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Samantha Brown on Filming the Latest Season of Her Travel Show Amid the Pandemic
"No matter what's happening, we still have access to an incredible country of wonderful diversity where we can learn about other people and about ourselves," she said.
After a year in lockdown, travel expert Samantha Brown had one date on her mind: April 21, 2021. That was when she and her crew would board their first flight since the pandemic and begin filming her PBS show "Places to Love." Vaccines were rolling out, borders reopening, and the world was full of hope, but Brown was still nervous.
After filming travel shows for more than 20 years, Brown has become a bona fide explorer, with hard-won experience in how to navigate in a foreign language, finagle itineraries and locate hotels well off the beaten path. No stranger to rebooking a flight, the challenge of traveling the world after a year in lockdown was no easy feat.
"Mentally, I had some tough times with that," Brown told Travel + Leisure in a recent interview in regards to getting back into the swing of things. "To go 'Okay, here we go, I'm going to meet with people.' But then as soon as I did, that changed immediately."
The world was, of course, different from how the travel host had left it in March 2020. There were new, strict protocols to follow during filming including mask-wearing and temperature-taking. And because of constantly shifting COVID protocols at international borders, the team couldn't travel outside of domestic destinations.
But from the "jolt of energy" from stepping onto an unknown street to the joy of developing a personal connection with a stranger, Brown told T+L she felt like she and her crew picked up right where they left off.
And, eventually, what had been considered an impediment became an opportunity. Being bound to the continental U.S. forced Brown and her team to delve deeper into American destinations and approach well-known cities in a new light.
"What I'm trying to show people is that even within our own country we have these incredible places that even if you think you know, you really don't," Brown said. "No matter what's happening, what flare-up is happening, we still have access to an incredible country of wonderful diversity where we can learn about other people and about ourselves."
For this season of "Places to Love" premiering on Jan. 8, Brown visited major destinations like Asheville, N.C, and Houston, Texas — but also smaller, lesser-known places like New York's Genesee River Valley.
"Everyone was so excited to do something positive," Brown said. But as she and her crew traveled around America filming episodes, Brown came to realize that the pandemic was still very present — and that everyone had their own comfort levels.
"Even me, who, I love to travel, I had my own soft spots where I would become very nervous and very uncomfortable about being in certain situations," Brown said. "I've walked into places and thought, 'Oh oh oh I didn't know there weren't going to be any windows. Why are we eating in a restaurant with no windows?'"
Adapting to the situation, the crew became adept at configuring shoots that would seem, to a viewer, entirely normal. Sometimes, they would conduct interviews outside of normal business hours and return later for shots of a restaurant full of people. Or other interviews were edited together to make it look like everyone had their face masks off at the same time while masks were worn. Taking all precautions, Brown would also touch base with whoever she'd be sharing the screen with via Zoom to gauge their COVID comfort levels and develop a plan that would "meet the person where they were at" before it was time to film.
In general, filming for this season tended towards more intimate moments, though Brown says that wasn't planned. Among the places she toured across the country, she saw unexpected connections between both a Mandir (a Hindu temple for worship) and a Baptist church that's been working with its community since the Spanish Flu.
"So many of the common themes of what we're dealing with right now just naturally played out in these eight episodes," Brown said. "It wasn't even a conscious decision, I guess. Just unconsciously I was drawn to talking to monks, talking to baptist ministers and learning how to come out of isolation, how to come out of this time of contemplation."
Brown said after months of being home and scrolling through her social media feeds, finally getting back out in the world "reinforced [her] love of travel."
"If I'm sitting there watching the news, I'm thinking, 'But what's gonna happen? This is just a dumpster fire, right?'" Brown joked. "And it's when I travel that I realize we're going to be okay. I always feel that way. When you meet people, you realize we have so much resilience, so much power. We have so much love to give."
Although it may have taken a period of forced isolation to remember the emotional value of journeying for connection, Brown hopes this new season will remind Americans that the value of travel isn't about how far away you can go, but how open you can become.
"Meeting people," she explained. "It all comes down to that."
Cailey Rizzo is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure, currently based in Brooklyn. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram , or at caileyrizzo.com .
TV host Samantha Brown shares top travel tips and trends ahead of 7th season of 'Places to Love'
During her time as host of "Samantha Brown's Places to Love," Emmy-winning travel host Samantha Brown has sampled cheese and chocolate in Vienna, visited a turtle hospital in the Florida Keys and played rugby in Auckland, New Zealand, with a professional women's rugby team.
These adventures represent only a handful of Brown's experiences in the 74 countries (and counting) she has visited over the past 20 years. Out now on PBS , the Season Seven premiere of Brown's show finds her in Darwin, Australia, where she receives a traditional Indigneous Australian welcome and visits the Mindil Beach Sunset Market for local eats and entertainment.
Through it all, Brown has remained steadfastly committed to highlighting the people who make a destination what it is while honoring their land, culture and traditions.
TPG spoke with Brown to learn more about the upcoming season of her show and to gather tips that can make our own travels more responsible and rewarding.
The trend toward sustainable tourism
"When you think of sustainability, there is always a lot of time and space given to nature and animals, but there is also this human storytelling component to it," Brown told TPG. "Sustainability is such a huge term, and we try to define it in the series in its entire scope because sustainability can mean protecting the water, the mountain air and the animals, but we rarely talk about the sustainability of human beings and their stories."
When visiting new destinations for the show, Brown and her team demonstrate sustainable — or responsible — tourism by carefully choosing the right people to tell each story and considering how those people benefit from tourism.
"Our tourism dollars can make a huge change in places, for better or worse, so we always strive to do it for the better," she said.
Related: Where to go in 2024: The 16 best places to travel
For example, Brown and her family visited Juneau, Alaska, in Season Six. They learned about dog sledding from a third-generation musher and 2023 Iditarod champion, and they gained insight into the native Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of southeast Alaska at Sealaska Heritage . By focusing on the people who have been a part of that land for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years and patronizing businesses owned by those same people, Brown can present an authentic experience that benefits viewers looking for travel inspiration and the local community.
"We pride ourselves with this show that we don't do anything that a normal traveler can't experience," Brown said. "We've already done the work for you so that you can have the same wonderful experiences that you see on the show."
Even if you aren't visiting one of the many destinations featured in "Samantha Brown's Places to Love," you can still incorporate these sustainable tourism practices into your own travels. How? By being mindful of your physical and cultural footprint when you visit a place and seeking out experiences that allow you to connect with a place and its people on a personal level.
Related: How to choose an Indigenous-led travel experience
This could be as simple as "going where the locals go," according to Brown. "Inhabiting their spaces while also recognizing that those are their spaces can naturally bring you into more sustainable travel practices," she added.
Tourism can — and should — support the people sharing their culture and traditions with you. Finding businesses and activities that honor this tenet will take some work on your part ahead of your trip, but planning can be part of the fun.
Related: 8 sustainable travel tips from expert green travelers
Travel is about connection
For Brown, travel is really about the people.
"Travel is this beautiful thing that gives us the opportunity to connect with other human beings and understand one another," she said.
Related: 8 of the best credit cards for general travel purchases
This notion goes hand in hand with seeking out authentic, diverse experiences, and it's something all of us can do when we travel. Rather than sticking to a jam-packed itinerary where you hop from museum to museum (or spend all day posing for photos in front of Instagram-famous hot spots), leave room in your schedule for exploration, discovery and, ultimately, connection.
When you visit a local business, museum or attraction, strike up a conversation with the proprietor, a tour guide or a local resident. Not only can they steer you toward the best cup of coffee in town, but they can also help you gain a deeper understanding of the area's history and traditions.
"In travel, we naturally open ourselves up to other people much more than we do in our daily lives," Brown said. "We have more opportunities for these great interactions with people."
Related: This new travel company will pair you with an expert local guide to plan the trip of your dreams
Enriching travel experiences on a budget
Brown is also a firm believer that travel is for everybody.
"If you make it about people, you don't have to spend a lot of money to have these experiences," she said.
Related: How I spent $0 using points and miles on an epic Highway 1 road trip
The easiest way to travel on a budget is by looking within your own home state. You won't need expensive plane tickets because everything is driveable.
"I traveled a lot when my kids were babies, and we just kept it simple by visiting destinations that were a couple of hours from our home," Brown said.
Related: Here's how you can visit national parks for free in 2024
She recommends considering your home as a "hub" and the potential destinations one to two hours from your home as the "spokes." Your spokes may be the mountains, a lake, a cute small town or a national park.
"Even if you don't go far, it's a fresh start," she said.
If you choose an affordable hotel and free or inexpensive experiences, you can keep the budget manageable. For example, national parks often offer free ranger-led programs that teach you more about the local flora and fauna and history of the area you're visiting.
Should you decide to visit a new town, research the town's history before your arrival. You may find it has a unique history that you can learn more about during your visit.
Related: How to travel on a budget: Here are our 22 top tips
Bottom line
"We travel because we want to belong," Brown said. Through her show, Brown encourages travelers to "get away from thinking of themselves as a consumer and more of just a person wanting to communicate with the world and see themselves in it." This way, we can have these more meaningful, enriching travel experiences.
If you are looking for some travel-planning inspiration, you can watch the first episode of the seventh season of "Samantha Brown's Places to Love" now on PBS. New episodes — which will include visits to Canada, Israel, New Hampshire and Oregon, among other destinations — are released weekly.
Related reading:
- Key travel tips you need to know — whether you're a first-time or frequent traveler
- 14 best travel credit cards
- 13 must-have items the TPG team can't travel without
- Your next hotel stay could be better for the planet — here's how
- Carbon offsetting: How to calculate your carbon footprint when you travel
Journey into the World of Wanderlust: Samantha Brown, Travel Goddess
Lisa Ellen Niver September 11th, 2023
By Lisa Ellen Niver
It was my honor to interview the Travel Goddess, Samantha Brown. I first met her in person at the Travel and Adventure Show in 2016 and in 2023, I was a speaker at the same show!
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha Brown (@samanthabrowntravels)
Find Samantha Brown’s Show, Places To Love , on her website and visit her on Instagram . In 2024, it will be 25 years that she has been sharing her travels. As she says, “ girl with the best job in the world .”
Listen or watch our interview on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , YouTube or your favorite podcast platform
READ THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW
Lisa Niver:
Good morning. This is Lisa Niver from We Said Go Travel and I am beyond thrilled that today I am with none other than the travel goddess Samantha Brown. Hi, Samantha.
Samantha Brown:
Hey, Lisa. How are you?
Oh, my gosh, I’m so excited to get to talk to you. I have been watching you at the travel show for years, and years and years and I am so excited. I even wore this map in your honor that I got to also speak at the travel show this year. I thought oh, my gosh I’m speaking at the same show as the goddess.
Samantha Brown and Places to Love at The Travel and Adventure Show 2023
Lisa Niver speaking at the Travel and Adventure Show 2023
That’s wonderful. It’s nice to see you again.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lisa Niver ✈️ (@lisaniver)
Oh, thank you. So, I know that you’ve been such a generous speaker and you have just inspired so many women. I spoke with Alex after the Women’s Travel Fest where you were the keynote speaker. And she was saying how for many people it was their longtime dream come true to be able to be there and hear you speak. That you really inspire so many women to get out on the road.
Samantha Brown and Lisa Niver at Women’s Travel Fest 2023
Yeah, that’s probably what I am most proud of, and most shocked by in my career. I never thought I would be someone who people look up to. And I guess that’s why I do have the best job in the world is that I get told, on almost a daily basis, what my work has meant to someone else and that is phenomenally validating. So, not only do I have this amazing job, but the people that I have been able to be a part of their community in terms of whether they watch me on TV, or now they’re on social media or whatever it is. It’s just something I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be that person and I never take it for granted.
I think that’s so beautiful. And as you said just now, and as it says on your Twitter bio, “girl with the best job in the world,” can you tell people a little bit about how did this happen? When you were little were you drawing on maps? Did you always want to be on TV? How did it happen?
I went to college at Syracuse University for musical theater, and that’s what I wanted to be. I wanted to be an actress and I wanted to move to New York City, and so, at Syracuse I studied acting, singing, and dancing. And when you are in musical theater you are considered a triple threat, because you can do all three. And then I moved to New York City and I wasn’t threatening at all.
In fact, I was really bland compared to the unbelievable talent that is out there. Actually, I saw that you had Pauline Frommer as a guest and she was also in musical theater as well. I remember seeing her at the auditions, I knew she was a lot more successful than I was in theater, but you should ask her about that. So, we share that in common.
So, I just kept auditioning, and I got this strange job on the Travel Channel. I had to audition for it, to be their host for a new show called Great Vacation Homes. And my first reaction was what’s a host? Why am I auditioning for this? But I thought, okay, I’ll just get a reel because I wanted to go to Los Angeles to make it in sitcoms. So, that was my plan and I am so glad it did not work out. The Travel Channel really hit it off, I loved my time there, I had amazing experiences and I had a job I never thought I would have.
That’s so inspiring. Because for a lot of us, when things don’t go how we planned, there’s often a feelings of being a failure or a mistake, but you’re saying it was the best thing.
Absolutely. And it wasn’t like I turned my back on acting and musical theater. Because one of the things you learn in acting is that you never judge your own character. It’s all about understanding what your motivation is, and your motivation is always in another person. Your motivation in acting is always to get more from another person or affect the other person. It’s never you, that makes it too self-centered, so that’s something that you are taught in acting and I absolutely take that little chunk and I bring that with me.
That’s how I kind of got my start as a travel host because, for me, the show was never about me it was always about the other person. How do I get to know them? How do I get to be a part of their culture? What is it? What tactics can I use so this person understands I’m a kind person who they would want to spend time with. That little jewel is my guiding star. Even today, even though the name of my show is Samantha Brown’s Places to Love, the show is not about me.
That’s really great advice for people, for a TV host, or as a human being, or a friend or in line at the DMV that there is something about the interaction about really learning something about someone else.
Yes, it’s always the other person.
That’s really impressive. I’ve heard you speak so many places when you were here in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theater for the Japanese National Tourism Organization or at the travel show and you always share such really useful tips. Can you talk about your ritual when you’re traveling?
If I am in a place for more than three days, which is more than likely if I’m traveling and we’re shooting Places to Love, I will create a ritual. And that means I do one thing, the same thing, the same time every single day. And for me, it’s usually a coffee shop that I’m going to begin my day at. It’s right around the corner from my hotel, but not my hotel, but still a local experience where I can feel the ebb and flow of a location better. And I love that, because it just gives me a break. One thing about traveling, or my pet peeve of travel, is that it requires incessant thinking, right? When you’re traveling it’s always what am I doing next? Do I have the tickets? How are we going to get there? Is it going to rain? When are my flights? My flight leaves in three days. You never stop, and you want your brain to stop.
When you create a ritual, you just become more calm, you’re just more in the moment and that brain stops, and I love that. I love doing that. I’ve talked to people, who say we do that all the time. At the end of the day, we go to the same bar, and have the same drink and get to know the waiter. You create your own community in the short amount of time that you’re there, and it does wonders to really enrich your trip. I think as Americans, and I understand that different countries are watching this right now, but Americans we’re very productive, unfortunately so.
We see vacations as places as a second location to be productive that’s different from our work schedule. We check things off the list. We’ve got to do five different things today because, man, we’re never coming back here. And I get that. I get that pressure we put on ourselves to see and do it all, but this is a reminder every single day just to keep those challenges in check and enjoy life a little bit more.
What you’re saying is so important. Get out of your hotel, see the local culture. Can you tell people a little bit about when you were in Madison, and you were a judge about mustard?
I love mustard, by the way. I love all kinds of mustard, I collect it if I go to places, and in France you have to collect the mustard. There is the Mustard Museum, it’s just outside of Madison, Wisconsin. The man who founded it is an adorable man who loved mustard as much as a lot of us do. He started collecting it and now you can experience mustards from all over the world. Mustard companies from all over the world send him their mustard, so you can experience mustard from Uzbekistan, and then he has from France, to Argentina. Some is spicy, some is more sweet, but every year he has a mustard contest. I got to be a judge and it was wonderful. I like the peppery stuff.
I was in Destin, Florida, and I was a judge at the lionfish competition. Maybe, next year you will be a judge with the lionfish, because we’re helping the planet by eating the lionfish.
And it’s good eating.
I love to eat lionfish.
Lionfish in a taco!! I totally agree, eat the invasive lionfish, definitely.
I agree. I heard you also learned a sport from an Olympian in Madison .
Yes. Becca Hamilton who is on the women’s curling team and she is, I believe, a world champion. They didn’t win the Olympics. That was her brother.
Her brother is a famous male competitor. They’re a duo and so the Madison Curling Club is where they were brought up This is where these two Olympians were reared, but she was fantastic. And I was telling her, I remember when they launched this sport in the Olympics about ten years ago and everyone was thinking what in the world is this sport? But we loved it.
I love the fact that you learn about the people who curl and they’re like insurance adjusters by day and they have this Olympic career on the side. It was so refreshing that they’re just like us. But of course they train a lot and it’s a hard sport, but it’s great. It’s a really fun sport and the way that Midwestern towns and cities really embrace this sport and make it more of a social thing. If you’re in a town that has a curling club go visit it, you’ll have a great time.
I haven’t tried curling, but when I was in Ireland I tried hurling, not the throwing up kind, but the sport kind.
I know that when you were in Ireland you tried some unusual things that we haven’t all heard of like blokarting.
I tried hurling as well.
Oh, you did. How did it go?
That’s a very dangerous sport. That’s like a cross between baseball and tennis and you’re whacking a ball.
And lacrosse.
For blokarting, it’s very different and it’s actually not a sport, it’s just a recreation. They have beautiful beaches in Ireland and it’s this wind-powered cart. So, in the same way we all dreamed of having our own little go-karts when we were young, this has a little sail and so you can go sailing across the sand. It’s phenomenal. It feels so great.
I’m actually someone who’s very scared of being on the water, especially in the ocean, but I love the wind on your sails. Who doesn’t love that feeling? It gives you that feeling of being out there maybe windsailing, but you’re on terra firma. I believe it was developed, created in Northern Ireland. If you ever go, absolutely try it out because it’s just fun.
I have to do that. I’m recently back from Ireland. I did falconry at Ashford Castle.
Well, now you can fly like a falcon by blokarting.
I like that idea. I know you travel with a teacup and there was a special tea in Ireland with a twist?
Oh, yes, I did. Where was that? That was Glenarm Castle on the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland. A beautiful castle, a Downton Abbey thing, and they’ve opened it up. The family still lives there and they’ve opened it up. They have a farm, and a dairy, and beautiful gardens and you can just enjoy. That’s a beautiful place. Actually, I experienced the high tea at a very upscale hotel in Adare, Adare Manor .
They just had a big renovation.
Yes, they did and it is like a six-star hotel. It is through the roof in terms of its luxury and beauty. And very few of us can afford this on a regular basis, but you can, as I always say, date the hotel, so I took it to high tea. It’s in this amazing room that is the second longest room in Ireland, second only to the library in Dublin.
They do wonderful cocktails and they put them in teacups so you’re a teetotaler! I had a beautiful botanical gin and tonic with these beautiful pastries. It is one of these epic places for tea. Lisa, I think a lot of people enjoy tea in different places, very high-end, and this would be one of them, absolutely.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say date your hotel before, but I love that.
Yeah, just date it. If you can’t afford to stay there, take it on a date.
That’s so funny. One of my favorite things about coming home from Ireland is preclearing at the airport that you come home domestic.
I was just in Canada as well where they have that and there’s nothing better than that. And it’s so funny how it just takes all of the stress out of flying because you land and you’re now domestic. And I love preclearance airports. I think they’re a reason alone to go to a country and enjoy it. All of the airports in Ireland as well as Canada are preclearance airports.
Were you filming something new in Canada or were on family holiday?
I was there shooting an episode in Victoria in British Columbia. A beautiful little city on that gorgeous Vancouver Island. It’s the gateway to Vancouver Island as well as the rest of British Columbia. We were up there exploring its more sustainable methods in terms of what they’re doing to protect the wildlife, First Nations culture as well as great food. It’s just a beautiful place to be.
I know when you travel one of the things you love to do is collect art and there’s beautiful art right behind you. Is that from one of your recent visits?
Yes. Yes, that is Jenny Pickens, the artist, and she’s from Asheville, North Carolina, self-taught and I love her work. I met her as we were shooting an episode there and we focused on this really great shop called the Noir Collective. It is in a neighborhood that used to be considered the Black Wall Street of Asheville with many very successful businesses for Black Americans. It fell on some hard times because of rezoning, but this group of people is trying to bring it back. You can meet a lot of the local artists and see their work. And I love this piece because she’s sewing the world and it’s a woman who’s slowly mending or sewing the world together and it’s got a heart. So, I thought it is like my show Places to Love and she’s beautiful.
That’s beautiful. I also really like when you put your season together that it’s a mix of domestic and international. We have so many great treasures of places to visit here in the United States.
Yeah, I agree, and I always love to explore what I call the B-side cities. So, if you remember records, there’s the A-side and then there’s the B-side. And the A-side is the Rome, and the New York and the Paris. But then there are the B-sides and I think B-side cities just give you just as much as the A-side city, but it’s not as expensive, it’s not as busy, and it just gives you a better experience. So, with the United States that’s what we try to focus on, especially in these days where you’re hearing so much about just too many people being in the same place at the same time.
There’s plenty of room for all of us. We need to divert people to come this way and see this is a great place. So, we’ve done a lot of cities that people would never think of going to. And then when you find out all of the great art that’s there, food that’s there, activities, and you don’t have to spend 400 dollars on a hotel. People are really excited affordable travel.
I think it’s great that you’re sharing all those places with people. And I saw on your social media about Big Sky, Montana. Was that for a recent filming, or we can watch that now, or does that come in the next season?
We filmed that last year. That was a part of season six, so that’s running now. That’s a great place. Montana is a beautiful state no matter what time of year you go. Most people go to Montana in the summer, maybe it’s to get to Yellowstone, but winter, oh, my gosh it’s just magical. Not the cheapest place to go. Big Sky, Montana, is a resort and it’s 300 dollars a day for a lift ticket. But let me tell you as someone who grew up in New Hampshire, grew up skiing, the skiing is phenomenal and worth it. I skied in my jeans in ice-cold weather in New Hampshire and so to be up there out west where it’s just a lovely day, I think it’s an amazing place to be. I love Montana. I’m a big winter fan. I’m one of those rare people, Lisa, who love snow.
I’ve seen a lot of different episodes and recently you were filming somewhere it was definitely not chilly. You were in Israel.
I was, yes. And oh my goodness I still have dreams about it. It took me a week back home to really feel like I was back in the United States, because I just felt smitten. It’s like falling in love where you just can’t get your head out of the clouds. It was phenomenal. Clearly, I don’t have to explain what Jerusalem is and why you would want to go, but what I love about cities is that the whole world can seem like it hates each other, and when you go to a city that’s just not what’s happening. Everyone lives with each other. Cities are seen as these unfriendly dangerous places and a lot of the times it’s the exact opposite. So, it was wonderful discovering that for myself and I would love to go back. It was a trip of a lifetime, truly.
I’m so glad you got to go there. I studied in Israel in high school and I spent a semester in college in Jerusalem.
Oh, my gosh, I’m so envious. What a place. It’s magical, right. I see so many people like you, so it’s so youthful, there’s so many young people there. And it’s just there is an energy there that you just can’t help but get swept up into it. We met some phenomenal people and I’m really excited to share that episode. Because it’s just a special place and it really belongs to the world. I think that’s what people don’t understand is that Jerusalem is a city that belongs to the world.
And I feel that way about New York City, like we’re not really of the United States. I live in New York, I’ve lived here for 37 years, and it’s not the United States, it’s everyone’s and everyone comes here. And I felt the same way about Jerusalem. It’s like this is for everyone. There is no need to take sides. This is a place for everyone.
I agree with you. I always can’t wait to get back again to Israel. I know people are going to want to know where do they see all of these incredible episodes? And when is season seven coming? So, tell us where is the best place to get all the updates?
On my website, and you can follow me on social media. Of course, I’m on Instagram, and Facebook and I’m even on TikTok now. Samanthabrowntravels is my handle for most of those. The show airs in the United States on TV in a place called PBS, which are our public television stations. But you can also stream the episodes free directly from my own website, which is samantha-brown.com. Season seven, which we are working on now, begins in January. So, we still have a lot of shooting to do as well as editing, but it will be launched in January of 2024.
Oh, my goodness that’s so exciting. I really appreciate with your busy production schedule that you took this time to talk to me. I really have been so inspired myself by you. Honestly it was such an honor to speak at the same show as you, the travel goddess, thank you.
Thank you Lisa. And thank you for wearing your map shirt for me. I feel very special.
Thank you so much for sharing your tips and your wisdom. And I know everybody can’t wait to catch up if they haven’t seen all six seasons already, and to see Israel and all the upcoming new cities that you highlight in season seven. Thank you so much.
Lisa, it’s been a pleasure.
Coming next season: ISRAEL
@samanthabrowntravels In Jerusalem for the very first tine! Shootint Places to Love Season 7 #travel #placestolove #samanthabrown #jerusalem ♬ original sound – Samantha Brown
I love these tips to make travel BETTER: PLACES TO LOVE: HOW TO MAKE TRAVEL COUNT
Did you miss our latest “Places to Love” Season 6 episode, where we got to adventure in Madison, WI? Check our episode page to watch and learn more about all the fun we had and the wonderful locals we met! https://t.co/8WDnlGs82i #samanthabrown #placestolove pic.twitter.com/WflICtbLLH — Samantha Brown (@SamanthaBrown) January 23, 2023
Samantha Brown is a two time Emmy Award winning Television personality and travel expert.
Over the last 20 years, Samantha has traveled around the world visiting over 250 cities in 75 countries and 45 U.S. states creating over 200 hours of engaging and informative television programming along the way.
Samantha started her TV career at the Travel Channel where over 15 years created many iconic travel series, including Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, Great Weekends and Samantha Brown’s Asia.
In 2018, Samantha moved from Travel Channel to PBS and her new show there, “Samantha Brown’s Places to Love” quickly became the highest rated travel program on public television. In 2019 she earned two Emmy awards (Outstanding Travel and Adventure Program and Outstanding Host for a Lifestyle, Children’s or Special Class Program) and has been nominated again every year since.
In Places to Love, she finds the destinations, experiences and most importantly, the people who make you feel like you belong to a place, and not just a consumer passing through.
Samantha’s fun-loving style has made her a revered and engaging television personality whose approach is less expert, less host and more a person you would want to travel with. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and 9 year old twins.
More interviews and talks with Samantha Brown
- Women’s Travel Fest Keynote Speaker 2023
- Samantha Brown in PRINT in the Jewish Journal 2023
- NYC 2023 Launch party for Season 6 of Places to Love
- 2019 interview: Places to Love Season 2
- Japanese National Tourism Organization Key Note Speaker 2018
- Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show 2016: Travel Speaker
- Women’s Travel Fest 2014 Keynote Speaker
I loved Samantha Brown’s talk in 2016 at the Los Angeles Travel Show! You can read my notes in the instagram comments ! “Be on a mission to connect with the culture…How do you belong when you travel? Be part of a new story….travel is an investment in your life!!” She ate ants, eyeballs and guinea pigs!!
LISTEN on APPLE PODCAST : MAKE YOUR OWN MAP
Lisa’s book: brave-ish, one breakup, six continents and feeling fearless after fifty, please comment below and enjoy these related articles.
Lisa Ellen Niver
Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.
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Travel Host Samantha Brown on Spending Nearly a Year at Home: Women Who Travel Podcast
By Meredith Carey and Lale Arikoglu
You can listen to the Women Who Travel podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify each week. Follow this link if you're listening on Apple News .
When we last spoke to travel host Samantha Brown in 2018, a border-shuttering, flight-grounding pandemic was nowhere on our radar. Flash forward to March 2020, and a season's worth of filming and production planning for her show, Places to Love , was canceled in a matter of weeks. For the first time in years, she's been staying put in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband and twins. “I always knew that I love to travel, but I didn't realize that it was just so ingrained in who I was,” she tells us on this week's episode. “Whether it's in an airport, or getting a meal, or someone I talk to at a hotel who helps me get to my next destination … I just love those quick spontaneous meetings with strangers. That's what I miss the most.”
In our first episode of 2021, we're catching up with Samantha to talk about how she's spent the last year mostly at home, what it took to film a few episodes of Places to Love amid the pandemic in the fall, and what travel trends we might see when we get to the other side.
Thanks to Samantha for joining us and thanks, as always, to Brett Fuchs for engineering and mixing this episode. As a reminder, you can listen to new episodes of Women Who Travel on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you listen to podcasts, every Wednesday.
Read a full transcription of the episode below.
Meredith Carey: Hi, everyone, and welcome to our first episode of Women Who Travel in 2021. I'm Meredith Carey, and with me, as always, is my co-host Lale Arikoglu.
Lale Arikoglu: Hello.
MC: We've been recording this podcast from our respective homes for the last 10 months. And while we haven't been able to travel far, we've been finding new ways to keep that traveling spirit alive. We've both been reading books as escapes, and watching TV shows filmed in our favorite destinations to tide us over. This week's guest, travel host Samantha Brown , is usually the one on the ground in those locales, telling us where to visit and who to meet, but like the rest of us, she's been staying closer to home the past year. I know Lale and I are so excited to have you back Samantha, to chat about what you have and haven't been up to. Thanks so much for joining us.
Samantha Brown: Oh, it is such a pleasure to be back with you both. 2021. It's the year of travel. We know it.
MC: The exact spirit we need on this episode
LA: Yeah, both personally and for a sort of wider brand way.
LA: Oh, God. It pains me to say it and Meredith already said it, but it's been almost a year without any major travel or really travel at all. What has it been like being home instead of being on the road, filming Places to Love and what have you missed the most about travel over this past year?
SB: Oh, wow. It's just been really rough. I mean, I guess I always knew that I love to travel, but I didn't realize just the necessity that it was just so ingrained in who I was to be somewhere else and to really learn from other people. And I think for me, what has been most difficult is just meeting strangers and just that spontaneous meeting of people and maybe only having five minutes with them, but then moving on. Whether it's in an airport or getting a meal or someone I talked to at a hotel who helps me get to my next destination or tells me where the coffee shop that I should check out is, I just love those quick spontaneous meetings with strangers. I had some inkling that they were important in my life, but none so much as I have realized this past year. That is what I have miss the most.
In terms of keeping busy, it has been lovely being with my kids. I have never spent this much time with my children. I'm always on the road. So, to be with them for such a wonderful part of their life. They're seven, I have seven-year-old twins. So, we've fully remote schooling. Being with them and just seeing them grow on a daily basis has been absolutely rewarding, but I also traveled with them extensively. So, I've missed making memories with them as well.
LA: I have to ask, how has remote schooling been?
Olivia Morelli
Gianluca Longo
Charlie Hobbs
SB: It's actually been great. The first three months of it, back in March, were devastatingly bad. It was just, Oh my gosh. Wow, I'm a terrible teacher! I'm a very good traveler. You see yourself and your children and it scares you when you realize they're getting frustrated and you cannot become frustrated. So, it's such a learning tool when you're just like "Wow. If I can't rise above this, how do I expect a seven-year-old to?" But you know, we're back and now, and we've got our groove. I think my kids are absolutely excelling. We go to New York City public school, and our public school teachers, our remote teachers, have been phenomenal.
MC: When you were talking about the things that you missed about travel and those experiences you create with your kids and the ones you have on your own... I'm really curious to know how this more grounded time has shifted any travel priorities you have for trips that you may plan in the future.
SB: It's interesting, I think way back in March and April, and even May people did the pivot, right? You saw that what you did in your life, and how you were professionally, all of a sudden, had to change completely. And I will say that even though, basically travel stopped for me, my mission behind Places to Love was only reinforced. I realized what a great place I was in and would go forward with Places to Love because my travel series is about simply connecting with people. It really puts people at the forefront of why we travel and who we learn from and, who provides these amazing experiences that, we as travelers, get to show up and have. So, for me, it was just a reinforcement that when 2021 comes and we are now back traveling again, that I wanted to make sure Places to Love still had its overall emotional through line, which is connecting with people and understanding who we are through each other.
LA: You mentioned earlier that you traveled with your kids extensively, and travel is a huge part of their lives as well as yours. How have you been finding that travel spirit closer to home and discovering places closer to New York?
SB: In wonderful ways. I would say that we have stayed, of course, very close to home and we have explored our neighborhood and our parks. We have a place in upstate New York. So, we were hunkered down there for a good six months and just exploring the woods and taking this, what I've always had, this "Just let's wander. Let's go for a walk, and see what happens" attitude. That's sort of my whole, I would say, main tactic of a traveler. I'm just like, eh, let's just see what happens. Let’s not have any plans. To really apply that to just down the road and on your street, that's where we have found our travel spirit. It's just observing things on a very narrow focus, but one that really opens us up to the incredible diversity of our own neighborhoods and our towns that we live in. That has been what's really helped us.
Also, for our big pivot here, we took our episodes and we turned them into elementary school and junior high school study guides. It's a show that airs on PBS. It's right alongside Sesame Street. So, it's appropriate for any age. So, we... I would watch it, and I would watch it with my kids and see what they pointed out or what they thought was interesting about a place, turn that into a question. So, I think finally they were like "Wait a minute, you're on TV!" They really don't know that. So, it was really great for them to sit down and watch their mom. And when we would discuss destinations, I'm like, "Well, we're going to go there. You know, we'll get to go and we'll get to see." So, I guess that travel spirit really was not just local, but hyper-local, right? And still, just really fulfilling, I would say.
MC: So, you restarted filming Places to Love in October after that pivot. What was that experience like? I know you mentioned really focusing on people and doubling down on that as the heart of the show. But, how did your approach to filming and what to highlight and where to go, how did that change when you were filming in the middle of—in a lull maybe—but in the middle of the pandemic?
SB: Yeah. For one, filming during a pandemic was the scariest thing I've ever gone back to in my life, in terms of approach to travel. Back in March, we had a full 13 episodes planned. We were able to get to Quebec City and shoot in February before all the shutdown. So, we had one perfect episode and we had 12 more that we had to cancel slowly but surely. Then, they were all gone. And I would say back in maybe July, we started to think, hey, if things start, too, we could possibly go back and shoot just a few, just so we could have some sort of season for 2021 because we knew how important travel was. That sense of like we have to get out there and really just show people, and restaurants, and shops, and galleries, and all these places of business that make a living and need travelers so desperately.
But going back was terrifying because there's a whole new level of production that was never a part of our production before. Of course, everything was the same in terms of our emotional value, the approach to the show, where we're going to find the real people, the soul of a place. Who are those people, what are they doing? But then, there was the whole layer of, How do we shoot a share? How do we maintain distance? How do we show that on a camera? How can we condense it on a camera? So, it became very specific where, usually, my talks with people that we show on camera are much like this interview. We just talk, we're having a great conversation. Because of the pandemic, I had to have very specific questions. We had to have their answers and then, we were done. Then, when we would let them go, and then, we would just shoot me asking the questions again as if that person was there. Then, we get to edit it so it looks like we've had a much longer conversation when, actually, we haven't. We've been together for maybe 10 minutes. So, that was a totally different change.
Also, the worry that I had of keeping eight crew members safe. I traveled with a crew of eight. We're coming from all different places in the United States and we're meeting in different locales and it's about their safety as well. And of course, keeping the people we're actually shooting safe. It's interesting, back in, I would say, all of the summer was just a wash for me because I thought "Hey, I'd really like to go out with my kids and go somewhere and really support the travel industry." I just wasn't seeing this concerted effort of all of the travel industry coming together saying, "These are the protocols that we're putting through. This is how you're going to remain safe." Up until maybe the end of May, June, I didn't see any of that. So, it was really seeing how airlines, and hotels, and businesses from tiny little fish shacks to art galleries were taking our personal safety. That is when I knew, I think we can do this, because even though our government isn't taking a real stance on mask wearing, these businesses are, and they're taking our health and our safety seriously. That's why I partnered with Hilton because I thought they were doing an exceptional job. That they went beyond just being a hospitality company, reached out to people like Lysol and like the Mayo Clinic, which designs best practices for sanitation of hospitals.
That's what we needed to see to remain safe and to feel like "Okay, I can go forward," because I feel like the pandemic just made us all feel like we were starting our first day on the job again. I really felt that. I felt like a newbie, but I knew that it was important. And I knew that I could be safe if I was with... if I'm flying with United and Delta has this policy and Hilton has that policy. And even this, again, this little gallery that we're showing, they have six feet and they only allow so many people in. Okay, now we can move forward. So, that was a huge level of production that we have never considered in my 22 years of traveling, that type of safety.
LA: Something that we have been talking a lot about at Traveler is how to strike that balance between inspiring people with travel and keeping them excited about travel while still encouraging them to be responsible, especially while we're midway through this second wave. How have you been threading that needle? Has it been a challenge?
SB: Well, I think for me, it was important that I did it myself, that I was out there. Even though I didn't travel that far, I went to upstate New York and we shot in Florida, as well. To see that "Wow! Wait a minute, this can happen." Because when you are stuck at home and isolated, you begin to think these things are impossible. But when I'm going to the airport, and they're taking it seriously, and when you're sitting down on United flight, when you arrive and they make the announcement that only the row that only the first row can now, get up and get their bag. And once that row has gotten up and gotten their bag, they can leave the plane. Only then can the next row stand up. These are things that I take as good! I like the fact that they're taking that serious of a step.
So, I think it's only when I knew people were taking—and corporations and businesses were taking—my safety and the security of people around me seriously, was the inspiration allowed to happen, right? It wasn't like, I'm just inspired to go, and I'm going to go. I still needed to be told, "We're going to keep your safety as top of mind. Your safety is more important than you having a great time right now.” I think people just have to adjust, and when they did, yeah, you could still have a really nice vacation.
I follow a lot of travelers who are still out there traveling, and I've really appreciated the fact that they've been out there, that they take their COVID tests. I did too. You take a test before you leave, you take a test while you're there, you take a test when you come home, you quarantine if you have to. You can take it seriously and still have an amazing time.
It's fascinating to me, for so many years I've been hosting travel shows and now I've got a mask on. Now, I'm talking to people, and I just feel like half of me has been cut off. And yet, that half still loved being with people. When I was with my shooting crew, we were so happy. We were working. When we met people, there was this distance, but we still connected even with that distance. I'm used to hugging everybody. I'm used to sitting there and talking to people for an hour and a half before even the cameras start to roll. And not to have that... But even a little point that I could have, I loved. It just reinforced how just powerful it is to be with other people. I think we've missed it a lot.
MC: When you look at what life looks like when, officially, this is ending or over, what are the travel trends that you expect us to find when we get to the other side?
SB: I think the biggest travel trend is that there'll be no more home improvement trends.
MC: We aren't thinking about our apartments! We're getting out!
SB: Exactly, I'm not going to buy anything that's going to help me cope anymore. No coping! It's just about celebrating and getting out there. I think a really positive travel trend right now, going forward, and this is just my feeling, is what we touched upon before of just staying closer to home and having this super vigilance of our locals, our local artists, our local restaurants, our local shops. How do they need help? How can we support them? I think we've realized how much power we do have as consumers to help. When we've had this idea of what it is to rally and support our local community, we're going to take that and just apply it to wherever we go, because someone else's foreign is someone else's local. And when you realize that... Who did you seek out during the pandemic? I imagine that that's what we're going to seek out when we actually do get to travel. I don't know if it's called slow travel. It's more than just like the whole local movement that's been going on in the travel industry for over a decade. It's going to be something deeper because, on top of that, we all have something very, very much in common. We've all gone through this together as an entire world, as the planet earth. I think the idea of, really, slowing down and just, instead of going to Europe and doing a city every two days and be bopping around, we're going to stay put in one place, really explore and really slow down. And enjoy a more local, uber local perspective. So, I feel like that is my idea of where the biggest trend in travel is going to be.
LA: It sounds like you were speaking personally when you describe that trend, but when you think about the way that you are already starting to travel and how you will be, once we're out of this, how do you think you are going to change as a traveler? What do you think you will be looking for that maybe you didn't before? Or, what do you think the places you would want to go might be different?
SB: I think I would... We started this with Places to Love already where I don't necessarily go to the top travel destinations. We really like to show places that people really don't think of as travel places and highlight them. Because for me, travel is everywhere and travel can meet you wherever you are. I would really like to explore that more because I feel like one thing that this, the pandemic, has taught us is people now, they would get in their cars and they would drive maybe an hour away to that lake or to that river or to that little hike. Everyone slowly realized, Oh, what I wanted to get out of travel, I could have been doing all along, and it was just an hour away. I don't need to go 10,000 miles to have a travel experience. It can be much closer to home. And because of that, I'm going to just incorporate that into my weekly life.
2021 is going to be how we slowly go back into normal, but normal will never be what we remembered it. And it's going to be exciting to see the changes that have followed because of it.
MC: Yeah, I think Lale and I have talked a lot, personally, about our first big trips back out there—with the first ones, probably, to be seeing family or long-distance friends that we haven't been able to see in a while. But then, there's the really first big trip back out there where you get to do whatever you want. You might be going very far away, or you might be going not so far, but I would love to know where you want to go on your first big trip back out there.
SB: The first big trip back out there. Oh gosh, well, I'd love to go back to New Zealand. That's my favorite place. That was like plan B. If none of this works, we're moving, we're going, we're living there, we'll bring our family. New Zealand is amazing. Maine is my real first place because that's where my mom lives, and I haven't been to the beach. I want to bring my kids there. I think the next big one will be that I already have plans to be back in Europe for like two weeks with my brother-in-law and his wife, and just being a couple and being an adult just exploring Europe, without cameras and without children. That's going to be amazing because that truly is there's no responsibility other than just to take in the world and totally savor in ways that you can't because you're on camera or you can't, because you've got a kid and you have to make sure they're not walking off the parapet of the castle. So we have already that planned for August. So, it will be really, really, really special.
LA: Talking about how you're very excited to travel as an adult—as much as you love, spending time with your kids. I think that one thing that a lot of people who have families or have a partner, have found that suddenly you have gone from having your own separate career and this sort of part of your life that is separate and yours and no one else's, to suddenly all together in one place 24/7. Has it been hard to not have that independent part of your life, which is solely your life and your travel life?
SB: It's been very difficult. I think that's been one of the most difficult things. To have a hotel to my own, right? A glass of wine to myself to wander streets I've never been on. That's to me, just the independence I have always loved. And especially, after I became a mom and had so many responsibilities in that way. There was a time where I was doing these Zoom calls in a bathroom because that was the only place that, while they were having school, I could actually conduct business. So, yeah, I feel like there's probably going to be this travel trend where it's just single parents. You give your spouse a weekend and that spouse gives you a weekend just to be by yourself in a hotel. It doesn't even have to be a luxury hotel, right? It can just have really great cable and breakfast in the morning, that's all you need. One of my favorite things to do when I travel is I have a glass of wine and I watched Scandal with Kerry Washington. I never allow myself to watch Scandal when I have kids or whatever. It's never that, I go to bed by 9. And I just love it. You get a big bowl of popcorn and take a longer bath and no one's pounding at the door. So, I think the travel industry would be wise to create little moments like that.
Again, it's not super five-star luxury spa treatments. It's just that mom needs to sleep in, and she needs someone else to deliver her meals. She needs a long bath and that's it. Then, she'll be good to go. I think there's definitely that time by yourself that you definitely need, and that's what travel... People are always like "You should do a family travel show about traveling with your family." I'm like, "Hell no! Why would I do that? What are you crazy? No way!" because I've just always enjoyed being... On that note, I love taking them, and it's really great when they're there. But Oh, boy. Yeah. You know, having that to myself, being professional and feeling I'm a professional is important to me.
MC: I feel like pre-pandemic solo travel was such a huge trend, and I feel like this will just, like you were saying, open up a market of people who maybe thought that that was not for them, but who want the break now and what solo travel offers, even if it's a staycation—or going halfway around the world. I hadn't thought about that, but that's really good point.
SB: When you think of solo, especially solo female travelers, they're of a certain age. They're either in the 20s or like in their 60s and 70s, it's never with kids. So, I would say a big travel trend will be you'll see both men and women travel on their own, but they've got a wife and kids at home and they just need a break. Definitely.
LA: I think also, the opportunity to get to know yourself again. It's sort of been such an earth-shattering year for everyone, some more than others, but you need that time to be like "All right, after this whole experience, who am I now?”
SB: Yeah. I think travel gives us that experience better than anything else. It's better than any sort of therapy. Because when you are surrounded by what you know, those are the walls and those walls protect you and they also keep things from getting to you that actually could give you an epiphany about life, right? They're protecting you, and when you travel.. And again, it's not even like you have to go to Vietnam to have this experience. I could go two hours away, and you're not surrounded by what you know. Other solutions to your problems are allowed to get in. There's a break, right? What you know isn't protecting you anymore. That's, a lot of times, a really good thing. So, I've always been an advocate of people using travel, not to tune out, but to really tune in to what's happening with you, really feel it.
So many people have been asking me, how are you doing? I'm like, "I really don't know because it's not over yet." So, maybe when it's over and I can look back in hindsight, I'll be able to really put a fine point on it, but that'll be really important for people when this is done to have that time to be like "What did it all mean?" And travel will be a part of that. It's more important than getting out and being somewhere you don't know, than anything else, I have found.
MC: Earlier, you were mentioning that there were people on social media who were really keeping you inspired and engaged. I would love to know, both for myself and for our listeners, to be able to maybe expand who they’re following. What female travelers have kept you inspired over the last 10 months?
SB: I know just from this exceptional podcast that you know them very well, but Evita Robinson . I've just always been a huge fan of hers. She did the ultimate pivot with Audacity Fest , founding Audacity Fest, which was an in-person festival, right? Then, making the pivot to making it all digital and seeing that her community actually grew. Her tribe grew during this time. So, not only have I been inspired by her of really leading the masses in that way, that she is just exceptionally fit for, but just to see where she's going to go with this, because now she's got this community. And when they are able to travel? Oh my gosh! They're just unstoppable. So, I've always found so much inspiration in her because she's really about the other. If you follow her Instagram, it's very rarely about what am I doing, it's like "How can I help the whole travel community?"
The other one, of course, is Mickela Mallozzi. I've enjoyed her IG dance lessons.
But also, when you think about travelers these days, you really have to give it a hat off to the female medical workers, the nurses, the doctors who all travel to go to other cities who needed them. We need to, when this is over—and God knows they need a break—really tap into that female traveler who didn't travel just to get a great picture of them at a precipice of a gorgeous canyon, but traveled to put herself in danger to help others. We all know the great travel industry really rallied behind these medical workers and first responders, whether it was an airline or a hotel, giving them free flights or free hotel rooms. And just this other traveler, because we travel for fun, but then, there's the other traveler. I'd like to know a lot more about them. So, there's the people who have inspired me now, but there are the people who I'm really inspired to know more of as we move on.
MC: Amazing. Evita and Mickela are both amazing women who we've had on the podcast before, so, we will link their episodes in the show notes. That was a great segway. Thank you, Samantha. And if people want to follow what you're up to and the 2021 season of Places to Love , where can they find you and that?
SB: You can go to samantha-brown.com. Every episode of Places to Love is there, available to stream.
MC: Amazing. I'm @ohheytheremere .
LA: I'm @lalehannah .
MC: You can follow Women Who Travel @womenwhotravel on Instagram and be sure to join our Facebook group and sign up for our newsletter . All of those things will be listed in the show notes. We are so excited for this 2021 season of Women Who Travel. We have so many exciting things up our sleeve. So, we hope that you subscribe and leave us some reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And we will talk to you next week.
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Watch every episode of Samantha Brown’s Places to Love
- December 2, 2019
For 20 years, Samantha Brown has traversed continents, experienced culture, and tasted adventure applying her singular brand of warmth and inclusion along the way. Her latest project is Places to Love , which airs on PBS. For the month of March, all episodes are available online.
Houston, Texas
Samantha visits one of the most diverse and underrated cities in the United States: Houston, Texas. From art cars to craft beer to soul-inspiring music, Samantha meets some of the most extraordinary people who guide her through the city’s unique offerings, like GONZO247, a graffiti artist turned local celebrity; and 2017 James Beard Award Winner, Chef Hugo Ortega.
Bern Region, Switzerland
From an Alpine Garden on an idyllic mountaintop to going deep underground experiencing the Cheese Grotto in Gstaad, biking through the waterfall covered valley of Lauterbrunnen and finally floating down the icy cold Aare River in Bern: Samantha has a most adventurous journey.
Brooklyn, New York
Samantha finds out the difference between a Brooklyn egg cream and a Manhattan egg cream when she visits Brooklyn and meets a “jerk” at a local soda fountain. From visiting the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard to sampling whiskey at New York City’s oldest distillery, to tasting unique foods at the largest weekly open-air food market in the USA, Samantha takes the opportunity to understand Brooklyn.
Shanghai, China
There is a certain mystique about the Far East, as Samantha soon discovers when she travels to Shanghai, China. Samantha visits the ancient water town of Feng Jing and she takes an Art Deco walking tour along the historic Bund, where she visits a knife and scissor shop on Nanjing Road and learns the art of paper cutting. She ends her trip with a visit to the historic Peace Hotel.
Huntsville, Alabama
Samantha has the pleasure to travel to one of the most unassuming cities in that of Huntsville, Alabama, where she gets to float in space like an astronaut, see a full-scale Apollo rocket and meets Alex McCool, a national treasure who helped put man on the moon. Samantha also ventures out to a soul food restaurant, serving arguably the best fried chicken in the South.
Vancouver, Canada
Samantha starts her trip to Vancouver off trekking beautiful Stanley Park. From there, she takes flight in a classic floatplane to enjoy a stunning tour of the city, followed by landing on a mountain lake. Back into the city, Samantha visits the unique shops of Granville Market, and gets a chance to taste the local salmon at a First Nations restaurant.
Hill Country, Texas
There is a big difference between Texas and Texas Hill Country, and Samantha finds this out quickly when she takes to the road exploring these legendary lands in search of her favorite wildflowers, gets to taste fine cuisine at a farm-to-table German bistro, and shakes-a-leg the historic Gruene Hall, Texas’ oldest dance hall.
Big Sur and Monterey, California
From Monterey to Big Sur, Samantha travels through the Central Coast of California. She learns about underwater sea life at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, visits the “Artichoke Center of the World”, dines at a Mexican restaurant serving up sustainable seafood and local organic produce, enjoys wine tasting at a boutique vineyard, and ends her trip on an electric bike ride along California’s Route 1.
Xi’an, China
Samantha travels to the ancient city of Xi’an, China. Feeling a little jet-lagged, Samantha stops off a local health clinic that has been practicing for over 500 years using traditional Chinese medicine. Along her journey, Samantha rides a bike atop the ancient City Wall, visits the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Terracotta Warriors and attends a spectacular outdoor performance.
Ireland’s Northwest Coast
Samantha travels to the Northwest coast of Ireland where she starts an epic adventure in County Donegal. She hikes up the sea cliffs of Slieve League, herds sheep on a local farm, and learns about the dying craft of wool-weaving. Topping off her County Donegal experience, Samantha visits famous Leo’s Tavern, where she meets Irish celebrity, Moya Brennan of the band Clannad.
Orange County, California
Samantha travels to Orange County in Southern California and meets legendary surfer, PT Townend, who discusses the origins of surfing. Along her journey, Samantha takes a ride to Balboa Island on the oldest privately owned ferry in the USA, learns about the vibrant Vietnamese community in Westminster, and visits the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.
Montreal, Canada
From immersive to interactive, Montréal is a city that puts on a show of sheer artistry in practically everything that this city is involved with. From hidden-alleyway bicycle tours to the French-Canadian version of Little Italy to its world famous Cirques Festivals to a distiller making gin out of locally sourced botanicals, Montréal both surprised and inspired Samantha in her travels.
Oregon RV Trip
From Hood River to Fossil to Bend, Samantha and her family take in the magnificent scenery and explore some of the most intriguing stops along the way. She also learns how to drive an authentic Model T car, and visits a real-working ranch, where she gets to herd Black Angus cattle while her husband and twins get to dig for fossils.
Hong Kong, China
Samantha strolls through Hong Kong’s Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, learns how to play the generational tile-based game, Mahjong. She visits the Kung Wo Bean Curd Factory where she learns about the process of making tofu.
Greater Palm Springs, California
Samantha visits The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens, and historic Joshua Tree National Park. She learns how to play the popular local sport FootGolf, and goes on a Mid-Century Modern tour of Palm Springs.
Lake Geneva and the Valais Region, Switzerland
The Valais Region is home to Barryland, where Samantha visits the living museum that serves as a breeder for the famed St. Bernard dogs. In Geneva, Samantha visits the historic Beau Rivage Geneva hotel, and in Nendaz Samantha takes a gondola ride to the top of the Alps.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Samantha visits the New Mexico Capitol Art Collection; hikes to the peak of Dale Ball Trail #9 overlooking the entire city. Next, she navigates the Margarita Trail of Santa Fe at the legendary Cowgirl BBQ.
Seoul, South Korea
Samantha begins her journey on a tour in Yeonnam-Dong, a re-purposed green space filled with a resurgence of diverse restaurants and coffee shops. Next it’s on to the Korean Stone Art Museum and strolls through the Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival.
Lafayette and Cajun Country, Louisiana
Samantha is instantly engulfed in Cajun and Zydeco music at the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival. The journey continues with a kayak tour through the local swamps.
Rhine River Cruise
Samantha’s epic cruise along the Rhine River includes a stop at Freiburg, Germany, which is the gateway to the Black Forest. Other stops include Strasbourg, France and the Petite France neighborhood, and the iconic Heidelberg Castle.
Naples and the Paradise Coast, Florida
Samantha’s Paradise Coast adventure includes a kayak tour in the salt-waters of Everglades National Park. She visits the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, and then meets Clyde Butcher, the Ansel dams-esque photographer of the Everglades.
Christchurch, New Zealand
Samantha experiences the revival of the once earthquake devastated city of Christchurch. She begins by exploring the Gap Filler initiatives, which are innovative installations that temporarily fill the gaps. She visits Akaroa Harbor, and then visits a local farm that protects the endangered Pohatu penguins.
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is more than a city. It’s a tapestry of tight neighborhoods, giving travelers an exceptional diversity of experiences. This city boasts resilience and a DIY spirit that’s infectious. Yes, Baltimore has overcome incredible challenges, but what should be more well-known and revered is its place in American history, and its unique brand of easy going urban hospitality.
International Food Show
With all the experiences we can have with food, enjoying a meal with others is truly one of the best– no fancy linens or fine china needed. When traveling, the opportunity to have locals share their food with us is something special. When you travel, food is used both to seek comfort, as well as to get us out of our comfort zones. Here are some of my favorites from around the globe.
Charleston, South Carolina
The Holy City certainly has quite the history, you’ll find it in its hidden alleyways and the French Quarter. Other adventures include a lesson in blacksmithing and woodworking; rice harvesting; and a traditional gourmet dinner at Revival, where the focus is on rice and other low country traditional recipes. There’s no place in the world quite like Charleston.
Budapest, Hungary
Everyone has heard of Budapest, but few can grasp its magnificence. It’s a captivating city with a confluence of history, art and music. As one of Europe’s largest cities, it boasts an exuberant energy that must be felt to be believed. It’s a powerhouse of grand experiences that range from the worldly to the local, from the deeply emotional to the joyous. Budapest is a place to love.
The Florida Keys & Key West, Florida
Top of south island, new zealand.
Samantha’s adventures on the South Island, New Zealand include a bicycle ride through vineyards, a boat ride expedition through the Marlborough Sounds, a walk along Awaroa Beach, and a helicopter tour to the peak of Mount Olympus where the Lord of the Rings was filmed.
Sonoma, California
A road trip along the Sonoma coastline enables Samantha to learn about sustainability efforts along the Pacific coast and what to look for off the beaten path. From there it’s a visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum where Samantha talks “Peanuts” with Charles’ widow, Jeannie. She also gets to meet a local wine maker’s family and learn about the famous Sonoma wine.
The British Virgin Islands
Samantha goes sailing around the historic British Virgin Islands with Capt. Lisa Roland and learns sailing essentials while at sea. During her island visit, Samantha plants coconut trees in Spring Bay, hikes through the Baths, (a Caribbean natural wonder), and experience freshly made conch ceviche from “Conch Island”. Finishing off her trip, Samantha and Capt. Lisa snorkel at one of BVI’s top snorkel sites, the Indians.
Dallas, Texas
It’s all about food and art in Dallas. Samantha samples some of the best barbecue in town at Pecan Lodge, and some imaginative chocolate at Dude, Sweet Chocolate. Then it’s off to explore the downtown Arts District strolling through Klyde Warren Park and enjoying the powerful sculptures at Nasher Sculpture Center. Of course, her visit to Dallas also includes special gift from local artist Travis Austin – a custom designed cowboy hat!
Lakes & Mountains of New Hampshire
Visiting her hometown state, Samantha arrives on Lake Winnipesaukee aboard the M/S Mount Washington and goes straight to Funspot, the world’s largest arcade. From here, she continues her tour of the Lakes Region by taking a loon-spotting cruise on Squam Lake. Samantha concludes her trip on a Cog Railway ride to the summit of Mount Washington.
Phoenix, Arizona
At the Desert Botanical Garden, Samantha takes in the stunning beauty of wildflowers and blooming cactus along the Sonoran Desert trail. Then it’s a visit to the popular Breadfruit & Rum Bar, where Samantha samples unique Jamaican dishes and carefully concocted rum cocktails. From there, Samantha heads to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Taliesin West, which served as Frank Lloyd Wright’s breath-taking winter home and architectural school
Vienna, Austria
Samantha begins her visit to Vienna at the 3rd Man Museum, where she learns about the city’s fascinating history. From there she visits the Imperial Library, part of the Hapsburg history of the city. A boat ride on the Old Danube River allows Samantha to take in the sights of this historic city before hiking up the hills and sampling wine with views of the city below.
Corning, NY & the Southern Finger Lakes
At the Corning Museum of Glass, Samantha starts off her visit to Crystal City by learning about the history of glass and why Corning is the center of the glass world. Heading to Bath, Samantha goes on a cemetery tour, get introduced to “English-cut” donuts, and discovers why the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum is a little-known American treasure.
Auckland, New Zealand
Samantha sails Auckland Harbor aboard the 2007 America’s Cup winning Team New Zealand sailboat and talks with Peter Lester, a former cup competitor, coach and current sailing commentator. From there, Samantha heads to Piha Beach where she chats with teen surfing champion, Gabby Paul, before taking to the water boarding waves herself.
Coastal Maine
Samantha takes a road trip to Bar Harbor, enjoys breath-taking views from Acadia National Park and takes a cruise through Bass Harbor soaking in the sights of Desert Island and Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. Back on the main land, Samantha learns about “junk sculpting” from steampunk sculptor, Ernie Abdelnour, samples the house specialty at Flo’s Hot Dogs, and wraps up her visit at a lobster picnic with her family at Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier.
This Post Has 17 Comments
Samantha, Simply a very quick note from long past to tell you that I do still check in from time to time, and think PBS is a perfect venue for you to re-emerge for us. I thought the Donegal episode was a delight from last year, and the Rhine River of this on an enchantment from beginning to end. It might interest you to know that Thos. Jefferson as Minister to France on his one Rhine trip (albeit in the other direction from yours) visited and commented on every single stop you showed except for Freiberg – hopped back to Paris from Strasbourg – even personally checked out that Great Wine Barrel in Heidelberg (and I think measured it). Brought home Riesling cuttings as well, but they all died… It’s so pleasant to see you over the airwaves again, and hope you continue to for as long as you wish. (Capt. Tuttle presents his best wishes to you too. He finally got to Paris last year, maybe Ireland in future, but England, always…)
The only videos I can see are the 1 minute long teasers, am I doing something wrong?
on the teal colored toolbar on top of samantha browns places to love click on blog and then video
I was watching the episode on Brooklyn. My ancestor came to Brooklyn from The Netherlands in 1660 when it was New Amsterdam. He and some others help found a village that is now around the Flatbush area and helped start the Dutch Reform church that’s still in the area
My very favorite episode was the moment in Monaco that you opened the $10 can of soda. I had a good laugh with you! You are the every-girl, Samantha Brown. I’ve delighted in your work for years and have sat in wonder watching you explore the world. I love to travel and I maintain that wonder, too. Thanks for showing the way!
I am enjoying episode after episode during my quarantine and loving every minute. Your shows have always been among my favorites. I especially love that I feel like I smile nonstop from beginning to end of each one, and often find my self laughing outloud with you. Watching you try new things in each place even when you may not “master” it really has inspired me to do the same when out and about… no longer missing the experience and enjoying it for what it is.
Shelley PS – I’m from Oregon – thank you for including us in your travels.
I especially enjoyed watching your show during this time. We actually had to cancel a couple of trips. So this was the next best thing. If I couldn’t travel, it was great seeing some of your destinations. Thanks to you there are a few I will be adding to our list. Your sense of humor coupled with your respect for the different cultures you encounter makes your show just that more enjoyable. Stay safe, stay healthy and stay adventurous.
So glad to have had the opportunity to view this series here during this time of confinement. I love your easy-going and down-to-earth style. I travel almost every summer to Europe and am hoping to return there once again this summer, but, of course, that remains to be seen. After one more summer traveling to Europe, I am planning on focusing my adventures on North America (I’m getting close to retirement age). Therefore, I like that you have featured places in our country as well as those around the world in this series. Glad to see you doing something you clearly enjoy! Thank you for just being you and for choosing PBS/Create TV.
Hi Samantha- My husband and I are working from home and “sheltering in place” in Nashua, NH- I’m 73 and using my husband’s laptop for the first time. I didn’t realize I could watch your shows on a laptop! How fabulous! Just watched Big Sur- and waiting for my hubby to join me and watch another as we have our little “Happy Hour”! S aw you at the Boston travel Show awhile ago- we love to travel…last great trip was Lake Como and Venice. A little challenging right now for all of us but just discovering tons of your shows to watch on this laptop is Heaven!! You’re the BEST!! Many thanks!
Went to Vancouver, Canada for the first time at the end of last year and I just watched the Vancouver episode and it was spot on…. it is one of the most beautiful cities we have ever been to. The one place you missed was Grouse Mountain right outside the city you take a gondola to the top of the mountain you can see a logger show, live bears, bird show a lot of hiking trails a must see..
Dear Samantha, Thank you so much for having the generosity to make many of your trips now available with on-line streaming now that we are slowly ‘sailing’ through this COVID 19 world… I am set to go to China in September, but , like so many other travelers, I am concerned that the trip may not happen… So I so appreciated seeing Shanghai and Xian through your eyes . I especially loved the kite maker, Mr Li, in Xian – how wonderful and what pieces of art those kites are that he makes ! I am looking forward to watching your program on Hong Kong, & your many other trips…. Thank you again for your generosity as a travel expert; and hopefully in the not-too-distant future, it will be safe again to travel…. Salpi Adrouny Johns Creek, Ga.
I, too, have discovered these videos of your “Places to Love” and have been watching a couple every day. Our home is in the mountains so I can’t get the PBS station here. I used to watch you all the time on the travel channel years ago and was so excited to find these on your website. You have a way of making travel so much fun. And you are exactly correct when you say it’s “especially about the people who make you feel like a part” of wherever you are visiting. You have visited so many interesting places and people and I find your shows to be very addictive. Would love to meet you in person one day as you seem like such a warm and friendly person. I tell my husband all the time that (and I’m sure you hear this all the time) I want to be YOU when I grow up! 🙂
Thank you for giving all of us who don’t get to travel but would absolutely love it something to enjoy and learn from. I travel through you! Look forward to many, many more “Place to Love.”
Lisa Virginia
I enjoy your travel shows. My wife is Hungarian and I have discovered Budapest in recent years. Your show was the best one I have ever seen on the city. It obviously inspired you and everyone who watches it. About to watch your Ireland adventure and as I am originally from Belfast and know Donegal well I am really looking forward to it. Thank you, Keith (Calgary, Canada.
i love history and culture, and how this show often shows the less familiar sights and people, such as an old woman that frequents graveyards, or a small resturant in shanghai, as well as the more known places.. there is so much in the world to hold dear and preserve, its worth knowing and respecting, understanding and appreciating.. whimsical samantha is always great, ive enjoyed all her previous series and hope they will continue after this one. chris from missouri
Dear Samantha, Thank you so much for bringing the world to us once again, and with your signature grace, warmth, sense of adventure, curiosity and kindness. The pandemic has made travel restricted or impossible for most of us. And for those of us who adore traveling it can feel quite isolating. But these programs help in an enormous way. I thank you most especially for making these available to the general public during this difficult time. Being a Canadian, it is sometimes difficult to access American programs, so this is truly a special gift.
Need to see your episode that covered Roxbury Mass and the street that shows the Connah Store. There was also a hidden bakery downstairs making fresh Mozzarella cheese. This is the episode. Thank you.
I grew up watching your show with my grandparents! We loved to watch travel shows together. They’ve traveled a lot in their lives, and I’ve been lucky enough to as well. You were were a big part of the spark and curiosity in my childhood that led me to go on so many wonderful adventures!
I didn’t know where I could watch your show anymore, so I’m really delighted to be able to watch all the episodes here!
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Veteran Travel Host Samantha Brown Says 'I'm in Charge of Who I Am' After Leaving the Travel Channel
Now the host of Samantha Brown's Places to Love on PBS, the travel expert tells PEOPLE she's taking the reins of her career
Everything about Samantha Brown 's career is "totally unexpected," she says.
After 23 years as a travel host and with 74 countries visited under her belt, Brown gets candid with PEOPLE about how she found herself globe-trotting professionally — and why it wasn't until she found her latest gig, that she felt she was truly doing it on her own terms.
"It was something that I never thought would come my way, but I fell in love with travel," she tells PEOPLE.
Now the host of Samantha Brown's Places to Love (currently airing its sixth season on PBS), the 52-year-old New Hampshire native is taking the reins of her career after fifteen years at the Travel Channel, where she got her start.
She's now the co-owner of her own production company with her husband Kevin O'Leary and the show-runner of her own series. Having more autonomy professionally, she says, feels "amazing" and "changes everything."
"I am in charge of who I am. I have all control over the show," she says of her PBS gig, which launched in 2018. "Before, with the Travel Channel , I was a hired host, and so I had no say in the editing. I had no say in what we did, where we went. And that's fine, I signed up for that. But now it's all what I want to do and all my approach to travel."
Brown adds that she now "owns every inch of footage, and that's what's amazing to me." Now that she's not just "talent," she also jokes that "no one gets me coffee" as she's the coffee fetcher for her crew. "I absolutely love it. My schedule is my own. It's been worth the hard work," she says.
On her passion project, Places to Love , Brown explores new cities through a people-centric lens. And despite attending musical theater school and waitressing in New York City for years, Brown surprisingly never realized how much of a "people person" she was until she broke bread with strangers all around the world.
"Travel really isn't about where I go, it's about who I connect with and who I meet and just understanding how special people are," says Brown. "I always thought that travel was about seeing things and seeing museums and castles and monuments, and what I realized is that just always puts you in the past. I realized with travel, I don't want to be in the past. I want to be now. What's happening now?"
She adds: "That's something that I always work to show in Places to Love . And if we do anything that's historically important, 'Well, what does that mean for the people here, now?'"
Perhaps one of the biggest moments to rock her career was becoming a mom to now 10-year-old twins, Elizabeth and Ellis, who already have an impressive collection of passport stamps, including China, Korea and 10 countries in Europe.
Brown admits she once thought having kids was going to end her career — and being away from them when she went back to work after 2 months was especially hard.
"[I gave] myself that mental break from always being perfect because when I was traveling, [I thought] 'I'm really good at traveling, and then all of a sudden you become a mom and you're like, 'I'm really bad at being a mom.' You're really learning. I wanted to go back to where I felt confident again," she says. "My job really made me feel confident as a person again, which I needed, so it was important for me to get back out there."
Having kids also made her realize that her previous advice for parents traveling with children was flimsy. "I always say that having kids was punishment for all the traveling with kids advice I gave before I had kids, because I had no idea what I was talking about. It's so different," she says with a laugh.
Brown also admits that she "embarrassingly, very rarely," takes personal vacations. Her family of four has never even had a proper vacation without cameras in tow, she says.
"Our personal vacations are literally to go to our parents' house." she says, joking that she sleeps on the floor there.
But now that her twins are 10, they plan on finally fulfilling a milestone and are "taking our first big family vacation" to London and Amsterdam. And the getaway is long overdue. "I've told my husband, 'I'd like to just actually have a real vacation.' I usually always have to have my hair done or do an interview or give a talk, which is wonderful. But just where I can just be, just let it go, I would love it," she says.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic put a wrench in her professional travel plans. But after a 6-month traveling hiatus, her crew was back to filming in October of 2020. While they extensively masked and tested, Brown says it was still "scary" since it was "before the vaccine."
"It was really fascinating shooting during a pandemic, and especially in the spring of 2021," after the vaccination became widely available. It was "a time where the whole world was just coming out from their shell and everyone felt socially awkward," she says. "Everyone was struggling. And it was a really special time because everyone was very vulnerable. It was more personal, more intimate. I always appreciated that I got to be out talking to people and being with people, even though that was kind of a fearful thing at the time."
On her PBS show, she even featured cloistered monks in upstate New York to give viewers, who may be struggling with at-home fatigue, a look into a group who constantly "isolate" and meditate. Brown recalls asking one monk to give viewers advice amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
"He said, 'Trust the silence. You feel like it's really disconcerting because we're always inundated with images and conversation. When these things happen, cracks begin to form in the foundation of who you are when you're not surrounded by all this stuff. And when that cracks open, your real person comes through that. Let that come through.' It was just beautiful," she recounts.
As one of the first women travel hosts to be widely televised alongside her male counterparts, Brown says she's proud of what she's done to pave the way for other women, while also acknowledging "we need a lot more diversity out there."
Reflecting on her over two decade-long career, Brown says she still "never thought this was going to happen."
"When I meet younger women, who started watching me when they were 11, and they were like, 'You were the only girl on TV.' It's a shock because I'm like 'Oh, I never thought of it like that,' she says. "But to be that person for people and for girls to see themselves in travel, or to realize that they could travel alone, or maybe even do a career, that has been the greatest gift — that I'm looked up to and I'm a real inspiration for other people."
While she lifts the veil behind the scenes of traveling as part of a show, Brown maintains what she set out to do at the very beginning of her career.
"I really wanted to not just be someone who showed people how to travel…but really create that connection with an audience," she says. "I knew I wanted to be different than how a lot of other people showed travel — which was more like a presenter — and really just be a best friend who you could travel with and have a great time. That's really worked for me for the last 23 years."
Season 6 of Samantha Brown's Places to Love is airing now on PBS stations.
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Samantha Brown
10 things you don't know about samantha brown.
candid headshot of samantha brown
Think you're Samantha Brown's biggest fan? Have you watched her travel the world for the last decade? Our travel goddess shares 10 things you probably don't know about her: 1: I always bring a book of poetry with me -- usually Robert Frost or Mary Oliver. 2: I always travel with a jar of peanut butter. 3: I brown bag it even when I'm flying first-class. It's my last chance to eat something homemade. 4:. I get terrible homesickness. Usually when I first wake up in the morning but only for about an hour 5: On my resume I have under special skills "professional Blimp photographer." A blimp crashed on my building in NYC on the 4th of July 1992. I was on the roof sunbathing and snapped one picture of it, which I sent to the Associated Press. Time Magazine and USA Today bought the image so I made about $300. Thereby earning me professional photog status! 6: If I wasn't doing what I am doing, I would own a little breakfast place where I would be on a first-name basis with all my customers. I would wear cute aprons and go around to all my tables with a carafe of coffee at my hip asking if they wanted "some more Joe." 7: When I was a little girl my mom would tell me the story of how I was a bear cub she found in the woods. I would sometimes search our backyard in New Hampshire looking for my bear mom and dad, worried that they were missing me. If I wasn't getting along with my sisters or parents I was certain it was because I was a bear and they were not. 8: My biggest regret is that I never did a sport in high school. I was too scared of failing. 9: I still play my favorite video game from the '80s: Galaga. 10: What I love most about travel is feeling like a fish out of water. I love being the person in the room who looks and sounds like no one else. The challenge of seeing where I fit in and how I can make a connection with people who are completely different than me is absolutely thrilling.
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Travel Expert Samantha Brown's Most Bizarre In-Flight Habit
M any habits of airplane passengers are more like rituals, such as touching the plane while boarding or clapping upon landing. However, other in-flight habits are much more annoying and intrusive than those rituals -- not following airplane seat reclining etiquette or eating something with a strong odor fall into this category.
Other in-flight habits are just plain (ahem) odd. On her official Facebook page, TV traveler Samantha Brown confessed to a bizarre in-flight habit -- she watches other people's movies. Brown even posted a photo of herself watching "Top Gun: Maverick" on someone's screen across the aisle from her. She wrote that she was "riveted" and "choked up three times" while watching the movie, even though she could barely read the captions. Even with the heightened emotions that come with plane travel , crying through a film you can't hear is a new one for us. The less said about crying while watching "Top Gun," the better.
Brown also confessed to this habit on her Instagram page. In a reel posted on her page, Brown said she can't watch movies on an airplane, but she is more than capable of watching her seatmate's movie, staring between the seats in front of her, or watching the screen diagonally across the aisle. The only type of movies she can't watch, Brown says, are violent ones. So. if you're on a flight with Samantha Brown and don't want her peering over your shoulder, watch something full of blood and gore.
Read more: Things Flight Attendants Notice About You When You Board A Plane
Does Anyone Else Do This?
Samantha Brown is not alone in watching other people's movies. Several people confessed to doing the same, with some commenters on Brown's Facebook page writing that they do it when their own screen isn't working. One commented that their screen feels too close, and another compared it to looking at food on someone else's plate, which is always more interesting than your own.
On Brown's Instagram reel, one commenter writes that they can't commit to just one movie, so they like "sampling" those around them. Saturday Night Live even has a skit about this phenomenon, showing a man with no entertainment options of his own watching a movie "catty-corner" to him before the inevitable hilarity ensues. One of the commenters on Brown's Instagram took the whole thing a step further, writing that she learned a sudoku strategy from someone playing on the screen in front of her on a plane. It's one way to pass the time on those long flights, but be wary of the whole "staring at another person's screen" thing.
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Samantha Brown is a two time Emmy Award winning Television personality and travel expert. Over the last 20 years, Samantha has traveled around the world visiting over 250 cities in 75 countries and 45 U.S. states creating over 200 hours of engaging and informative television programming along the way.
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Brown also confessed to this habit on her Instagram page. In a reel posted on her page, Brown said she can't watch movies on an airplane, but she is more than capable of watching her seatmate's ...