America the sort of safe...

Kooks with handguns and political chaos not withstanding, the USA is as safe as anywhere else you could travel. It's just that you have to take different precautions. The primary rule for personal safety in the USA is: do not marry into a large disorganized family with a history of multigenerational murder at picnics. Don't date men named Bubba. Don't go out with men wearing pinkie rings. Avoid relationships with young ladies raised in family enclaves in Montana. Anyone whose family reunions are held in prison parking lots may create problems over time.

Despite the occasional international news story featuring tourists getting killed on Florida interstate highways, we are far more likely to kill family members than international visitors. For an accurate picture of crime in the USA check out http://www.crime.org/links_nat.html for links to an array of sites that will tell you the who, what, when, where and how of crime in the USA.

It is also good policy to avoid shouting ethnic slurs, arguing with a drunk waving a handgun, or driving a rental car. Keep those basics in mind and you ought to do okay.

The USA is really different from Western Europe. Parts of the States look reassuringly familiar, but key differences do matter when you travel. Most guidebooks for Americans heading out of the US tell us to be careful regarding pickpockets, and well they should. Pickpocketing is not an American skill. As crime goes, it is a skill-intensive form of activity requiring training, effort, and practice. In our gun-happy culture, our criminal class has found the implied threat of or actual possession of a firearm to be a far more effective means of separating the public from his or her money.

For a bit of insight into what crime stats mean, cruise over to http://www.crime.org/homepage.html for an explanation.

So how do you avoid general nastiness?

For a supposedly class-free society we have an enormous amount of stratification. Almost all cities and towns in the USA have "bad" and "good" neighborhoods. Your best bet is to talk to a local about where you do and don't want to roam.

You are better off traveling as part of a pair, especially if you choose to hitchhike. Another time to consider dual traveling is if you are taking any lengthy bus trips. While you can go coast to coast via bus, you'll find that the bus may deposit you in an unstaffed shelter for a few hours in the middle of the night, leaving you to anxiously await the next bus and wonder what's in the bushes. While our train stations aren't as intimidating as some of our bus stations, bear in mind that trains can get you to your destination at odd hours. Train stations outside of the Northeast and New England are often located quite a way out of town.

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