by Matthew Allison | Mar 14, 2018 | Europe
March 2018: Sleeping in Dracula’s Castle A Mission of Superstition, Shadows, and Sheer Stubbornness I returned to Romania with one goal: to spend the night in Dracula’s Castle. Back in 2005, I had missed my chance during my first trip across Transylvania—a journey...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 13, 2018 | Asia, Europe
Crossing into Nagorno-Karabakh: A Journey into a War-Torn Republic March 2018 – While traveling through Armenia, my friends Jimmie, Frank, and I decided to venture into the disputed and conflict-ridden breakaway republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR). At the time, the...
by Matthew Allison | Sep 26, 2016 | Europe
Quick Glimpse into Northern Ireland September 2016: As part of a trip that included Scotland, Paula and I flew into Belfast, rented a car and explored for two days. I had previously visited Ireland and I wanted to see how Northern Ireland was different from its...
by Matthew Allison | Sep 24, 2016 | Europe
A Road Trip Through the Scottish Highlands: Castles, Whisky, and Untamed Beauty September 2016: Decades of watching romanticized films about kilted warrior clans battling against the stuffy British to the south had instilled in me a deep curiosity about Scotland. The...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 16, 2015 | Europe
Prague, Czech Republic: A Fairytale City with a Dark Past November 2015: As part of a whirlwind long weekend adventure—one that also included an overnight stay in a former Nazi SS castle in Germany—my friend Kevin and I hopped a train to Prague. I’d heard countless...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 4, 2015 | Europe
November 2015: I have always been fascinated in all things related to World War II, and when I watched a documentary about Himler’s Castle-Wewelsburg that appeared on the History channel in October, a castle that Himler envisioned to be a Vatican or...
