hi, thereyet and kelkel,

so pleased you've decided not to change your plans. the biggest danger in the UK at the moment is being drowned -there were at least 5 fatalities in the recent floods, i believe, but they were all outside London so don't count. [sorry if that sounds somewhat callous, but the UK does tend to be somewhat "london-centric".]

sure you'll have a great time- but bring a brolly!

regards, ann

Hi Ann, I just checked the weather forecast and I can't believe I won't be hitting the usual heat wave that occurs at just the moment we arrive anywhere. I was so hoping to leave the "brolly" at home.

thereyet

I am off to London on the 4th of July - from Salvador, Bahia, Brasil, via Lisbon, with TAP. I will not stay in London, as I have a meeting scheduled in Brighton, but do plan to go to London on Sunday, July 8, to go to the Theatre.

I am always concerned when I travel to big European cities, particularly in countries that support the US invasion of Iraq. But I am much more concerned when I travel to the US, not only because of possible attacks, but mainly because immigration officials in the US can never be trusted to treat incoming visitors with due respect to their rights (even though I travel to the US with an American passport as I have dual citizenship).

So, GodsGift, be aware of US airports and US immigration personnel, and enjoy London. While there, due plan to walk a lot because it is very hot in the underground during summer months...

Sorry, I meant to say "do plan to walk", of course.

markrosy ~ obviously I barely "know" you, just from a few threads here where we've crossed paths, but I had a sense of you being right down the street, not across the Atlantic. I never detected an accent ...

I completely agree with you, markrosy. My husband and I, both US citizens, travelled to Niagra-on-the-Lake a few weeks ago. The Canadian border guard was very polite. The US border guard treated us like dog shite that he just wiped off of his shoe.

The Great and Powerful Thingorjus

PLease a message of despair -please get rid of Bush

Hi Tomassocrante

Sorry for the confusing accent - its due to the w on my keyboard not working - you'll probably have noticed that I drop my w s quite a lot!

Hate to break it to you, but Bush had nothing to do with this. Guess what ... countries were being attacked by terrorists long before the Iraq war. And, also, countries that haven't supported the Iraq war have been victims. You can't pin all the world's problems on him, much as many left-wingers would like to.

<<You can't pin all the world's problems on him, much as many left-wingers would like to.>>

Sure we can.

thereyet

Well of course you can, but IMHO it's inane to do so.

Iraq!?!

I need not say more.

Let's put it this way - leaving the US INCREASES your life expectancy and substantially reduces your chances of being murdered

<PLease a message of despair -please get rid of Bush> markrosy

That's a sure thing in our next election. However the more unrest there is in the world the more likely a republican candidate may win the next election. It's just my personal observation. Our voters are still a bit more traditional than in other countries, they may have a hard time letting a woman (Hillary Clinton) lead in an unstable time. The other top democratic candidate Obama is a young African American who partially grew up in a moslem country, I would be more surprised if he wins the election as much as I like most of what he has to say.

Maybe a feminine approach is exactly what we need. It seems that a testosterone fueled world has led us down this disasterous path. Don't discount Hillary just because she is a female, it could be a plus.

How did George Bush end up a topic on this particular thread? Must everything always end up being HIS fault! Come on, people!

Maybe I'm just naive, but I would tend to blame these latest terrorist activities on radical Muslims who hate Westerners- Christians and Jews in particular. Why does George Bush get the blame for that?

Thanks to all who responded. We have actually decided to go. The online check in opens in about an hour and I plan to stay up and just do it.We may opt to avoid the tube/buses once we're there, and on 7/7, I think we'll plan a day trip out of London. I heard a little bit ago about the Terminal 3 shutdown, what a pain, but - if it'll stop an attack, I'm not complaining.

Echoing some of what's been said, I didn't go to the US for 3 years after 9/11 even though I have been summering there my entire life and I graduated from the University of Southern California. I didn't go only to avoid any nasty immigration officials and/or others who may mistreat me. since 2004, I've been back for conferences and meetings (actually going to Boston in one week for a quick meeting), but my kids haven't been since, and my 4 yr old daughter not at all. It's a shame really. I love vacationing in the US. California especially is such a nice place esp for kids, and most people are friendly and kind. We do plan to go next year. Maybe.

Thanks again. Take care :)

Well, I'll try to be diplomatic. But let's stop comparing the US to "everybody else". The UK has (according to Wikipedia and the 2001 census) approximately 60 million residents. The US has 5 times as many people to protect. The UK has approximately 245,000 square kilometers of land to protect from terrorists. The US has approximately 37x as much land (9.6 million square kilometers) to patrol. The UK shares no land borders with any other country, while the US happens to share more than half of it's borders with two almost-equally-as-large countries. One of those countries (Canada) is, fortunately, run by a responsible government; the other country is run by one of the most corrupt governments in the world and the border has become a sieve for every sort of scumbag human being who wishes to get in, no matter why. Nobody else has to protect 2000 miles (for you metric folk, that's over 3000 km) of border from those who would wish their country/people harm. How fortunate that Canada has the US on it's southern border. Else we might see Canada being cast as the bad guy were it to be bordered by Mexico.

And need I say more than "9/11"? Perhaps you should go back and view the videos. Then tell us we shouldn't be anal about security.

>>The UK shares no land borders with any other country<<

Well, we do, actually, and there were security implications at one time.

Hi GG,

The most dangerous part of your itinerary is the drive to the airport.

((I))