"In Israel, it is bombing and shooting," said the cousin, Danny Raymond, "and her dream was just to come to the U.S., just for a visit.
Saudi Arabia is carrying out air strikes as part of the US-led coalinion in Syria and is also embroiled in another intervention in Yemen, where it is bombing Houthi rebels fighting the government.
And Israel has a particular reason to avoid killing civilians, since the people it is bombing are the neighbours with whom it so much needs to live in peace.
The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed it is bombing "terrorists" but has been condemned by the UN and the international community for evidence it is predominantly targeting civilian areas held by anti-government rebels.
Another unpredictable element of the equation is whether ordinary workers around the globe will blame their troubles on America either because it is bombing Afghanistan, or because it is not buying what they make.
But whether it is bombing to San Francisco's Bay Area along the often dull-as-dirt I-80 or trying to find traces of iconic Route 66 amid a tangle of bland interstates, the old paradigm of thinking horizontal when planning a road trip is simply not the way to go.
