Is the World too Dangerous to Travel Now?

My book Evil on the Roof of the World is about Jay Austin and Lauren Geohegan who decided to travel around the world in 2017. They quit their jobs and for a year planned their trip. They checked the State Department travel advistories that said the places they were planning to bike thorugh were safe. They paid close attention to the advisory on Tajikistan which borderes Afghanistan. Still the State Department advisory said it was safe. So they biked through Africa and Europe and had a few problems but nothing life threatening. Lauren felt that New York City was just as dangerous or more so than Tajikistan. When they entered the Pamir Mountains known also as The Roof of the World they were excited. This scenic route through the clouds was a the high point of their trip and again when they checked the State Department site there were no new warnings. On July 29 2018 they were spotted by ISIS terrorists who followed the couple then mowed them down with their car and attacked with butcher knives. When I was researching the book with friends and family I asked many times if Jay and Lauren were concerned about the risks of their trip. Jay blogged about the risks before they left saying without risk there is no adventure. When they stopped and stared across a river at Afghanistan Lauren expressed her fear to a fellow cyclist,Kim Potsma. She was scared but they had been biking a full year and while they had some dangerous encounters they had managed to stay on course and nothing had really threatened their lives. But now they had been killed at the hands of ISIS and social media went wild on how foolish, stupid, and arrogant these two millenials were to belive they could bike anywhere they wanted in the world. Many people took offence and saw the two Georgetown Graduates as emblematic of an entitled generation that felt the rules did not apply to them. Some people who posted were gleefully cruel. The Washington Post examined Lauren and Jays decision to bike through Afghanistan and asked the question if they were niave in their view of the world. Jay had famously said he did not belive in evil as a concept. Many in the blogosphere roasted him for this assertion. The Post concluded they were not niave and knew the risks and had taken all precautions. Their deaths were a large part due to bad luck. Destiny is a lonely word and to say they were destined to meet up with terrorists is a hard thing to get our heads around. I go back to Jays assertion that without risk there is no adventure. The State Department after the attack elevated the risk level on Tajikistan. Still, thousands of people bike the Pamir highway every year. It is a great adventure. Evil on the Roof of the World is due out in November