been said before but I will not let those who wish to do us harm win.
Yes !! We just went in July & loved the city. We are looking forward to going again.
I wouldn’t avoid Paris as a result of the recent attacks. I flew on American airlines to Europe from NY shortly after the 9/11 attacks (I was in NYC during the attacks), I was in Moscow when terrorists actively bombed the metro station I used, blew up two airliners out of the airport I was flying and the Beslan school massacre occurred, etc. The chances of being caught up in one of these incidents is minimal and by cancelling plans you give the terrorist cowards exactly what they want. Of course, travel to and within France over the next week or two will likely be a bit more of a struggle, since they will add additional security and it can take time to put additional precautions into place and get things flowing smoothly.
I completely agree. I was on top of the WTC 2 weeks before 9/11 and had nightmares after. I would continue to go to Paris and NY and Mumbai unless there was an active situation.
How can we effectively put pressure on Saudi Arabia to end its support of ultra conservative Wahhabism has been a major factor (along with the Bush/Cheney/Koch Brothers pro oil policies) leading to the creation and growth of Isis and lead it to embrace a more moderate and more true form of Islam?
Stuart Falk: how do you think “pro oil” policies have led to the rise of radical Islam? If you mean US intervention in the Middle East, perhaps, but then you can’t lump “Bush/Cheney” in with “Koch” whose involvement in politics ramped up during the Bush administration in opposition to those policies. Or perhaps you’re just throwing out slogans and don’t know what you’re talking about.
Gary, I fully agree with you. My Wife and I were in Paris earlier this year and will be back with our daughters, son in law and sister to spend the holidays in the most wonderful city in the world. We absolutely love Paris and will go back as many times as we can.
The bad guys and terrorism cannot dictate how we live our lives, unlike them, we will always be free !!!
@anonymous: The Koch Brothers support the fossil fuel industry without regard to the consequences, whether environmental or political. So yes, their agenda can be correlated with the support of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and its connection to terrorism and the growth of Isis.
Obviously I agree, but it’s interesting thinking about it in relation to people we know who have died in car accidents. I personally don’t know anyone who has died due to “terrorism”. Most of us just hear about on the news. Yet, we all know people who have died in cars… unfortunately.
Yet, everyone post comments about how dangerous Egypt is… and they’re probably commenting on their phone while driving.
I was supposed to land in paris today. With 2 little kids and the purpose of the trip being sight seeing, i went ahead and changed plans. I will be making this trip in the near future now.
@Steve, @ Gary,
I command your nice words.
Stuart Falk: are you brain damaged? You haven’t explained the mechanism you think is at work here. I guessed US interventionism in the Mideast. But if that’s the case, the whole impetus for KI to get involved in politics was opposition to Bush/Cheney. They’re anti-war, anti-intervention in the region, so how exactly do you think this works? Deep thinker you aren’t.
My wife and I are going to Paris next weekend. It’s a tradition for us every November, and after discussing it, we both still want to go.
She was in Paris shortly after 9/11, and was touched by the tremendous outpouring of sympathy from the Parisians she met.
If we stay home and hide, they win. The purpose of terrorist attacks is to terrorize. I won’t change my plans to travel to Europe.
I am at the Sheraton at CDG to fly home to CA tomorrow. I have been in France for the past month.
We drove from Flavigny in Burgundy this morning and found traffic almost non-existant on the freeway. I was more nervous about finding where to return the rental car at CDG than about any problems with terrorists.
This is a very beautiful country that I hope to come back to again soon. I can’t imagine the horror that many people felt on Friday in Paris. That will not stop me from retuning again soon.
Why in the world would anyone change their travel plans to Paris?
Good for you .. I’m sure you will have a great time.
Bravo for these insightful and inspiring words! Thank you, Gary!
Qui! We were there for the first time in June and loved it. Looking forward to going back soon. Vive la France!
I’m writing this from our Airbnb flat in Montmartre. We came for the Airbnb Open conference and were at a Los Angeles host meetup in the Canal St. Martin area near where the attacks took place on Friday evening, but because we’re old fuddyduddys,, we headed back to our flat around 8:45 pm and weren’t aware of the horrific circumstances until we got a phone call from an Airbnb rep asking us where we were and telling us to stay inside. We spent the rest of the evening watching live BBC coverage on my computer — the television in the flat has no English language channels.
Paris has been very quiet this weekend — few cars, not a lot of pedestrians. Many shops and restaurants, but not all, are closed. All public buildings, including museums and monuments, are closed.
The police, the State Department, and Airbnb (which canceled the final day of the conference) all advised us to stay in, but we took the Metro (which is fully operational with very light passenger loads) to a friend’s hotel and went out for dinner last night. We got a phone call from Airbnb, which is reaching out to all of the 5,000+ attendees to confirm their safety, and were told that all of the 600+ staff members that came to Paris were safe.
We leave from CDG tomorrow morning and, per advice from the State Department, are allowing extra time for security. Our only concession to security concerns is that we’re taking a taxi or Uber instead of the RER train.
I was in Paris soon after the first Gulf War began and in Berlin when the second one began. Aside from extra security, I was not inconvenienced and was not worried. I’m still not worried. I’ll be in Paris next June and back again next July. If I had a reason to come back sooner, I wouldn’t hesitate.
I booked my parents (from India) and sister (from Dallas) to Paris for New years and I stand with you on this. J
I have been to Paris at least 50 times in my life. I hope to live long enough to go 50 more times. I also spent 9 months at Ground Zero as volunteer night supervisor. May these people roast in Hell, if these is such a place, forever!
Great post and fully agree! I booked flights last week for me, wife and young son to be there in about a month, and we have no thoughts to change. Actually, I’m kinda hoping the incident will make it easier for us to find a good apartment to rent though ;-). Haven’t started that search yet…
I am changing my plans,. I have decided to include Paris on my itinerary when I travel over the holidays. I had planned to just make stops in UK cities, but now I am doing a couple of days in Paris just on GP.
The streets of Paris should be crowded with people from all over the world showing solidarity and living life.