Explosions in the Brussels Airport and Subway stations

If you’re like me, your phone was full of notifications this morning about the bombings in Brussels.  At the time of writing, there are dozens dead, spread between an airport check in terminal and a subway station.  First and foremost, our thoughts go out to the families and friends of those affected, and hope that those behind these attacks are brought to justice quickly.

Jon and Ben have been flying and collecting miles for years now. Together they travel the world, in first class of course, at least once a month for pennies on the dollar. You can read all about Jon and Ben's travels on their website, www.NoMasCoach.com

The latest information shows that 34 are dead and over 170 are injured, but this number of course is bound to increase as events are very fluid and change constantly.

Here’s a video of the inside of the terminal just after the blast, and another of the passengers fleeing the terminal.  Note that if you’re sensitive to scenes of this nature, feel free to scroll beyond.

I also write this morning to urge calm in the wake of this tragedy. It’s very easy, at this point where news and updates come every minute, to start pointing fingers and acting irrationally.  It didn’t take long for the political pundits in the US to start claiming that they all had the best solution to preventing this from happening in the future.

Ben and I travel extensively throughout the world and especially throughout Europe, and we’ve never at any point felt unsafe.  We’ve been in airports, bus stations, train terminals, subway stations, and public squares all over towns big and small in the world.  I’ve got to say that I feel safer that I had at any point I’d been traveling before.

These attacks can happen anywhere at anytime in any country in the world.  Ben and I won’t slow our travel plans, and we won’t be terrorized or slowed in the wake of these attacks.  Terrorism remains relatively rare and travel in general, via the air or subway, is as a general rule very safe.

If you have friends or loved ones in Brussels, the airport has set up a hotline, you can reach them at +32 2 753-73-00.  Or, call the US Embassy +32 2 811-40-00.