Changing habits, perspectives since 9/11

The tenth anniversary of the September 11^th attacks tomorrow has brought about a barrage of media coverage asking variations on the same question: how have the United States and the world changed since that day?

Certainly, the attacks fundamentally changed the way we travel. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the airline industry saw a record number of passengers during the August before the attacks. It took three years for airlines to recover those numbers.

Airport security has changed drastically, and new policies have discouraged many from flying. Recent research by the U.S. Travel Association finds that travelers avoid two to three trips per year due to the “unnecessary hassles” of airport security.

I was 14 years old when the planes hit the twin towers, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania. The events of that day have had a profound effect on my generation, which was too young to experience the fears of the Cold War and oblivious to suffering in other parts of the world. From our perspective, we lived in a world absent of the kind of fear and suffering that previous generations faced.

The events exacerbated my already-pronounced fear of flying, which remains with me to this day. For others, post-9/11 biases have affected how they view other cultures and have discouraged global understanding. Unpopular U.S. policy decisions after the attacks have also caused many to fear discrimination or retaliation when traveling abroad.

On his blog today, travel writer Rick Steves is encouraging Americans to continue traveling, in spite of fears and a recent U.S. State Department alert reminding travelers of the continued threat of terrorism. I echo Steves’ statement. Travel not only promotes your own understanding of other cultures, it encourages others to better understand yours.

I’d like to hear from you. How did your travels change on September 11, 2001, and how have they evolved over the last ten years?

To read more about how travel and our perspectives have changed over the last ten years, check out some of these stories around the web:

“Security has changed flying in myriad was since 9/11,” Vancouver Sun

“The true cost of 9/11 for travelers,” Smart Money

“From 9/11/01 to 9/11/11,” Blog Gone Europe (Rick Steves)

– Sputnik