A drop from average eye level onto a solid floor can cause a hard drive to crash if it's spinning and not parked.
Not a problem if you are close to spares or a service centre, or it is not the only camera. But could be a disaster if you come home without the pics you wanted.
I would use one in the UK, but I always take my laptop with me to back up still and movies.
I have two disasters I'm trying to sort out this weekend, one was a wedding taken on a Sony DVD cam, and nobody can get the footage of it, and the other a brand new Hitachi DVD cam that worked on the ferry, and then not again for a colleagues holiday in Malta.
Personally I think if you can eliminate as many potential problems as possible, you have less worries and more chance of success.