Mexico Yes, Greece Maybe, Thailand…Not Right Now

Cue the Clash: “Should I stay or should I go now?”

Mexico

I can’t say it any better than Arthur Frommer did in this blog post. The headline alone says volumes: Since You Weren’t Going to Piedras Negras, Reynosa, or Chihuahua Anyway, Proceed With Your Mexican Vacation

As anyone who has been reading this blog a while knows, I continually put my money where my mouth is with Mexico and I’m moving there for a year with my family come July. My city of Nashville is no Detroit, but I feel safer in most Mexican cities than I do at home.

Greece

General strikes and riots in the street make for great TV. I haven’t seen any footage of throngs of protesters on Santorini or Lesbos though. Until that happens, I think you’re good to go as long as you avoid the mainland cities. The country has set up a “tourism crisis unit” after mass hotel cancellations. Tourism is 17% of the country’s economy so they’re surely going to be rolling out some tempting incentives.

If the ferry workers or air traffic controllers go on strike, however, that’s a different story. For now, with the country getting bad press and the Euro at an exchange rate that’s almost bearable, this would be a good time to visit Greece (although I still think Turkey is a better value).

Thailand

Earlier this week I got an e-mail from Thailand Tourism encouraging me to spread the word that the protests are winding down and a negotiated settlement was imminent. Um, maybe they should have held off on hitting the “send” button on that e-mail. Yesterday a “rogue general” siding with the red shirts got shot in the head during an interview and the protesters have ignored ultimatums and marching troops.

A state of emergency has been extended to 15 provinces. Unless you’re coming overland from Malaysia and can just chill on the islands for a while, I’d put off that trip to Thailand. This stand-off has been going on for two months now and it’s no closer to being resolved.

As always, keep up on the real local news (not sensationalist cable TV news) for where you are going. Here are some good null , but often the best sources are null .