Traveling with the Stars: Greta Van Susteren

— -- Television personality Greta Van Susteren is based in Washington, D.C., but hops the globe for her current affairs show On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, now in its seventh year on Fox News. She shares her travel highlights and tips with USA TODAY.

Q: Where have you been recently that you liked or were surprised by?

A: In the last six weeks I was in Massachusetts doing a favor for (former) Governor Jane Swift. I spoke to her class at Williams College in Williamstown. I had never been to Williamstown before. I was intoxicated by the thought of wouldn't it be nice to live in a small town in New England? So I loved that.

I've (also) been to St. Louis (where) I had the thrill of throwing the first baseball out to the best player in all of baseball, (St. Louis Cardinals) Albert Pujols, but I bounced the ball. I love St. Louis. I'm from the Midwest. There are all these great Midwestern cities that have rich histories and wonderful neighborhoods. St. Louis looked spectacular. It was great weather and a beautiful city.

Q: What's the best place you've ever visited and why?

A: There are two places and they're very different. One is the Yukon Territory, Canada, because when I was a college student I went on a geology expedition. We lived in the mountains. We climbed mountains and climbed glaciers. It was breathtaking.

The other is Pyongyang in North Korea. Because North Korea has been hermetically sealed from the world since 1950, they have no other culture. They have virtually no commerce but it is interesting. It's like everything came to a dead stop in 1950. Pyongyang is a port city and there's a river running through the city. If you can look through the decay of years of not having any money, you can see that underneath is the most spectacular beauty that I have ever seen. Beautiful winding rivers. Old buildings. Now I am certainly not a fan of Communism and Stalinism, don't get me wrong. But it was absolutely fascinating. It really is their culture. Now, all cultures sort of bleed into each other. You can go to any American city and get food from all over the world, which in some ways, is quite lovely. I love the hermetically sealed nature of one culture.