The current break in the action on Capitol Hill, referred to by most people as the Memorial Day recess, is officially known as a "district work period."

The reason for the latter terminology is pretty obvious, but members of Congress sometimes stretch the definition of "district."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, is leading a high-profile mission of six House members to China. Other lawmakers are also off on far-flung, taxpayer-financed ventures, though they didn't seek advertise that fact.

More often than not, members of Congress slip out of town without notice (public disclosure of the travel is required, but not until long after the trip has ended). Their office-bound staff back home keeps churning out press releases, presumably to make it look as though the senator or congressman is hard at work in Washington, when they might be on some beach, somewhere, instead.

A rare exception to the pattern is Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, who not only invited reporters to join her trip to the Netherlands this week, but also issued press releases from the scene.

Also in Europe's low country this week is House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, who has returned to his Danish roots. The southern Maryland congressman is on an official trip to Copenhagen for talks with government officials on issues ranging from that country's commitment to Afghanistan (about 700 of the 58,000 NATO forces are Danes) to climate change (a big global conference on that subject will be held in Copenhagen this December). Just today, in fact, Sen. John Kerry said that the success of the Copenhagen conference could hinge on critical talks over the next few weeks. Kerry made that remark in China, where he's leading his own overseas mission.

Maryland's senators can be found in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on the spectacular Adriatic coast. The British playwright George Bernard Shaw is said to have remarked that "those who seek paradise on Earth should come to Dubrovnik." Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski are there, however, on an Aspen Institute-sponsored trip to a conference about "political Islam."

Overseas travel by members of Congress usually follows predictable patterns.