Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, February 6, 2012,
I left a RIAS Berlin Kommission meeting at the German embassy to the Czech Republic, high on a hill in what is known as Lesser Town in Prague. It was a rainy and chilly afternoon, but there was a lot to see in one of Europe's most vibrant and historic cities. And I couldn't let a little weather stop me now that our morning full of meetings was at an end. Our group left the embassy, the site of a mass exodus of East German refugees from behind the Iron Curtain before ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, January 16, 2012,
When Nothing But the Best Will Do Why Not Valet Airport Parking?
Sometimes you need to pull out all of the stops and really treat yourself. One of these occasions is if you are taking the trip of a lifetime that will create fantastic memories for the rest of your life. Take a cruise that you have booked as a celebration for the end of your retirement, for example. This is just one of those times that warrants a little bit of pomp and ceremony and therefore a little bit more cash ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, January 9, 2012,
A damp clung to my bones. It was mid-afternoon and the morning's fog stuck in the air as a fine grey mist. I took refuge in a hotel close to the famed Frauenkirche - a restored version of its grand predecessor destroyed in the Allied firebombing  of Dresden at the end of World War II. I had spent the previous two hours walking the reconstructed cobblestone streets around it admiring the architecture and was not tired and cold. But the afternoon and my walki... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, December 26, 2011,
I had a fantastic year of travel. It was probably one of the best ever for me. And with it came recognition as one of the best travel blogs of 2011 by Washington Flyer. To sum up my annual adventures in a single story is like writing about your own year,  everything that has happened to you - all of the ups and downs and round and rounds - in just a couple of pages. It isn't easy. But for that opportunity, looking back on my year, I am most certainly thankful.
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, November 7, 2011,
I stood in a tower in what was once the French sector of Berlin. From the metal perch I could see a preserved section of the Berlin Wall; guard towers, a lighted sand field - once known as the de  ath strip - and the wall itself were all there. It was almost twenty-two years to the day - November 9th, 1989 - since the wall was opened between East and West Berlin and a domino effect transpired. The Iron Curtain was falling under Moscow's principles of glasnost and perestroika, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, October 24, 2011,
I stood on the roof of the United States embassy in Berlin talking with Greg Delawie, the Deputy Chief of Mission in Germany. From that vantage point, our RIAS Berlin Kommission group enjoyed an impressive view of history; we could see the Brandenburg Gate, the German capital building – the Reichstag – and the lush, green Tiergarten. The area is the heart of Berlin, if not all of Germany, and it is the hub of what I like to call Berlin’s ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Friday, November 6, 2009,
I was tired from a long flight from Chicago's O'Hare airport to Ireland's Shannon airport, so I was quite happy for the opportunity to take a nap after checking into my hotel with a couple of friends.  It didn't take long to pop back awake though and hit the road. I was in another country, my first in a few years time, and I was ready to get out and see some sites. Our first stop were the Cliffs of Moher on Ireland's west side. It took a bit to get there as we got turned around on some of t...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Wednesday, August 26, 2009,
It's really quite bizarre reading about things in books for years and seeing so many countless pictures of them as well and then seeing them actually in person. I was really quite thunderstruck when I first set foot inside the Athenian Acropolis as a high school student. 
A teacher at my school chaperoned students annually, with the help of parents, to different international destinations for a few weeks in the summer months. This was something she did on the side and not really affiliate...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
My European vacation with my father last year took us through Luxembourg, a speck of a country on the European continent.
I was excited to get to Luxembourg as we we drove across northern France and into Belgium, but wasn't totally sure why. I had no idea of what there was to do or see there, but was still excited to get there and see it.
We paged through an old travel guide my father had in order to get an idea of something that we could stop off at to see or tour, particularly sinc...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
My friend Briand took a trip to the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) with his wife, Erin, a few years ago and talked it up big. They really enjoyed their time there, particularly in Belgium, so I was excited to get there and see a bit of the country myself.
My father and I were keeping a pretty open schedule on our trip, but needed to get to Saarbrucken, Germany in a few days time to meet some distant relatives. This meant we had a bit of driving ahead of us to do this since w...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
It's about one year to-the-day since I was in France on holiday with my father. It is a trip of which I have such fond memories. One of them occurred within our first few days in Paris.
We had just landed and were standing on the bus on the tarmac, waiting to be shuttled to the terminal to get our bags, when this man walks on and stands, holding on to the pole, right in front of me.
He surely looked familiar, but I wasn't positive at first so I waited for him to turn around again. An...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
On my third trip across the pond I visited the emerald island of Ireland with my friends Brian and Erin Frederick.
We planned about a week to see some highlights in the c  ountry, and that's pretty much what we did as we drove most of the perimeter of the island. My story comes from one of the last of the places we really stopped to visit, which was Cork, in the southern part of the country.
Cork is a good sized town that's most often visited for Blarney Castle to the north a...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
My second international trip brought me to my third country: Germany.  I'll never forget this trip for so many reasons. From almost breaking out in nervous tears at the Minneapolis airport as my brother dropped me off to head out on my own on this all expenses paid fellowship from the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) to running into a room late, while still tying my tie, for a meeting with former chancellor Helmut Kohl, I certainly have some interesting stories to tell. But, t... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
...but, alas, no. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to like the food in Italy either. Like I said, I lead a rather sheltered life when it came to food as a child and was never forced to eat anything I didn't care to try. But, this Italian tale is about something other than food. 
Bari, Solerno, Sorrento, Naples, Capri...we visited several cities in the southern part of Italy and they all have their separate interesting tales to tell. But, this one comes directly from Rome, right...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Greece. This is definitely not the first country outside of the United States that I had anticipated visiting, but when the opportunity presented itself in the winter of 1993, I figured why not.
I attended the Academy of the Holy Angles High School in Richfield, Minnesota and at that time I was taking history classes with a marvelous teacher. Out of all of the teachers I've ever had I would say that Dr. Giesen was the best. She was intelligent, sarcastic and inspired her students to want to le...
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