According to the newly launched Web site germanoriginality.com, more than 42 million Americans can trace their roots back to Germany. If you count yourself amongst this number, and you are interested in finding more about your heritage, this Web site could provide you with a friendly introduction to exploring your ancestry. Links to genealogical resources make up only one part of the site, which represents a joint endeavor of the German National Tourist Office, the German Information Center USA, and other partners. Other features include tidbits of information concerning Americans of German heritage- for example, did you know that Elvis Aaron Presley’s surname was anglicized from the German name Pressler?

In addition to rock-bottom service at rock-bottom prices, budget airlines allow us to explore the concept of one-way flights. I had long dreamed of devising an itinerary that would whisk me into one city and out of another, but it was only several weeks ago that I finally made the idea reality. Our chosen route took us into Faro, Portugal, and saw us returning to home base Germany via Malaga, Spain, flying with Ryanair. Since Ryanair and many other budget airlines sell flights as separate, one way-segments, there's no need to pay a pricey surcharge for the privilege of choosing different arrival and departure airports. The five-day itinerary was busy, but shy of what I’d term hectic.

I returned from my most recent trip just last week. The flight to Faro, Portugal, came courtesy of Ryanair. For the pleasure of this flight, which took place the last Monday in September out of Frankfurt Hahn, I ended up paying a grand total of 120.18 euros (99.99 euros for airfare, 15.19 euros in taxes, and 5 euros for airport check-in, mandatory for holders of U.S. passports.)

I was foolish to spend that much, because when I started tracking that flight about one month prior to its departure date, the price for the flight only, minus extras and taxes, was somewhere around 29.99 euros. On the other hand, I was actually pretty clever. If I had booked that flight less than a week prior to travel, I could have ended up spending as much as 159.99 euros for the airfare alone.