Are you wary of travelling to USA currently?

[RosaMoline]

I am sure you will tell me I’m BU, but that’s fine!
I’ve been to the states numerous times - Florida (all over, not just Disney/Orlando), New York City, California (los Angeles), Massachusetts and New Orleans.
Myself and 2 adult DCs were planning to go to Orlando again this October. Primarily for Halloween and DS (28) is autistic & very fixated with all things Disney.
DD (30) and I decided not to go ahead and take DS to Disneyland Paris instead. Yes, we’ve been there before, and it doesn’t really compare to the US version (IMO) not even close, but DS won’t mind.
it’s solely down to the current POS in charge and all his minions. America seems (to me) to be on a knife edge, very volatile, and DD being LGBT is understandably unsettled too.
I am not the sort of person who usually would even give a moment’s thought to something like this, but I just have a really uneasy feeling about going there. Chances are, at age 58, I may never go again.
AIBU or would you be thinking twice at the moment about travelling there? (especially Florida which is a red state)
I detest that man SO much!

Oh yes, you don’t want a plane full of irrational people spouting HYPERBOLE when you travel 😆

No, I don’t…

I am glad that so many people don’t feel the affects of the massive, shattering changes that have happened in the last month. But that is because you have some sort of privilege - you aren’t gay or an immigrant living in America or relying on an income from one of the 100000 jobs he’s cut or in need of pregnancy care. But just because that doesn’t affect you, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening and all of that combines to make me both anxious about being there and frustrated at spending money there.

I do wonder if eventually we’d have to consider our safety at visiting as we are joint uk / us citizens so while in the states we are Americans. I am hoping it’s just irrational panic but WW2 and the handmaids tale keep going round in my head on a loop.

I agree that the atmosphere in Florida would not be pleasant for an LGBTQ individual. But the real reason I would not travel to the US right now is that their government has been plunged into chaos overnight, with entire departments shuttered, critical employees fired without notice, and a complete collapse in morale among remaining staff.

At some point in the next few weeks or months, this is going to start affecting the basic functions of government. This includes things like maintaining transport infrastructure (eg air traffic controllers, railways) and also the agencies responsible for ensuring the security of major events and tourist sites. So FBI, CIA, federal law enforcement of all sorts.

If it hasn’t already, FIFA needs to seriously consider moving the 2026 World Cup. You can’t secure an event of that size or complexity if your security services are under strength, disorganized, and riven by factionalism and paranoia.

@Crushed23 how come if your life is sooo good your on a Brit parenting site on a Friday night ? Lol

You do realise that there's a time difference between the UK and America, right?

It's not Friday night. I'm still at work... procrastinating haha. Also I'm English! So MN is very relatable.

I wouldn't go to US now under any circumstances.
If nothing else, I don't want to spend a single penny there to support their economy. And no, I'm not using Amazon or Netflix anymore. Nor X or Facebook.

Well, I absolutely despise current Labour gov but I'd vote for them every day of my life if the choice was between them and Musk/Trump.
StormShadows for targeting Russia - that's one of the very few items I'm actually proud of and agree with them.
US to me now joined the likes of putin and Russia and it's impossible to get any lower than this.

They’ll go up if planes can’t be filled, not down and there will be less services running to choose from.

Very quickly the government is descending into fascism.

Trump has just removed the heads of the military but some kind of resistance isn’t unlikely.

it took less than two months in Germany.

People that scoff at the idea seem a bit naive to me.

People that scoff at the idea that the US is descending into fascism probably think that they are not part of a group that will be targetted to lose their jobs/Medicare/Medicaid/be deported and have no empathy for the people who will be targetted.

Lots of people are loving the cruelty, but there are people who voted for Trump who are in the targetted groups and they are outraged that it is happened to them.

Well our kids calling us both mother would give it away quite quickly. We have had to be careful or had horrible comments made before in the USA PRE-Trump so I don’t think it’ll be improving any now.
And unfortunately some people DO care that others are in a same-sex relationship. They care very much. They’re called bigots or homophobes and they can be nasty, and down right dangerous.

How would they ever know if someone was travelling with a same sex partner?

I mean… many ways. Same sex partners hold hands, kiss each other, coparent, book a hotel room with a double bed? That is one of the more odd comments on this thread. Unless you go out of your way to hide it, many random people you come across while living your life will know who your partner is. At the moment, it’s unfortunately a safety issue in far too many places so people are being secretive but that’s a bad thing and not something to encourage.

I wouldn't dream of going to the US while the fascist megaloon is in charge, not because of fear of unrest, but because I don't want to do anything that will benefit a country that can elect someone who is both stupid and malign. I'm doing my utmost to avoid buying stuff produced by US-owned companies, too.

If I was minded to have a long-haul trip any time soon, I'd go to Canada.

Well said! I encourage people to avoid supporting US owned companies.

I'm no longer using Amazon, Airbnb and also cutting down on social media (FB, Insta etc). I was in the supermarket the other day and ignored the US products (there was a promotion of US groceries in Lidl).

I will also be joining in the No Buy days - first one upcoming is 28th Feb. They urge you to spend no money on Amazon and other big US companies, and to only shop very locally only if you need to with small businesses.

I've only used Amazon as a last resort for years, since I heard about the appalling employment practices in their distribution centres, but I wouldn't use Airbnb now and I'm boycotting Mars products and many others (Heinz, Kraft etc). Johnson & Johnson is a tricky one, as their products aren't immediately obvious, but I'm never buying anything where it's obvious, or those brands I know of, eg Neutrogena.

My FB account was disabled due to lack of use years ago and I don't use Twatter, Insta or Tik Tok.

@LakieLady yep- we are likely going to Quebec at new year- love Canadians too -

Yes, they are so worried over there about the boycott from the people on benefits in the UK. 🤣

Sadly, I've never been, despite having cousins on Vancouver Island. My DF, who'd worked overseas in loads of different countries, spent nearly 2 years in Nova Scotia and said that of all the places he'd been, Canada was the one he'd most like to live in.

Aww did the direct action upset you into throwing pathetic insults around? Diddums.

Jesus, you’re pathetic. I wish you wouldn’t pollute these boards with your nonsense.
FWIW, I’m not on benefits, and never have been. No problem with anyone that is though. Why shouldn’t they have a holiday?

Quebec is gorgeous - particularly in the winter. In laws live there - we’re south in Montreal. Have a great time!

If this kind of nastiness is what being wealthy does for you give me a benefits claimant any day of the week. Money is the same, regardless of its source. Every boycott hurts.

We’ve changed our planned Xmas family visit from the US to Canada. The US relatives are going to come to Canada and we’ll have a big family get together there. Can’t wait.
US family live in the South… and we said we aren’t bring the grandkids there, so this is the chance to have something different.