Does the News Affect Vacation

Natural disasters on par with a hurricane can abruptly change a planned vacation. Other news worthy events, however, leave vacation changes up to the vacationer.

Whenever France is in the news for anything that could be seen as a possible danger for me, I get flooded with emails from concerned family members and friends. To many of them anything that happens in France must be affecting me. It's sweet, certainly, but not entirely realistic.

For anyone who has lived in a city that gets a lot of press, they know that the news-worthy incidents are generally surrounded by thousands on non-news-worthy events - or non-events, as the case may be. Yes, a car was lit on fire, but millions of other cars were left alone.

As a former newspaper journalist, I know this position all too well. News organizations report the most important, most outlandish, most interesting items. A "riot" of 10 students is much more exciting than thousands of students simply going to class and studying.

In Northern Idaho (my homeland), this type of reporting has created a misperception about the entire area. A dozen or so Aryan Nations members settled into a small town in North Idaho and managed to change the entire country's perception of the area.

I recently read a murder mystery where one of the suspects - a skinhead from California - had moved to Idaho. Nevermind that 99.9 percent of the population in that area are no closer to being Aryan Nations members or even sympathizers than the mayor of New Orleans. They're unusual, so they get the press. Fortunately, the Aryan Nations were forced out of North Idaho. Not so fortunate is that the perception is still there, and perception is reality.

So, when students were rioting this past winter about a labor law (which I firmly believe they didn't fully understand), I had friends sure I would be somehow caught up in the events. Of course, misperception works in a number of ways. I've also read reports about the inundation of celebrities on the Cote d'Azur, my home for the past year. I can say with complete certainty that I have not yet seen a celebrity - at least one I recognize and I know my celebrities thanks to a couple of celebrity-loving friends.

The point? How much do news events, such as the student rioting, affect travelers' plans? Do you change your plans based on unsavory news events? Do you think twice about visiting a destination because of previous events? Personally, I'm on my way to North Idaho - Hayden Lake, to be exact - for a little vacation. It'll be quiet, because most people continue to stay away from the former Aryan Nations headquarters.