Samantha Brown's Places to Love

-Hi, I'm Samantha Brown and 2025 marks my 25th year traveling as a career in front of the camera as your travel host.

In that time, I have been at the helm of 14 series, many specials, helping to create over 260 hours of travel television.

And I'm still going.

Right now I'm in Rotenberg, Germany, shooting an episode, and this marks my 11th trip to Germany.

And I'm not saying that to boast, only to be in awe of a job I never thought I would have, let alone get to keep.

Here's a look back at 25 years of travel and having one of the best jobs in the world.

I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world, and I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

"Samantha Brown's Places to Love" is made possible by... -Oceania Cruises is a proud sponsor of public TV and "Samantha Brown's Places to Love."

Sailing to more than 600 destinations around the globe, from Europe to Asia and Alaska to the South Pacific, Oceania Cruises offers gourmet dining and curated travel experiences aboard boutique hotel-style ships that carry no more than 1,250 guests.

Oceania Cruises -- Your World.

Your Way.

-Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn and travel in the United States and in more than 100 countries.

From exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy, we've introduced adults to places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

-The number one question I get is "How did you get that job?"

And the short answer is I had to audition.

-Holding on Samantha Brown.

Samantha Brown.

-I'm Samantha Brown.

I'm from Newcastle, New Hampshire, which is an island on New Hampshire.

People don't even think we have any seacoast.

We actually do.

And I live on an island off of it.

But before I even got that audition, I had graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in musical theater.

I moved to New York City and started auditioning for roles.

I pounded the pavement and waited on tables for eight years until my first big break came -- a national commercial for a cable company.

I was their fictitious spokesperson, Wendy Wire, and the writer for those commercials happen to be a friend of the producer that was asked to make a new series at the Travel Channel called "Great Vacation Homes."

The writer recommended me as a potential host.

That production company is Pine Ridge Film & Television, owned by Jerry and Cindy Smith.

They flew me down to Jacksonville, Florida, and had me host a mock tour of their office.

-Now this is -- this is a diner.

If you don't know.

If you weren't -- Uh, if you're, I don't know, still alive.

Everyone knows this is a diner.

Listening to my voice, I can hear I'm really nervous.

Okay, now we really need to get down to business.

Now, this is where it ends.

We're not sitting at the table anymore.

Nothing spread out.

We're sitting on the big chairs.

Get the comfy chair.

You know, the great thing about stools is you could be sitting in a diner and, you know, you're having a good time with your soda jerk or the short-order cook, but you want to check out who's come in.

Maybe a cute boy.

So you just kind of, you know, kind of look around.

Okay, maybe he was cute.

Then you start -- Then you start your flirting, and there's a whole flirting.

So, uh, I would really like the chance to be able to do it.

I got the job.

"Great Vacation Homes" was greenlit.

The very first episode we filmed was in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I was 29 years old and thrilled to be traveling throughout the United States.

This whole home is designed to give you the feeling like you've stepped back into the 11th through the 15th centuries.

Except, of course, the bathrooms.

They're modern.

And look -- padded walls.

This is so accommodating for the times, for those bad hair days where you just want to throw yourself against the wall and collapse into a puddle.

But that's just me.

I saw some incredible homes, but I never expected this.

A fantastic vacation home.

Wait a minute.

Ohh.

A fantastic vacation home.

This one was in the Florida Keys and had a 25,000-gallon indoor swim tank.

Remember when having a pool with a diving board was enough?

I thought the series would be six months of filming, and then I'd be back waiting on tables, pounding the pavement.

Little did I know that Pine Ridge and Howard Lee, my first executive producer at Travel Channel, would become instrumental to my career and this would be the start of 15 amazing years there.

This is the Aspen Vista Trail, and it's actually really important in my career, because I came here on that very first episode I was shooting to clear my head because I was completely overwhelmed, right?

I had been a waitress, and now all of a sudden I was in a TV show where I had to talk to people and hold a conversation and be funny and be entertaining.

And then I had to talk to a camera.

Like, how do I talk to a camera?

Do I talk to the lens?

Do I talk to the cameraman?

Like, where do -- where do I put my hands?

And, like, I just -- I just didn't know what to do.

And so I came to this trail, I was actually driving and I thought, "Well, that's a beautiful place to stop."

And I just went for a long walk, and I began to talk about what was going on to the trees.

And I just started saying, "I don't know what I'm doing.

Like, I don't think I'm supposed to be here."

And, um, they listened and everything worked out.

And every time I come to Santa Fe, I come to the trail, the Aspen Vista Trail, and I talk to the trees.

So where you see.

a forest, a beautiful forest, I see thousands and thousands of life coaches.

Hello.

How's it going?

I know, it's been a while.

Hey, everyone.

"Great Vacation Homes" aired in 2000 and did well, but the critique was, well, no one could stay in any of these homes.

They were all privately owned.

So let's take the formula of "Great Vacation Homes" and apply it to accommodations you can stay in.

And my next series, "Great Hotels," was born.

We made three seasons and a total of 90 episodes of "Great Hotels" here in the United States.

People started recognizing me on the street.

They would say, "Hey, you're that -- you're that hotel girl, right?"

And that they loved it when I jumped on the fancy hotel beds.

Ohh.

Now, these were predominantly five-star resorts and boutique hotels which I had never stayed in before.

And I thought, "Well, this is -- this is pretty awesome."

But the challenge became, "Well, how do I show each hotel lobby, room, or bathroom differently?

You know, how do I make this less lifestyles of the rich and more fun for everyone?"

And so I used humor.

Oh, that's nice.

This lobby is so incredible.

You should have seen my face when I first saw it.

Actually, I think we have a clip.

So when's the earliest I can get a cup of coffee?

-24 hours a day from room service.

-When's the latest I can have a cocktail?

-2:00 a.m. -If I called guy a week ago and he hasn't returned my call, should I call him again?

-No.

He's had his chance.

It's time to move on.

-Whew.

He's good.

I'm on the balcony of one of the three duplex suites here at the hotel.

This is 44th Street.

We're in between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

Really, it's quite incredible.

[ Horn honks ] Knock it off!

I'm talking here!

So rude.

[ Horns honk ] Okay.

That's it.

Let's go inside.

I'll show you the suite.

I've had enough.

People always ask me, "What is your favorite destination?"

And listen, I've got a few around the world.

But when it comes to the United States, it's Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I loved the history, the culture, the energy.

Every magical thing ever said about Santa Fe is true.

And so, of course, I wanted to come back here to celebrate my 25th, have one rocking margarita or two, as well as stay at what still remains one of my favorite hotels in the world.

The Inn of the Five Graces, where I came for "Great Hotels."

It was a hotel unlike any I had ever been to.

It was first meant to be a showplace of rooms settings for Sylvia and Ira Seret's antique store here in the city.

But so many people actually wanted to stay in the showroom that the couple thought, "Why not turn it into a small inn?"

-This hotel really embodies that creative, artistic spirit of Santa Fe, and it's an aesthetic that Ira has developed over 50 years.

-This hotel is probably the only hotel in America that's handmade.

The whole hotel is handmade, which is really remarkable in this day and age.

-Whether it's in wood and carved wood or carpets and textiles and just combining all these elements of handmade art that really come together beautifully.

And it's been a family affair as well.

And, you know, Sharif has a great sense of art and design, and he combines that with a great business sense, really.

-The Five Graces, they're rooted in Eastern tradition.

You have the ability to enjoy through every sense, and we feel with all the textures and layers, you really get to enjoy that here at the hotel.

-The series that put me on the map was "Passport to Europe."

We are about to experience one of the greatest controversies in Paris.

In fact, 300 of its writers, artists, and intelligentsia drew up a petition with this to say, "We, the lovers of the beauty of Paris, do protest in the name of French taste and endangered French art and history against the useless and the monstrous Eiffel Tower."

What do they know?

I'm in Rome, Italy, at the ever-popular Spanish Steps.

These were built in a Roman Baroque style in the 1720s, and are so named for the nearby Spanish embassy to the Vatican.

But believe me, nobody here cares about that.

For tourists around the world, this is the place to sit down.

We've been running all over Rome.

We need a breather.

Are you guys brothers?

Fratelli, si?

Oh.

-[ Speaks Italian ] -They all look -- -[ Speaks Italian ] Who needs a sister?

I think I found where the locals go.

I spent two years here.

52 episodes, 21 countries.

And this time really represented a big sea change in my career.

Because people began to follow what I did.

They would come to these places and do what I did, and that was totally unexpected.

I just thought I was entertainment.

Heck, I didn't even have the Travel Channel for the first five years I was on it.

I was I didn't even think I was on television, right?

Let alone people were following my own itinerary.

I can even pinpoint the exact episode, the exact scene where it changed for me.

It was the Prague episode, and my director found a man who made strudel and sold it out of the window of his home.

I have a little cheat card.

I'm learning to speak Czech just to order strudel.

[ Speaks Czech ] -[ Speaking Czech ] -[ Speaks Czech ] -[ Speaks Czech ] Apple?

-Apple.

-Apple.

Apple.

-Apple.

Yes, yes.

Oh, my gosh.

That's one piece?

And it says it is 33 crowns, which right now is a dollar for that.

Isn't that incredible?

[ Laughs ] Ohh.

Oh, my gosh.

That is amazing.

I wonder if there's an ice cream truck around here.

When that show aired, the message boards -- this is before social media, now -- just lit up.

Everyone wanted to know where is that place?

And this really stood out because we had done plenty of great food scenes before.

But Susta Strudl resonated, and I realized it was because it was not in a touristy area.

A bit of a challenge to get there.

The payoff was excellent, but most importantly, it was a part of the everyday lives of the people living there now.

It was normal to them, but felt extra special to us.

And ever since then, as we start planning out an episode for "Places to Love," we ask ourselves, where is that scene here that is going to have a strong emotional impact with the viewer?

And our code for that is "What's the strudel?"

And I'm happy to say Susta Strudl is still there, and 20 years later, I am still working with the same director and editor.

After "Passport to Europe," we changed our focus to Latin America.

I am now back in Costa Rica for the first time in 18 years.

I first came to this beautiful country to shoot a series called "Passport to Latin America."

I got to spend an entire year traveling all throughout Central and South America, and it was while I was in this part of the world that I learned the most valuable lesson, and it changed my perspective of travel.

You see, when I was in Europe, I thought that travel was about seeing things, checking things off the list, spending all your time in castles and cathedrals and museums and monuments, and that's all wonderful.

But those things just always keep you in the past.

But when I came here, I was like, "Wow."

There's not this, like, intense itinerary of must-sees.

And because of that, I just naturally relaxed.

And I spent more time with the culture as it was today.

I was no longer in the past, and that simple act of being in the moment just gave me a much more personal, more intimate experience with travel itself.

And I have never been the same traveler since.

In Honduras, for example, I was shown by Garifuna women how to make cassava bread.

And you beat it.

-[ Speaking Spanish ] -[ Speaking Spanish ] -But siempre feliz, s?

Siempre feliz.

[ Conversing in Spanish ] -We got to wait till it browns, so while we wait, we dance.

While I was in Latin America, I really embraced the idea of letting things happen instead of making them happen.

Well, now what are we going to do?

My first glimpse of Machu Picchu, and it's completely socked in by fog.

And it's okay, because I got all day today and we got most of tomorrow, so we're just going to wait.

Who brought lunch?

Look at that.

Oh, wow.

It's just beautiful.

When I'm on camera, there's so much that you see, right?

You see where I am, what I'm doing.

But what you don't see is the camaraderie of my crew.

We are a team who works together.

I went to school for theater, so my attitude has never been, "I am the star," right?

We are this amazing ensemble.

This coffee's cold.

-I'm sorry, Miss Brown.

-And it goes beyond being an ensemble.

We are a family, and we look out for one another.

-Oh!

Cut!

Continuity.

Thomas, please hurry.

We're behind.

-It's the continuity, Sylvia?

-Yes.

-We needed the coffee cup.

Okay.

It's hot?

-Yes.

Mm-hmm.

[ Key clicks ] -[ Sighs ] The cold coffee again.

-So my attitude has never been, "I am the star," right?

We are this amazing ensemble.

And it goes beyond being an ensemble.

We are a family, and we look out for each other.

Oh, boy, do we look out for each other.

My crew has always had my back and I theirs.

In my Travel Channel shows, we would be away for 22 days at a time, 14-hour workdays, rain or shine, in the hot sun to 10 degrees below zero.

My cameraman, Stan Murphy, would say, "This is a marathon, Samantha, not a race."

And it's hard physical work too.

A lot of heavy gear that needs to be moved internationally.

But with my crew, they've always had a strong sense of artistry and a belief that what we get to do matters.

After Latin America, we kept going.

I did many other series that covered parts of China, the rest of Asia, a show called "Great Weekends," and many other specials along the way.

When my time with the Travel Channel came to an end, I was sad.

I had started my career there.

I spent 15 years of my life hosting shows for them, but I also understood I now had a great opportunity to forge my own path, to no longer be hired talent of a network, but to own my work.

I knew I still wanted to travel and to host a travel series, but I honestly didn't know what that would look like or where was it going to air?

And then in 2016, while I was a keynote speaker at an Oregon tourism event, I met Kara Wilson.

Kara is this force of grit and goodness.

And when my family and I arrived, Kara, who was in her wheelchair, picked up Ellis and Elizabeth and took them each on a joyride.

We hit it off immediately, and I learned that she's seventh generation Oregon Trail family, her family owns a cattle ranch, and the home she grew up in was ordered from a Sears Roebuck catalog and was delivered on a Wells Fargo wagon in 1910.

And I asked, "So what brings you to a tourism event?"

And she said, "Well, you can stay in what used to be my family home.

It's now a bed and breakfast where guests can help me and my family on cattle drives."

And that was my a-ha moment.

I want to do a travel show where people like me know people like her exist.

That's it.

That's the new show, connecting travelers not only to destinations but to people.

So my husband and I, we started our own production company to make a new series on public television.

-We knew public television was where we wanted to be because its audience is endlessly curious about the world.

They travel extensively and they value excellent storytelling.

-Yeah, and that's what makes "Places to Love" different from any other travel series I've hosted.

It's not this fast-paced itinerary show where we're just, like, plowing through attractions.

We spend time talking to the locals and letting them tell me and you their stories.

-And we all learn about that place through the local perspective.

-[ Clears throat ] The mission of "Places to Love" is to keep being curious about our world through each other, curious about each other's culture and history.

But we also focus on who gets to tell that history and what perspective hasn't been listened to.

There's food, of course, but also how does this place create community?

And who are the people who are actively strengthening it in small but powerful ways?

-I'm Father Isaac Slater.

I'm a Trappist monk at the Abbey of the Genesee near Geneseo, New York.

-I'm Hanan Amashesh, and I'm an architect and urban planner here in East Jerusalem.

-Kia ora.

My name is Arekatera Maihi.

But to my friends, I'm known as Katz.

-I'm Joyce J. Scott, a visual and performing artist.

-When we travel, we are looking to have deeper, more meaningful experiences, and we like to show those meaningful experiences through destinations that range from bucket-list places that you need to plan and save years for to easier-to-reach destinations that you could travel there next weekend if you had the time.

Here is the Neptune Fountain.

See, there's Neptune right in the middle.

He's surrounded by four female figures, and they represent Germany's four most important rivers.

You know, to be honest, I wasn't, um, overly excited about coming to Berlin.

Interested?

Absolutely.

But I couldn't get my handle on this city.

I couldn't place an ideal Berlin in a nice little box, wrap it up with a bow for my complete understanding.

And in the end, it's the not knowing that really appeals to me.

And that's even more true today.

I love not knowing.

I love to show up in a city or a country and just say, "Show me what you got," right?

This isn't a studio.

We are really in the place.

And of course we can control a little bit of it, right?

I've got cameras and I've got sound, hair and makeup.

I've got a director.

We have permits to be here.

We have to -- -We don't.

-We don't have a permit to be here?

Okay, wrap it up.

Okay.

But what I'm just trying to say is we do all of that so we can just be free, right?

We're not in a studio.

We're really in a big city having the time of our lives.

This is my third time to Berlin, and this city just keeps getting better.

It's just magic.

And that's what travel is about.

Okay, let's pack up the cameras and go.

[ Laughs ] I swear, 99% of the time we do have permits.

We always have to have permits.

So when my career began, the number-one question I got was, of course, "How did you get that job?"

Now, 25 years later, the question is, "How has your job changed?"

And for me, the biggest change I've seen in myself was that I really thought travel was about seeing things, you know, the greatest hits, the exclamation points.

And now, 25 years later, I really appreciate the commas.

Yeah, the commas of travel allow you to slow down and experience not only the seeing and the doing, but the feeling as well.

And it's what I recommend to you that the next time you travel, don't just put all of your focus on this long list of must-do's, but instead focus on how do you want to feel?

And always ask yourself, what's the strudel?

-For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

"Samantha Brown's Places to Love" was made possible by... -Oceania Cruises is a proud sponsor of public TV and "Samantha Brown's Places to Love."

Sailing to more than 600 destinations around the globe, from Europe to Asia and Alaska to the South Pacific, Oceania Cruises offers gourmet dining and curated travel experiences aboard boutique hotel-style ships that carry no more than 1,250 guests.

Oceania Cruises -- Your World.

Your Way.

-Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn and travel to the United States, and in more than 100 countries, from exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy, we've introduced adults to places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

-This is my 25th year this year.

-No.

-On TV for 25 years.

It's like, "They had television then?"

-You started when you were 5?

-Yeah.

Thank you.

Yes.

I did.

I was a child prodigy.

Yeah.

Let's get a picture.

-Oh!

Well, yeah.

I mean, this is like the highlight of Germany so far, which probably isn't a good thing.