Terror Travel Alerts and the Rest of the Week in Travel and Health

As you certainly know by now, The U.S. State Department issued global travel advisories due to terror threats in the Middle East, emanating from Yemen. The U.S. has closed down its embassies in multiple countries due to the threat, meaning that if you travel to Yemen or Pakistan and trouble erupts, there’s no embassy to run to right now.

So what should you do? Cancel that trip abroad and play it safe? Not necessarily. At Conde Nast Traveler, Clive Irving reports that President Obama doesn’t find it necessary to cancel summer vacation plans, as long as travelers act “prudently.” Jaunted has some precautionary advice for folks who insist on heading into danger zones like Yemen.

It’s been a rough summer for travel in China. They continue to suffer through their worst heat wave in more than a century. Then there was the video of a jam-packed Beijing train platform that went viral a few weeks ago, making it seem virtually impossible to get anywhere in the city. And now, people are honked off at the “shoddy” airlines. At Time Magazine, Chengcheng Jieng reports that upset passengers are basically staging sit-ins onboard planes because of the lousy treatment and service they’re getting.

Searching for some good travel news? How about we turn to the cruise industry? Yes, it’s true – the three big cruise lines reported crime statistics for the year, and the New York Times’ Tanya Mohn tells us that the crime rate is actually low on board the Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise lines.

If you heed the President’s advice and continue on with your trip to Europe, here’s my next question – will you dare to get behind the wheel in one of the countries that drives on the other side of the road? Me? No. No way. My muscle memory is too ingrained to suddenly head down the other side of the street and competently execute a safe right turn. But if you are hell bent on driving in a place where everything is backwards, Jaunted offers up some tips for doing it safely.

Your trip to the great cities of Europe certainly features a fair number of museum visits and stops by venerable tourist attractions. But there’s also fun-in-the-sun to be had. At CNN, Nicola Iseard writes about some of Europe’s great urban beaches.

You know that Hawaii has great surfing, but there are plenty of other awesome – and uncommon – surf spots throughout the world. At USA Today, Mark Lebetkin offers a list of surprisingly great places to catch a wave.

And, lastly, you know your trip abroad is ill-fated when your plane hits a cow. Here’s hoping your pilot steers clear of any bovine obstacles.

Photo from Fox News.