Holiday vs prospect of war

[WisterWayne]

DH and I are lucky enough to have twin girls, they will be 7 in June. They have always been very into Disney, love Frozen and all the princesses.

About 2 years ago DH and I made a decision we'd love to take them to Disneyworld in Orlando - DH also loves Star Wars so seemed like a wonderful trip.

We have literally spent 2 long, hard years saving, going without little luxuries such as takeaways/weekends away so that we have enough money not only to book holiday of a lifetime but have spending money put by too - we didn't want to book the wonderful thing then worry about spending whilst we're there.

Both DH and I are on very average wages, only slightly above minimum and this holiday really means a lot to us, I can't wait for our girls to see everything they love on screen come to life.

Family know we have been saving and we finally have enough so are now ready to book but today DH's mum took me aside and said it would be silly to book now as we're on the verge of a world war and all our precious savings would be wasted.

I confess I don't watch a lot of news, my world is quite small and revolves around my family, my job and our friends - however I am of course aware of the terrible conflict in Ukraine and everything going on in Gaza. I've also heard things on the radio in passing about army chiefs suggesting conscription and moving into a pre war age. But in truth don't understand a lot of it and don't want to terrify myself going into all the reading.

DH's mum is usually very level headed, calm and rational and isn't a conspiracy theorist or anything similar but... is she right? Would we be foolish to book an American holiday right now?

If a war broke out how would something like that even look these days? My only reference is the 1940s when people didn't go on luxury long haul flights as far as I'm aware.

Can anyone who understands advise?

Oh bless you. You sound like Teenage Me. I joined CND, it helped a bit.

You are very kind, thank you
Sorry but you reminded re jokes about sending someone on a cruise from Greenham Common
Thank you from the bottom of my heart😀

I'm no military expert but I am an expert in common sense knowledge. The next WW3 is going to be quick as it will be nukes

May as well go out with a bang at the top of space mountain then. Think of the person who’ll find the ride pictures in another 50 years

We returned from Orlando two weeks ago after a brilliant holiday.
In the cab to Orlando International Airport the driver asked us where we were from. When we said the UK he lowered his voice and said "Move.. you are first on Putin's nuclear bomb list"
Considered turning around and getting a job in Disneyworld!

Seriously impressed with the geopolitical knowledge of Florida cabbies, I must say.

Crikey. He's obviously some kind of double/triple agent gone rogue. You must listen to him. Save yourselves ( (While you still can ... )

The number of nuclear warheads peaked in the mid-80s at around 65,000. After repeated rounds of arms reduction treaties that's dropped to around 13,000.

Individual warhead sizes have also reduced. The old warheads were huge because they couldn't be targeted accurately. So you needed a big boom to make sure you'd destroy the target even if you missed by a mile or two. Modern guidance systems are massively more accurate so you don't need to use such a big bomb.

The only thing you are right about is that a few more countries have nuclear weapons than they did in the 80s. But it's not that many more, and those that do tend to only have a few each. The US and Russia's arsenals dwarf everyone else's. Although there is a lot of doubt that Russia has spent the huge amount of money needed to maintain their stockpile so it's likely that a large proportion or their stuff simply won't work.

We are inc Scotland first on Pottins nuke list as in his warped brain and he has a pont - if he drops a tactical nuke just off Scotland - no one will really do anyhting as usa will fear interveneing as rightly so they will put themselves first.

usa is a much bigger country and we are a tiny island

if pootin is cornered anything is possible

our puppies in number 10 need to shut up

Don't put off until tomorrow what you could do today..

Life is too short to be worrying about the what ifs. Book your holiday and have an amazing time with your children.

(Wait until 18th April if you want to book onsite at DW as their free dining package goes live then!)

Will you stop calling him Pottin/Pootin, for the love of Christ? You make him sound like some mad Soviet holiday camp.

If you're in your early 60s and only vaguely remember the cold war, you must have been living under a rock in the early to mid 80s!

*We are inc Scotland first on Pottins nuke list as in his warped brain and he has a pont - if he drops a tactical nuke just off Scotland - no one will really do anyhting as usa will fear interveneing as rightly so they will put themselves first.

usa is a much bigger country and we are a tiny island

if pootin is cornered anything is possible*

You should be telling the govt how to manage the threat from Russia with insights like that. I bet that's never even occurred to them.

You think the sea off Scotland is first on Putin's targeting list and not Kiev? Wild.

We were busy and rarely watched the news. As I said i do recal, get under the tables in the event of a nuke attack

I do recal sirens being tested every so often

Are you still under the table now?

Well, I’m cranking out my old The The tapes on my ghetto blaster, I don’t know about anyone else…..
Where’s my copy of When The Wind Blows gone?

😅

It is literally over a thousand miles away from any current conflicts though. I worked in Oman in 2003 and used to reassure my mother about this a lot 😁

Thank you but the gov is just interested in getting into bunkers

The reason our gov built nuke bases in Scotland and some other isolated regions is/was in the vian hope that cities would survive - this was before the advetn of a nule that could wipe out most of the planet with one blast, ie the intial destruction then the tidal waves and nuclear winter etc

Book it! Your mil is a twit. And if we’re all nuked before long, you won’t have that ‘if only’ regret 😂

Liz Truss was kicked out of number 10 and had to come out from under it😂

Who is Pootin?!

Why on earth would Putin drop a bomb off the coast of Scotland? Is it a cunning plan to avoid being charged with a non-crime hate incident?

There is no "a nu[k]e" so big it could "wipe out most of the planet with one blast", cause "tidal waves", or trigger a "nuclear winter". It would take thousands of nukes to create a nuclear winter.

OP, the way this thread is going, the US will be absolutely fine to visit. Although please don’t book a holiday to Scotland…