Momof3sons

My family and I were in London this June on the day that they found the car with explosives outside of the nightclub in the Piccadily area.

We were touring around and getting off at sights on the Original Tour Bus. We were just told that there had been some route changes due to some road closings. As they day progressed, more and more roads were closed and more stops were removed from the tour loop. We didn't find out until that evening what was really going on.

We flew out of Gatwick the next morning under very heightened security. Didn't find out until the next day about the car/bomb incident in Glasgow.

Also, I was living in Vienna in Jan. of 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up.

In April of that same year, I was visiting Dubrovnik when Chernobyl blew up.

Actually, about 10 days before I flew to Vienna, on Dec. 27, 1985, Schwechat Airport in Vienna and the airport in Rome were bombed.

Reisender

I had taken my youngest son on a trip to London and Paris when he was a Freshman in college. While in Paris we were walking about and ended up in the center of a gigantic demonstration of farmers protesting some gov't program. All the streets around the opera were blocked off, there were thousands of people, and tractors and combines on the streets. Giant banners. All the good stuff. Never expected to see a John Deere combine on the streets of Paris! Pretty interesting to say the least.

SallyCanuck

Not me but youngest son was teaching English in Taiwan in 1999 and due home for a visit in 2 days when we saw on the news that there’d been an earthquake measuring 7.6 – it was 36 long horrible hours before we found out he was okay – he escaped from where he was staying, very near the epicentre, and wandered up and down the streets in boxers and a towel for a few hours. Buildings around him were totally destroyed with many deaths. After he was home, he told me he woke up in the middle of the night standing at our front door ready to escape again.

Same son gives up job, this time in S. Korea, takes job in Thailand to be near girlfriend; new job is on lower level of a beachfront hotel in Patong. Because he’s a westerner, he got Boxing Day off – the tsunami flooded his hotel and others working on that level of the hotel were drowned - a car ended up floating in the lobby. His landlady came running yelling tsunami – he said it was like a disaster movie with everyone heading for higher ground; the water came within a few hundred metres of his place. This time he managed to phone us before we became frantic with worry. His job ended, of course, – so back to S. Korea.

The December before last, still in S. Korea, he and some friends decide to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Bangkok – some terrorists blow up something or other – all celebrations cancelled.

We joke about NOT going where he is holidaying/living.

I was in Rome when the bombing of Bosnia started – walking back to the hotel saw some damage including broken windows at the Hard Rock Café but wasn’t aware till later why this was going on.

hdm

Omigosh, Sally -- I'm so glad your son is OK after all those near-misses! We'll all be wanting a copy of his itinerary from now on, though.

(SO nice to meet you the other night!)

zwho

We were in Madrid the morning of the train station bombings. In fact we had a rental car reserved to be picked up at the station (Atoche). We were only 5 mins. walking distance away. I kept hearing sirens and the hotel desk clerk told me, "it's a big city, you're going to hear sirens"! I said, "I haven't noticed them before this morning". Well, she was wrong! Then we saw the caption on TV. Don't speak Spanish really, but they had little diagrams showing trains and tracks with the KABOOM clouds that signify explosions and we could understand Atoche, so we figured it out. They sent us to the airport to pick up a car as most of the center of Madrid was shut down right away. I remember the car rental agent saying to me, "this is our 9/11". Sad.

drmike

We arrived in London the morning of July 7, 2005--just a few hours after the bombings. The airport was unusually quiet and subdued when we arrived. Our driver was not waiting for us and when we inquired at the information desk, we were told there had been "an incident in the city" and traffic was delayed. Everyone was very nice and concerned for us--the hotel, British Airways, cab drivers.

We stayed in London a few days and then took a cruise around the British Isles arriving back in London on the day of the second round of bombings. We were in Covent Gardens when sirens began to sound and people became very tense. The underground was closed for a time, no buses or cabs would stop. We walked for hours, stopping for a beverage and a snack and resting for while until the underground re-opened and we could return to our airport hotel.

Cindy

Greenhouse

In Rome, 1982, when Italy won World Cup.

luvtravelin

I was working in NYC on Sept 11, 2001 when the towers were hit. Have a family member that was in the towers but survived. However, neighbor and friends husband did not make it.

I was in London in 97 when Princess Diana died. I got a chance to see buckingham palace a day or 2 later with all the flowers, candles and notes outside the gates.

My brother was in London during the July 2005 subway bombings.

My friend's fiance passed away in the Earthquakes of Bhuj, India in Jan 2001 while visiting family for the 1st time.

My cousin was caught in the horrific floods of Mumbai, India in 2005.

I was in Vegas for New Years of 2003 when Brittney SPears got married to her childhood buddy.

sheri_lp

Gee, luv, it's a wonder you made it out of Vegas after that one!

luvtravelin

lol

sarge56

hey, haven't you been told that what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas???

luvtravelin

ha ha - thats when it involves yourself

Talking about what happens to other people is fair game!

TheresaMarie

First time at the Eiffel Tower there were riots and the police used tear gas on the crowd.
Second time at the Eiffel Tower, the elderly man walking down in front of me slipped and broke his leg badly, landing in my arms. I held him up for twenty minutes before the ambulance came. He wouldn't sit down because the steps were wet.
Third time, my daughter went to the Eiffel Tower with school and a man committed suicide and landed five feet from them.
There won't be a fourth visit.

SallyCanuck

hdm - Sorry, just saw your post to me; it was fun to meeting you and everyone, too. Son still in S. Korea with new Thai wife but when I heard of the plane crash yesterday in Thailand I wondered ... surely they didn't fly back for a visit ... we always wonder with him so far away. My 89 year old mother gets all the countries "over there" muddled up and is forever asking me if I've heard from him...maybe I'm getting like her though.

Ostara

I was walking outside Harrods in London when a car bomb exploded about 50 m from me in 1983 (long time ago!). There was broken glass everywhere and people were running to the destroyed car. I escaped to Hide Park.
That night, there was chaos in the city because of the bombing. The show I attended began late because the main actor didn't get through the traffic jams in the time.

The evening JFK junior died in a plane crash in Mass., my husband-to-be took a training flight in Boston at the same hour. Minutes after take off, he decided to touch down, because the visibility was so bad.

Friends of mine where staying on the balcony on the 2nd floor of their hotel in Sri Lanka when the Tsunami hit. After the first wave, they escaped to a nearby hill. When the second wave hit, the hotel got destroyed.

sevendown

Here's an example of different reactions by members of the same family. I am intrigued by conflict, big events, etc. My wife isn't.

We were in Capetown (OK, it reminds a lot of people of Europe, so I'm not too far off the OP) on New Years day. Having stayed out celebrating the night before, we woke up late and were having coffee around noon at a sidewalk cafe outside our hotel. A car bomb exploded in a parking lot about 100 yards away.

People were screaming and running everywhere. My wife was frightened and asked if maybe we shouldn't go back to our room. I said yes, let's go back up and get the camera and take some pictures.

She's never let me live that one down.

KL467

The first day I EVER went to Europe was the day of the London bombings in July 2005. I was on my way to Rome and had just landed in Frankfurt, Germany. My parents did not know where my layover was, and they were very nervous until I called almost 24 hours later.

TPAYT

We were in Nice on 9/11. Of course, we could't beieve what we were hearing.

We were in a small van touring with 8 others when the driver tried to tell us, but we couldn't understand him. We returned to our sailboat. The next day we were in Portifino, and we saw it on a TV in a restaurant.

We ended up in Rome on Sat. and flew to Paris for 4 days. The French people were so thoughtful and kind. They would hug us and give us condolences when they heard us speak.

We have been back to France many times since then, but we will always remember their kindness at that time.

Saraho

We were in Paris in the early ninties during the subway bombings. It didn't keep us from using the metro- somehow we felt safe because the metro was so crowded- bad logic, I know.

I was watching TV news the night before we were leaving Rome. I heard words in Italian that sounded awfully like "terrorists at the airport." When we went to the airport the next day, we saw soldiers and police all over the airport; even up in the rafters there were soldiers pointing guns at the crowds.

We arrived in the London airport on the way back home from Florence. There had been an IRA incident in London that morning. My husband has a very Irish name so we spent the next six hours in a special room at the terminal being searched and interrogated to make sure that he had no connection with the IRA! We thought that the British security was very thorough and fortunately for us also very polite.

southeastern

We can laugh now but we were in Katrina, the hurricane, in Aug. 05. By December, we were all exausted from working on our homes and needed an escape. Three couples headed for Crete to relax and try to relieve the stress of rebuilding. We had just checked into our rooms when the building began to shake. We ran down 3 flights of stairs and out into the streets terrified. It turned out to be an earthquake. Headed to the bar and waited for the next "problem" to happen. Fortunately, things have gone well since.