The holiday season may be a popular time for vacationing but may not be the safest time for travel in certain areas overseas.

“I would not travel to Iraq anytime soon,” said Leonard Legrand, owner of the Allied Travel Agency, 128 N. First St. Legrand suggested avoiding any place where there may be civil unrest.

Each year, 2,500 Americans are arrested overseas, according to the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Department of State issues a list of travel warnings for Americans to avoid travel to certain countries based on current situations in the countries.

The Department of State continues to strongly warn Americans against travel to Iraq, which still remains very dangerous, according to its public service announcement.

The Department of State has reported that the criminal elements remain active in Iraq and are continuing to target civilians. They also have reported that U.S. citizens have been kidnapped and that several were murdered subsequently.

Despite the many travel warnings in other countries, many places within the United States still may be safe to travel to this holiday season because of tightened security. But these same security measures also may deter some travelers from vacationing this year.

“Most people just want to get out of the cold during the winter,” Legrand said.

Many of the popular places to travel include Florida, Phoenix and Mexico, he said, though the capacity of those traveling this year still is down since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Security has been tightened at many airports since Sept. 11, 2001 to assure that people have safe flights, though some feel they may be taking security measures too far.

“Security is reaching a point where it’s getting ridiculous, and it’s slowing people down, but I think that people deal with it when they really want to go somewhere,” said Nancy Peltz, Royal Travel and Tours Inc. agent, 122 S. First St.

Of 75 NIU students polled in an unscientific Northern Star survey, 13 said security issues would stop them from traveling.

One student surveyed said she has not been in an airport since the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and now feels more reluctant to fly.

Others said that it will be only a matter of time before people begin to travel more.

“Traveling by plane is safer than driving to the grocery store, but some people would rather wait and see what happens before they feel comfortable traveling again,” Legrand said.