Going to Brussels in May - staying in Youth Hostel with my children 13 and 14 - there is a jazz festival on there then so it may be busy. One of my children doesn't want to go at all - very worried after what has happened - all booked and paid for - am I am mad to consider going?
Travelling to Brussels in May with children - cancel??
- Thread starter elainem
- Start date
J
Jon Snow
Guest
I genuinely don't have an opinion either way on that, but holy cow Elaine, you must be the unluckiest person in Ireland...
PaddyBloggit
Registered User
- Messages
- 3,745
Stay at home - there will be other trips.
I have made a point of traveling to cities/countries where there have been problems on the basis that a repeat of whatever is unlikely, but with young children that's a bit of an ask. If If you are going to be uptight and anxious, and they are too it kinda defeats the purpose of a holiday. I'd chat it over with the kids and let them guide you. In fairness, terrorism and all that goes with it is going to be a feature of the world they will live in.
I have a few holidays booked ahead for this year. I intend to travel and enjoy but at the same time to have my wits about me. Yes. I will be anxious but I am not going to stay at home. There are millions of people going about their daily lives in Belgium and Paris.
No, Emeralds, I don't think my youngest child's anxiety will diminish by then - it's not that he's an anxious person - but he worries about this kind of stuff - reads the newspaper online everyday and has done so for several years - and thinks about things such as outbreak of World War etc. My daughter who is a year older is hugely adventurous, knows also what is happening world wide - but would go anywhere, and was recently offered a chance to visit my cousin in Egypt and wanted to go! Just different children. I think though we will stay at home. I was going with two sets of friends who have adult children - we weren't staying in the same place, they still want to go, but I have quite a lot of reservations about it, mainly given my son's upset about it.
Steven Barrett
Registered User
- Messages
- 5,128
Security will be heightened for any large public events so it is unlikely that there will be another attack while you are there.
Brussels is the worst city I have ever been to and the only one that I would never go back to.
Brussels is the worst city I have ever been to and the only one that I would never go back to.
Strong opinion there, I've been there twice and it was only because it was place to stay while we went to an event in Ghent. Found it to be a fairly boring city, but Frankfurt (of the relatively few European cities I've been to) was worse!
I would cancel if you can... Belgian security services have been AWOL about this threat for about the last 5 years... this is not Britain or France. One of the terrorists was a known criminal deported by Turkey back to Belgium from the Syrian border. Who else did the Belgians fail to notice?
I can see more incidents as the Belgians finally clamp down on the threats they have been wilfully ignoring, and as they 'harden' airports and train stations etc I would worry about sporting and cultural events.
I can see more incidents as the Belgians finally clamp down on the threats they have been wilfully ignoring, and as they 'harden' airports and train stations etc I would worry about sporting and cultural events.
Yes, odyssey06, can't believe how lax the Belgian Security Services have been - just reading in Indo today that warnings about one of the terrorists involved in the latest atrocity had lain in a filing cabinet for three months and was never passed to security services! We won't go now - my daughter was looking forward to the EU Parliament Tours - really into politics and going to do the new subject for LC. Maybe there will be another time before her LC to go. Does anyone know if I can pay to change Are Lingus flights - i.e. move them to another destination at a different date, maybe Lisbon or somewhere non-controversial. I have paid for the hostel in full, but it is part of Hostelling International, so I may be able to transfer that booking somewhere else also - any advice on this would be really welcome.
Steven Barrett
Registered User
- Messages
- 5,128
Yep, went there on a stag a few years back. A load of us were mugged or pick pocketed throughout the weekend there. Plenty of restaurant owners trying to get you into their restaurants, then serve up appalling food after leaving you waiting for ages. Dirty too. Couldn't wait to get home.
Brendan Burgess
Founder
- Messages
- 52,114
Could you fly into Brussels and take a train to somewhere else?
Could you leave him with relatives.
I would be annoyed if my little brother's irrational fear kept me from a holiday I was looking forward to.
Brendan
Could you leave him with relatives.
I would be annoyed if my little brother's irrational fear kept me from a holiday I was looking forward to.
Brendan
Hi! Brendan, there isn't anyone he can stay with. I do feel for my daughter though. I wasn't aware that they did tours of the European Parliament, but she had looked it all up before I event
booked it, telling me the times, and the stop to get off! She also wants to go to New York next summer and take the UN tour there. We had thought maybe, we'd just get to Brussels Airport and take a train straight to Ghent or Antwerp and then just do the Monday in Brussels for the European Parliament Tour.
booked it, telling me the times, and the stop to get off! She also wants to go to New York next summer and take the UN tour there. We had thought maybe, we'd just get to Brussels Airport and take a train straight to Ghent or Antwerp and then just do the Monday in Brussels for the European Parliament Tour.
Brendan Burgess
Founder
- Messages
- 52,114
That sounds perfect.
Do the European Parliament Tour first so that he can relax afterwards.
Brendan
spend a couple nights days about five years back, most depressing place I ever visited, dull and dreary.
Given that there have already been attacks and the security services have fallen short, why exactly are his fears irrational??? He might be overly concerned but certainly not irrational.
Personally I would not think twice about travelling, but I would not at the same time force someone else even a child to go there just for the sake of a concert.
There is risk in every thing. In a trip to Brussels, the risk from a traffic accident is vastly greater than the risk from a terrorist attack.
I wouldn't force him either. But a parent can help a child address his fears and usually persuade him to go along with the parents wishes.
The concert or the holiday are not the point. The point is a child living his life free from fear. If this were my child I wouldn't want him to look back in 20 years time on 2016 as the year I was afraid to go to Brussels.