Perils of Teen Travel - rage alert

[maracle]

I came across this article today and pretty much everything about it pisses me off:

The Perils of Teen Travel - The Daily Beast

Essentially it suggests that traveling abroad for teens and college students is dangerous with huge risks of illness, injury, crime victimization, etc.

She starts out with a few examples of parents who "shipped" their kids off to paid volunteer organizations to get college resume bullet points. It sounds like neither the kids nor parents had any clue or interest in the actual travel, did not research how rustic it would be, and would therefore have no clue what they were getting into. She then cites a bunch of other anecdotes:

1) some U of Washington students who got malaria in Ghana. Take your malarone or don't complain guys...

2) a guy that got a bad case of flu in Greece

After an alarming few days, the female decided that Gerard’s grandmother should fly to Athens to retrieve the recent high-school grad, who lost about 24 pounds from what was likely the stomach flu or a food-borne illness. He is now recovering, but Gerard’s mother Michelle told her local newspaper this week, “He was worried that he wasn't going to get out of Greece alive.”

They act like only in America can you be treated for the flu. I don't get it, you can get this anywhere and there are in fact doctors that can treat it anywhere too. Oh, and I'm sure she meant "family" instead of "female" above. Spellcheck FAIL. Editor FAIL.

3) Or the story of a group of students in Germany who "crammed" themselves into an elevator and causes it to drop a few feet before being caught by the safety systems. This isn't a peril of traveling to Germany it's a peril of being a drunken dumbass.

4) There was also a guy that fell into an unmarked mine shaft and suffocated. But, this is a huge problem in the US too... For example, see: Abandoned mines a 'death trap,' Az inspector says

4) Then there are the totally unsupported accusations. "American teenagers in Europe have been beaten up or harassed after showing too much national pride." No example cited. On the other hand, if you want me to provide examples of teens getting their ass kicked for being Mexican in Texas I assure you I can give links.

The sad thing is that this could be an interesting topic for a news story...listing factors a person might need to research before a trip and giving some tips. Instead it's just a collection of morons used to suggest that the rest of the world is out to get us.

God. Fuck off Kathleen Kingbury. Do the world a favor and stop writing. By the way I googled her and she's the same idiot that started that "high school mass pregnancy pact" story from Gloucester which turned out to be total bullshit. In fairness I'll mention that the principal is the one that made the claim, but she didn't bothered to check his story with any of the people in question.

[offhegoes03]

haha, I don't think I'll actually click the link because it will probably piss me off too. People like that want to make the world seem like this big scary place where everybody is out to get you and you should never ever leave the safety of the suburbs. Too bad they just end up missing out on all that life has to offer. Some people like to play everything safely and never leave their comfort zones, at least there's a place like Tpunk for the rest of us

[expatben]

thing is, as Brett mentioned this COULD have been an interesting article that informed first time travellers of the potential dangers of travelling but instead chose to spread fear and the potential dangers of being an idiot.

[Canadian Bacon]

that article is what happens when a buzz-kill grows up.

[mish99]

So when Mary Ellen Kostigen shipped her 16-year-old son, Aaron, off to South Africa to do some college application-boosting community service two years ago, she didn’t bother to ask if he’d have to build his own house.

“My understanding is that they arrived to literally a pile of boards, nails, and straw,” Kostigen recalls. “There was no electricity, no toilet.”

Then Aaron was robbed not once, but three times before he alerted his parents. “He didn’t want to cause trouble, but the [thief] pulled a knife on him and took his iPod and wallet,” his mother says of the third time. “And it still took me about 150 phone calls to get him home."

HA! That made me laugh actually.

Ag, I cant be bothered to get angry about this, its just people being ignorant, not doing there research on a country and the culture or a tour company before they leave.

Everything in that article could have been avoided if people used their common sense.

[Esterina]

The comments left by the viewers are comforting though. Everyone pretty much agrees with us.

[pinknic38]

there is always, unfortunately, going to be that marginal level of idiocy. I'm not clicking on the link either, because I already know exactly what that shit says, and I believe I've reached my threshold for the month of July.

it's like Ron White says... "you can't fix stupid..."

It is unfortunate, because you look at the numbers of people in the US who don't have passports and never leave the country - it's in large due to paranoia like this article (along with severe ethnocentric beliefs and the paranoia associated with "terrorism" and "pandemics".... )

I digress...

[Manders]

well there's one good thing. At least ignorance isn't catching. Otherwise all of us that read that article would probably be lying in our own drool afraid go to outside.

[Rebel1]

I am afraid to go outside. Instead i choose to huddle on my couch and watch Ron "tater salad" White on the tube.

[expatben]

Aalberts advises a litmus test of common sense whenever heading overseas. “Overseas study is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child,” he says. “But you have to remember that there is an added risk.” That added risk makes it even more important to check out a tour operator’s safety record and financial solvency, to buy necessary insurance, and to judge a destination country’s political climate

A litmus test of common sense-absolutely! In other words don't get wasted and cram into an elevator or play tag when near a mine.
To be fair as I said the article does show some genuine cases of crap programs but rather than name and shame they then fill it with stupid crap that makes me too angry to appreciate any good points they made.