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What’s it really like to tour a magic show through the Middle East? From lost luggage and confiscated props to 100-yard walks to the latrine at 3am, this behind-the-scenes article dives into the unpredictable realities of traveling and living on (and off) base. Learn how professional magicians adapt, hydrate, and keep the show going—even when battling jet lag, desert heat, or E. coli.
Let’s start at the beginning. One day in early 2015, my agent Nick called me and asked me if I had any interest in performing some shows for the military.
“Absolutely!” I exclaimed. You see, as a child and teenager, I heard many stories from my Grandfather Roy Chapman, who was a pilot in the Air Force, about his time in the military.
I vividly remember hearing about the time during World War II when his plane had been shot up and they were running low on fuel. He was worried they wouldn’t make it back to the base, so he instructed his crew to throw everything out of the plane that wasn’t essential so they would, hopefully, have enough fuel to make it back…
Magician Jason Michaels brings magic and morale to U.S. military personnel around the world. Discover how his mission to serve those who serve has taken him to over 50 countries—and why it matters now more than ever.
Over the years, I’ve performed in some incredible venues—but nothing compares to stepping onto a base and performing for the men and women in uniform.
In my latest blog post, I’m sharing the personal reason why I do magic for the military. It’s about more than entertainment—it’s about connection, morale, and honoring those who serve.
I invite you to read the story behind one of the most meaningful parts of my career.
One of the most sobering sounds I’ve ever heard was the loud “CLANG!” as the door closed and locked firmly behind me the very first time I entered a prison.
I remember thinking, “How many people know that I’m currently in here?” As if that was going to make much of a difference.
Introduction - I’m hoping that international travel will become much easier in the near future. Until then, I’m sharing some wonderful memories of overseas adventures. This one is from 2016.
Recommended Things to Do:
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site – While this isn’t a fun place to visit, it should be a required place to visit in order to learn how the Nazi party came to power, how they silenced, tortured, and killed their critics, and to understand why they had to be wiped off the face of the earth.
Architectural Sight Seeing – Munich is full of amazing architecture and you can easily spend a day marveling at the beautiful buildings.
Hofbrauhaus – As much travelling as I do, I had never experienced a restaurant/bar/brewery quite like the Hofbrauhaus. You’ll get a authentic taste of Bavaria in the food, the beer, (the servers) and the general attitude. Don’t hesitate to cut loose a little bit, everyone else is!
My Adventure – We left Ramstein AFB early in the morning and arrived at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany later that day. Garmisch is a beautiful little German village with breathtaking views of the Alps.
After Kevin and I checked in to our rooms we walked to the hotel ballroom where we would be performing our show later that evening for a conference that was occurring at the resort and for all of the local townspeople.
That night Kevin and I enjoyed entertaining a fun group of all ages. We had both kids and adults, and everyone had a blast. And while every show is a genuine pleasure for me to perform, my favorite part of that show was the time after the show that my entire team (performers and production team) spent sitting next to the bus staring into the night sky as we partook in cigars, libations, and laughter.
We had several options for what we should do the next day, a day that we had off. Quite a few folks had told us we should go to the nearby mountain and enjoy the view from the top. But since we were only about an hour and a half from Munich by train we opted for the big city.
As we were discussing what we should do in Munich, Bart and Kevin were in agreement that we should visit the Dachau Concentration Camp. And being a student of history, I concurred.
Once we decided where we were going we had a bit of an adventure getting there. We took a train to Munich, then we took a subway to a specific part of Munich, then we took a city bus to the concentration camp.
As we arrived at the camp and started to begin our tour, the rain did, in fact, arrive. The three of us stood under a shelter which, basically, was the front gate. After coming all that way, we weren’t about to let a downpour stop us. So, we hustled to the inside area where the exhibits were and spent about two hours reading about the history of Germany pre-World War II, how Hitler came to power, and all about Dachau – which was the concentration camp that all the other concentration camps were modeled after.
It was absolutely fascinating learning the history of this place and of Germany. The three of us, on more than one occasion, looked at each other and wondered aloud how such a thing was possible. The facts are mind-numbing and the simple fact that such horrible things happened less than 80 years is hard to stomach. Even though I knew that my grandfather fought in World War II, it is hard to wrap my head around such a thing. The atrocities that occurred there must never be allowed to occur again.
After about three hours at Dachau, we found our way back to Munich and had ourselves a good look around. Much like London, a personal highlight for me was seeing all of the incredible architecture. I’ve never been a student of architecture, but this trip really opened my eyes to its beauty.
After a very full day it was time to find the Hofbrauhaus. This was the place where everyone told us to find to eat and have a German beer. And Bart explained to me that one of the things he enjoys most when travelling to different parts of the world is to sample the food and drink. Since I’m a bit of a foodie, and certainly the adventurous type, I was more than happy to search until we found it.
The Hofbrauhaus is absolutely huge. Cavernous would be a good way to describe it. And the place was packed. When we finally found a table in the very back area we were greeted by a waitress dressed in a traditional German dress who took very good care of us.
I opted for the “Roast Pork with Crackling” with gravy and potato dumpling, and a German beer. The meal and the atmosphere were outstanding. The Hofbrauhaus definitely lived up to all the hype.
After a full day of touring the camp and walking around Munich, the dinner and brew did me in. Bart wanted to keep exploring, but I was toast, so Kevin, Bart, and I headed back to the Resort and back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book.
I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
Introduction - There isn’t any international travel happening at the moment so it’s the perfect time to revisit some wonderful memories of overseas adventures. This one is from 2016.
My Adventure - We touched down at Heathrow Airport and proceeded to grab our luggage and meet our tour bus. This was my first experience having my very own tour bus. Since we had to drive anywhere from 2 to 8 hours between shows it was far easier to do a European tour on a tour bus than any other way. Unfortunately the only time we spent in London that day was our bus driving us out of it to the first English city on our trip.
I was a little worried that our very busy schedule was going to keep us traveling every day with no time to visit London before we left Great Britain. As we spoke to our production team and reviewed our tour schedule we realized that we were, in fact, going to have a full day to visit London and do some sightseeing.
Several days later we left Alconbury on our day off and took the train to London. Woohoo!
Fellow traveler and video production guy Bart had contacted his cousin who lives in England and he found out that she was going to be in London the same day that we were. So, our first stop was to meet Bart’s cousin at the Prince Albert Memorial and Park.
After the initial pleasantries and some time for them to visit, Bart’s cousin and her family had an appointment to keep at a nearby museum, and we were on our way.
When we were planning what we should do while in London all the locals we spoke to had plenty of opinions on what would be fun. We finally decided on a “hop-on/hop-off” tour on the many buses that travel all over the metropolis of London. And while I don’t have any idea of what we may have missed, the hop-on/hop-off tour was brilliant! (as they would say in England)
Keeping in mind that we did get on and off the tour buses several times at different parts of the city to see things that interested us, it took us all day on those buses to see the entire city. Because we were there in April, the later it got in the day the colder we got. As the sun started to set, we started to freeze our tails off.
Since we spent the day as tourists we really just did touristy things. Personally, I love history and learning about all of the things that happened in the different parts of London was a blast. I mentioned to Kevin and Bart that I would love to spend about a month in London just being a tourist and taking it all in.
Since the United States is such a young country we just don’t have the history that a place like Great Britain does. I constantly found my mouth hanging open as I looked at the incredible architecture. Personal highlights included the Tower Palace, the Tower Bridge, and Buckingham Palace.
I think I’ll let that pictures tell the rest of the story…
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book.
I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
Introduction - Since the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped virtually all international travel, I’m remembering and reporting on some wonderful memories of trips and adventures I’ve taken over the years. This one is from 2016.
My Adventure - Well, there’s no feeling like flying and living in airports for a little over twenty-four hours until you get to your destination. And as much as I enjoy the adventures this lifestyle affords me, non-stop travel with no breaks to actually let down and chill is definitely not one of the best parts.
With that said, I had some excellent travel partners – Kevin and Bart – to enjoy this adventure with.
We landed at the Pristina Airport and proceeded to travel another hour by van to our destination. Look, I’ll be honest with you…I wouldn’t have picked Kosovo for a vacation spot. In fact, if I hadn’t been performing my show there the following night, I would have never circled this place on the map. But that is part of the fun, isn’t it?
Fortunately, when we arrived we had the day to relax and get acclimated to a completely different time zone. This was our first stop on an eleven city tour of Europe. Kevin and Bart crashed hard and I spent the day noodling around our surroundings because I was so excited about getting this thing kicked off.
The next day our host showed us around the base and then took us to one of his favorite spots for lunch. Kevin, Bart, and I spent several hours walking around the city and then we had a great steak at a very nice restaurant.
Part of the fun of performing a show on a military base is getting to experience a tiny flavor of what it is like to live that lifestyle. We definitely got a kick out of all the activities that were planned for us that day!
Our show that evening was great. We had a spirited audience who was ready to have fun and we gave them a monster of a show. Since we were in the middle of nowhere our setup was a little more modest than all of the other stops on our tour. My sleight of hand got great reactions, and Kevin’s insane mental feats drew gasps and left people wondering how such mysteries are possible.
As is normal for show business we went to bed late that night and had to wake up less than four hours later to drive back to the airport and head to our next destination. I’m just glad to still be alive to type these words. Our driver decided he wanted to audition for the Indianapolis 500 that morning. I’m pretty sure he set a land speed record for the little rickety van that we were in.
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book.
I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
Recommended Things to Do:
Kuwait Towers – The Kuwait Towers have a magnificent observation deck where you will have an incredible view of the city.
Al Marsa Restaurant – Al Marsa is an Arabic restaurant with very good food. Expect the full service – from dates at the beginning of the meal to hot tea and coffee at the end, you will enjoy the experience of having a traditional Arabic meal.
Souk Al-Mubarakiya – You could spend a day at this local market soaking in the sights, sounds, and tastes of “the good old days” of Kuwait. Inexpensive shopping and huge variety of things to explore and find.
My Adventure – My team and I arrived in Kuwait on a hot summer night. The locals told us that it had cooled down recently and that 95-100 degrees in the middle of the night felt pleasant. (That gave me mixed feelings about the 122 degrees that I felt the following afternoon!)
We were assigned a group of guys to make sure that we made it to each of our performances over the next few days. I’m told that Kuwait is a very safe country, but after looking at the size of these guys it felt a great deal like we had been assigned a private security detail.
Famous highway sign in Kuwait.
Over the next five days my team of entertainers and I performed several private shows at different locations in the country. Our days were filled with meeting VIPs and entertaining them with sleight of hand and mind reading, and our evenings consisted of staging a 90-minute show of comedy magic, incredible mind reading, and interactive sleight-of-hand. I’m happy to report that all of our shows were massive successes.
When you get a group of professional entertainers together, there is no doubt that we absolutely love entertaining audiences. The sounds of laughter, ‘oohhs and aahhs’, and loud applause fuel our engines, so I would definitely say that the shows were the highlights for us. However, we did have a day set aside for sightseeing, and we had a blast!
We started the day by visiting the Kuwaiti Towers, which gave us incredible views of the city.
We then made our way to the local mall. This place was huge…absolutely huge. We spent a couple of hours looking around and somehow I ended up inside every single watch store that I passed. I decided it would be a great story if I bought a watch in Kuwait. After marveling at Tags and Rolexes, I settled on a Fossil with a special travel kit.
Each member of our team had one or two things in mind that they wanted to do or purchase while we were in Kuwait. That meant that our next stop was at a local market. We were specifically looking for a new travel bag for Michael and some local coffee for Katalina. We found plenty of both!
We finished our day off with an incredible meal at a restaurant called Al Marsa. Part of the fun of travelling to different parts of the world is experiencing the local culture. Al Marsa served us a vary tasty Arab meal with far more than we could ever eat in one sitting. And somehow, I ended up at a table of locals performing a few of my favorite sleight of hand pieces!
Our trip to Kuwait was a blast. Every time I leave the States and visit another country two things happen: my mind is opened up to experience other cultures and appreciate them, and I am reminded just how fortunate I am to call the United States of America my home.
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book. I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
Introduction - Since the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped virtually all international travel, I’m remembering and reporting on some wonderful memories of trips and adventures I’ve taken over the years. This one is from 2015.
My Adventure - Air travel is always more interesting when you fly in on a small plane. Even if there is nothing in particularly memorable about the flight, the fact that you are in a commercial airplane that has propellers makes you think twice about where the heck you’re going.
After flying in from Addis Ababa, Stephen Bargatze and I were met by our hosts at the airport. We traveled through the city of Arba Minch to an absolutely beautiful resort where we were staying and performing two shows.
Read the entire article here.
