Jim Hansen

He was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1965 and raised in a military family. By the time he graduated from high school in 1983 in Newport News, Virginia, he had attended 9 different elementary and secondary schools. He can legitimately say he has lived in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C., New York, Germany and now Maryland. Until he moved to the Washington metro area in 1989, he had never lived in one town/city for more than 3 years.  

Travel and anything international have always been a significant part of his life. He grew up with a German grandmother who taught high school social studies when she wasn’t traveling the world. His grandfather was in the American military and stationed in Turkey in the 1950s and Iran in the 1960s. That fueled his grandmother’s love of the far and near east and that was transmitted to him via the slides she would show him when he stayed at her house and all the Asian artifacts that filled her home. She literally traveled the entire Silk Road except Afghanistan.  By the time he graduated college, he had already been to Europe and Asia. His career choices seemed to boil down to either international relations the hospitality industry, or a mix of the two.

Luck and chance led him to a career in the Federal Government where he’s been for 33 years. Approximately 23 of those years have been spent doing international work. The remainder has been in high-level management positions. His work has allowed him to travel to Europe, South America, and Asia multiple times. Between work and his own passion for travel, he’s a member of the 6 continents club (with only Antarctica being the one that got away). His passion for travel continues in retirement. He’s a big believer in life lists (NOT bucket lists). His generally contains places he’d love to visit. He’s been very lucky in that he’s hit so many places but there are still more to see. Right now, that includes New Zealand, India, South Africa, Costa Rica, Poland, and all the countries of the former Yugoslavia. 

He's very fortunate to have a partner of 29 years who also loves to travel. Ultimately, it’s a compromise. We trade off in picking places to visit. Next stop? Probably Greece because he hasn’t been (I’ve been twice). His next stop? Either India or New Zealand.

The Washington metropolitan area, also sometimes referred to as Greater Washington, the National Capital Region, or colloquially as the DMV (named after the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area containing Washington, D.C., the federal capital of the United States. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C., and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

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