Shootout in Mexico City's international airport...

And here I was thinking I might venture south this winter and spend some time in Mexico City too but...the look of terror on that young woman's face in the National Post article says it all . I cannot begin to imagine what it must have been like to be calmly drinking a coffee or munching on a sandwich in between flights and have a gun battle break out...in an international airport!!!

I am sure many here have had lovely vacations in Mexico but there have been an inordinate number of crimes, murders and deaths involving Canadians.  BIL and SIL have a time share that is, apparently, lovely and they've invited us several times but we've always said "thanks, but no thanks".  While the chances are still very small, I'm sure, it's just not a risk I want to take.

a shootout at the University of Alberta a couple of weeks ago. Henceforth, I will be afraid to venture onto a university campus in Canada.

Don't go shopping at a mall in Canada.  There was a shooting at a shopping mall, and another mall capsized, both this month.

I think you missed the point of my OP.

 

ETA...I was in a bar once when the police rushed the place with weapons (big ones!) pulled. It was frightening...for me anyway. I didn't move out of town but chose my watering holes more judiciously. Sometimes, however, you have no choice.

Sorry, if I missed your point.  Perhaps it wasn't clear to me.  When I read:
"thinking I might venture south..... but"  it made me think you had changed your mind.

for the sort of glib tone your post seems to have (and if that wasn't your intention, sorry, but that is how it came across).

between  Mexico and Canada.

Just as you expect some things to happen in some parts of the world you don't expect certain things to happen in other parts of the world.

It's when the unexpected happens that your assumptions change. Think 9/11...many, many people stopped flying for a while after that and even seasoned travellers took a time out for a few days.

I hinted that I am hesitating.

My thoughts were with all those passengers who were idling time waiting for flights who had to witness such a frightening episode and be put in the line of fire. This is something you don't expect to happen while you are hanging about an airport.

I've travelled the globe extensively,  have travelled through risky areas and even lived in a couple of places which were not considered particularly safe at the time due to terrorist activities and threats.

And yeah...if people pulled out guns and started shooting at each other wild west style within a student union building eatery, I might be a bit hesitant about hanging around places like that. And you know full well that the shootings that happened at the U of A were targeted in the dead of night when the students upstairs from the ATM were mostly indoors and asleep. Using your analogy, nobody would ever go out of their house again.

A little touchy, much? Hope you find a place to have a nice vacation.

So you're still thinking of going? As DFAIT states, a lot of Mexico is very safe.  Like you, I've traveled and lived in many places, and you learn to adjust. After the latest shooting in Toronto, I'm sure some people will hesitate about going there. We traveled with young kids in many places including some countries in South America, and one child is going back later this month. Another was in parts of Africa earlier this year.

is here too, unfortunately, in fact two shootings in the last few weeks alone in a more prestigious neighbourhood.

I don't even want to go to the states, I'd rather spend my vacation here in Canada or visiting relatives in Austria. My favorite places where Australia and New Zealand.