My study abroad program has recently provided us (the students) with a "Risk Matrix" based on country, with the categories, "Crime," "Terrorism," "Political," "Kidnap," "Infrastructure," and "Overall," on a frightening familiar spectrum of green, yellow, red, and black.
Argentina, the country I am currently in, ranks HIGH, with red levels of "crime" and "kidnap."
Egypt, a country two friends are studying in, also ranks HIGH, with only "terrorism" reaching the dangerous red level.
Is it really necessary to base a country's supposed security on our perception of how dangerous it is to us? Granted, common sense and knowledge of safety is important- don't walk down an unlit street in the slums of Sudan (ranked extremely dangerous overall). But nations are way too complex to say the threat of being kidnapped here is a yellow amount of dangerous to you.
I have learnt in the past month or so, that travel is about risk-taking and being unsure. You have to leave your comfort zone if you want to learn anything at all. You need to drop the guidebook; ask the locals. Walk down a road, just remember your way back.
Of course you want to be smart, but a risk wouldn't be a risk if it wasn't a risk!
Travel safety isn't about compiling data. It's about being prepared to roll with whatever comes your way. Expectations are meant to be torn to shreds (in a great way or a horrifying way) for every moment a traveller is exploring... More later.
(Unfortunately, the link to the matrix I am describing requires you to be a member of the program in order to be safe...)
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