Posted on 06/05/2005 5:22:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
It's often the affluent that are the MOST naive. We prefer the historic route too. Our daughter is young and like you we are choosy on what we do. There is NO WAY In hell, affluent or not that we'd allow OUR daughter to go on one of these party binges.
Young Americans, especially women, are attractive targets. It took just that one night for me to realize, if I had a daughter I would do anything I could to keep her from traveling to many of those locations as a single woman.
***
When a friend of mine was younger, she and her roommate won a trip to Barbardos. My friend said it wasn't a bad country, nice beach and all, but she said there were two local men who kept bothering them. Didn't rape or assault them, but they were persistent...kept wanting to buy them drinks, inviting them here and there...even insisted on accompanying them to the beach. They wouldn't take "no" for an answer. At one point, my friend said she and her companion literally stayed in the ocean for hours waiting for the two guys to give up and leave (I guess the men wouldn't go into the water). Finally, the men did leave, and my friend and her companion didn't see them again.
My friend and her friend found out that such incidents were commonplace in Barbados. At least at that time, the young men on the island wanted to hook up with "rich" American girls in the hopes that they would marry them and bring them to the U.S. I believe my friend and her companion did complain to the local authorities, but apparently, Barbados doesn't prosecute unless the men had tried to physically asault them.
I believe that anyone, young or old, male or female, should not go out alone at night...especially in a foreign land. Heck, you can't do that at home in most places...why would you do so in a strange land?
The partying should not have been allowed. Why didn't the chaperones make them stay in the hotel, especially that last night?
I wouldn't travel to any place where my sidearem/mossberg aren't welcome to travel with me.
"Dressed in the same blue-and-green striped, low-cut blouse and denim miniskirt that she wore at the beach earlier in the day, Holloway spent Sunday evening partying at Carlos 'N Charlie's, a popular restaurant and dance spot where tourists and locals meet in the capital, Oranjestad."
"Friends saw her getting into a vehicle outside the nightclub. She did not show up to catch her flight Monday. Her stepmother, Robin Holloway, said Natalee was last seen with a local resident who claimed to be a foreign exchange student."
"She added that Holloway would not get into a car with strangers. "This is totally, totally out of character for Natalee," she said."
LOL! THAT is precisely what she did. She didn't know this person.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158485,00.html
Others say she got into the car with THREE men and they have pictures of her dancing with the THREE men.
Yes, the girl is brilliant.
"Fox just reported that a bloody mattress was found in one of the suspect's homes."
It's her.
How sad.
don't forget, Possibly for sale in Saudi Arabia.
Yeah, nothing like this ever happens in the good ol' U. S. of A.
Wanna bet there will be lawsuits -- parents vs. the school district and/or parents v. the chaperones. Regardless of how this turns out, you know there will be litigation all the way around.
Yes, the girl is brilliant.
***
Well, it's not just her. I said somewhere, either in this thread or in a related thread, that people when they vacation do a lot of totally reckless and maybe even downright dangerous things ...things they would never do at home. The mother probably was right...her daughter probably would not have gotten into a car with strangers AT HOME. But there is something about being on vacation, and particularly in an exotic location like Aruba, where people let go of their inhibitions, throw caution to the wind and that's how they get into trouble. It's not just the young and naieve who do this -- I've seen grownups who should know better do the same thing.
"I never let my daughter travel out of the country with any group."
Yes, I agree. I certainly would not have permitted this in HS, although I know many kids have good experiences doing it. Maybe to England or someplace like that, but probably not even Italy. And of course, I'd have to be going as a chaperone, so that would probably be the end of it.
But, now my daughter is 19, so I'm not sure what will happen. And she did such an unsafe thing today (involving climbing up the ladder to our attic, no travelling anywhere) that I almost had a heart attack. I made her "pinkie swear" me that she would not do that again, esp. if she was alone in the house.
I don't know what to make of that girl sometimes, she's not like me at all.
Aruba being described as a 'third world' armpit nation, couldn't be further from the truth ... we are not talking Somalia or Haiti here. This incident is certainly an exception on this very affluent, clean, law abiding island in the southern Caribbean. Had this happened in Jamaica, for instance, it would hardly be news. A walk in New York's Central Park is a hell of a lot more dangerous than strolling on a beach in Aruba.
"There is NO WAY ANYONE in her group, who saw her leave with THREE guys should have allowed THAT."
Yeah, really, who does that?
Our senior class went to a dance, period. My older sister's class went to Catalina, just off our coast. Her class had the last such trip, rumors persisted of students drinking on the way (early 50's). These trips are probably no better than the parents who would rent hotel rooms for kids' parties after the prom and let the kids drink "safely", usually unchaparoned.
I would have never allowed my kids to go to Aruba in high school, bad idea. My husband was assigned there a month at an oil facility 8 years ago, I was sick and couldn't go. He never had a desire to go back on vacation, saw a lot of things that creeped him out. He has expressed grave fears for this girl's returning safely.
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