Why We’re Keeping Brussels on Our Itineraryfeatured
Before I even wiped the sleep from my eyes and turned on Good Morning, America on Tuesday morning, I had two text messages from messages from my sister:
No Brussels for us?
Maybe London is back on the table.
Sitting above the texts was a picture she’d sent of the CNN Homepage. Terror in Belgium. Deadly explosions rock Brussels airport, subway.
We leave for a 19-day trek across Europe in six weeks and we’ve spent the past seven months pouring over maps as we crafted our itinerary. A day trip to Brussels has been towards the top of my list nearly the entire time. I’ve spent months sending Stephanie YouTube videos, pictures and anecdotes I pick up off of friends and coworkers who have visited.
Apparently, there’s a bar that has free beer. And a statue that pees. And waffles are, like, a Euro.
So when I woke up on Tuesday morning to the news that Brussels was under terrorist attack, it didn’t surprise me that Stephanie’s first inclination was to change our plans.
And it was just as unsurprising to her that I insisted we keep our plans in tact.
When Paris was under attack in November, I took to my Facebook to sort out my feelings. I wrote about how exploring the beauty of the world is where I find my greatest inspiration and peace. How travel feeds my soul in ways that are completely indescribable, and how sad and angry it made me that we live in a world where that beauty is marred by people who are fueled by the hate in their hearts, people who make the world less safe to explore.
I can’t let those people ruin the world for me. I won’t let them stop me from seeking out the beauty that lives in exploring new places and taking on new experiences. I won’t let their narrow-minded hatred make my world smaller. If I did, they’d win. And not only would I lose, but so would the people and businesses that rely on visits from tourists to make a living.
I’m not advocating ignoring travel advisories and warnings. Any tourist worth their passport stamps knows the importance of assessing the danger posed in any locale (especially foreign ones). But in that, assessing the risk of visiting Brussels so soon after the attack brings me to two points:
First, I live in downtown Chicago, two blocks from one of the largest tourist attractions and less than a mile from one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. The threat of an attack outside my doorstep is real. So is the threat of finding myself in the wrong place at the wrong time – gun violence is a serious issue in my city. I still leave my apartment every day. I go to work. I meet up with friends. I walk around the parks, I ride the El and I sit in cafes. I live my life. And despite these risks, I’d never advise anyone to not visit Chicago. This city…my city…is a rich, vibrant wonderland of culture. I can’t imagine the people of Brussels don’t feel the same way about their city. The reality of the world we live in…the world I live in…is that I’m no safer at home than I would be tossing one back at Delirium, taking pictures of the Grand Palace or enjoying a meal al fresco on the Rue de Bouchers.
Second, with the country currently alert, it’s safer than it was a week ago. Security tightens, police presence increases and general awareness goes up. Brussels is a safer place to visit today than it was last week. And as long as we keep aware of our surroundings and exercise caution, there’s no reason to think we wouldn’t be safe. That should never be the first assumption.
I sometimes think back to our time in Paris and Turkey last spring. Places that have also been under recent attack and live under similar threats. And I remember the smell of the grass beneath the Eiffel Tower as we enjoyed a picnic on a sunny day. I remember the woman weaving floral wreathes next to her cart in Sirince. I remember the wonder of experiencing the Arc de Triomphe from mere steps away, and I remember standing inside the remnants of the Library of Celsius, a structure that still stands nearly 2,000 years after it was first built. Experiences I would have never gotten and memories I would have never made if I had stayed home.
My heart breaks for the city of Brussels and everyone touched by the attacks last week. But my heart also breaks in a different way for the cities that go unexplored and the beauty that goes unseen because we were too afraid to go out and find it, for the experiences we never have and the people we never meet. And at the end of the day, life is too short to live in fear of what could be instead of going out and exploring every corner of this beautiful world.
So in a few weeks, we’ll still be visiting Brussels. I’ll probably take way too many pictures of the Grote Markt and I’ll probably eat one too many waffles. I’ll drink Belgian ale even though I hate beer and I’ll probably even buy a dumb keychain of the Manneken Pis. I will take in as much of Brussels as I can and I won’t be afraid to do any of it.
In fact, I think I’ll appreciate it all even more.
