Emmy-winning travel expert Samantha Brown is constantly on the move. The host of Samantha Brown’s Places to Love on PBS, which recently kicked off its seventh season, spends more than 150 days a year crisscrossing the globe exploring cities big and small.
We caught up with the Brooklyn resident while she was on a train to find out about the Midwestern city that wowed her, her favorite airports and the destination she thinks about daily.
Where should people travel this winter?
Our very first show is in Darwin, Australia. Any part of Australia is great this time of year. It would be a last-minute trip, but maybe this is a good time to plan for next year. It is summer, so it’s a perfect time to head down, and it’s just a phenomenal place.
If you haven’t made any plans yet for winter travel, head to some of my favorite places, like Puerto Rico and Jamaica. They are easy to get to, lots of flights. I love New Hampshire — that’s where I’m from. The mountains of New Hampshire are beautiful this time of year for skiing and winter sports.
Is there a destination that surprised you?
There are places that could be special, but they’re just untapped. One of those was Madison, Wisconsin. I loved it. It was a beautiful, laid-back city right on the water with a lot of Native American history as well as a great lifestyle. I appreciate those destinations because they’re not the destinations people expect.
As we hear about travel becoming overcrowded and everyone’s going to the same places, I think travelers are looking for those destinations that give them that sense that they’ve been somewhere really nice and special, they’ve relaxed but without the masses. Maybe it’s more affordable because of this.
If it was a country, Wisconsin would be the fourth-largest cheese-producing country in the world. The cheese there is off the charts, and there are many places you can enjoy it.
But also, they have this whole different eating culture called supper clubs, which were established about 100 years ago. Anyone can go, even though it is a club. It’s a restaurant with a more clubby feel, meaning we go to a special room to have a cocktail and then maybe go to the dining room to have dinner. And there’s this sense of a more unique dining experience than you’ve ever had.
As travelers, everyone is food-centric. This is a very different way that [Wisconsinites] have inhabited that food space. And we went there during the winter as well, and I love winter destinations. We understand why people want to escape winter, but I like to enjoy winter, and this was a place right on the lake that’s frozen. It’s such a unique place and a unique time. It’s a way to look at a city that we might hear about all the time and never understand the depth of an experience you can have.
Do you have a city that you find yourself wanting to return to again and again?
Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’ve been there four times, shooting different episodes. I love it because it’s this confluence of American, Native American and Spanish history altogether. The margaritas are phenomenal. Art is everywhere, and it’s accessible. Whereas in New York City, where I live, an art gallery may seem intimidating to go to.
Speaking of that, they have the capitol building, which has one of the largest collections of art — over 900 works — in Santa Fe. It’s beautiful and open to the public.
What travel trends are you seeing for 2024?
We’ve gone to places that we felt more maybe pressured to visit because we had to make up for lost time [during the pandemic], and those places might have been beyond our budget, expensive and busy. People are done with that and are traveling now exactly the way they want to. They’re not being influenced by influencers as much. They want to go where they feel more comfortable. We’re going back into a more personal space of travel.
On the receiving side, hotels and restaurants that for years were able to raise prices, lower their amenities or what they offered, and still expect people to show up, are going to be in for a rude awakening when they realize people are researching their places. [Travelers] want what they can afford and what that money that they’ve spent preciously on is supposed to give them. They’re going to be very aware of the times that these hotels and restaurants shortchange them.
What have been some of your most memorable travel experiences?
For this past season, we were in Jerusalem, and that was mind-boggling amazing. Twenty-five years of travel experience and I have never been to a place so overwhelmingly beautiful, so important, so powerful, so in conflict. That is quite easily the most incredible city I have ever traveled to and hope to return and explore more.
I never want to only say, “You know, travel someplace that is 10,000 miles away.” But those powerful experiences are because you’ve gone to a place where you’re not surrounded by anything familiar, and you are left to your own sort of vulnerability and are a little more raw, and therefore we kind of keep in a more powerful experience because of that. I was able to be in China for a month in 2007, and it’s a trip that I still think about almost daily in terms of how I want to experience other destinations, and how we open ourselves up to people we don’t know, a language we are intimidated by and embrace the place for what it is.
Is there any place that you still have on your travel bucket list?
Oh, so many places. The world just gets bigger, not smaller. For my bucket list, I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights in Finland.
I’ve only been to Cape Town in Africa, so I would love to explore anything on that continent.
I’d love to go back to Mexico City. That was one of my favorite cities in the world. People are tuning into what makes that such a special city. I haven’t been back in 10 or 12 years, so I would love to return.
I know you love airports. What are some of your favorite airports?
My favorite airport is Tampa. It is the best airport in the United States. I’ve been flying through Tampa for once a month for 15 years, with a slight break for COVID. But it’s always been such an easy experience with the flow of traffic, how they’ve done the architecture in terms of keeping people moving, crowd control and then amenities. They have the best restaurant, Columbia Café, which is Cuban, in the airport. I eat there every time.
You always leave on time and arrive early in New York City because the weather is so nice. It’s always been a pleasurable experience.
I would say the second favorite is Changi in Singapore. It’s overwhelming. It’s almost like Las Vegas in an airport. There are what I call side streets in the airport. Instead of taking the main thoroughfare, you can go on the side and find Zen gardens, koi ponds, little waterfalls and seating areas where you can stretch out and get a sleep in. It’s incredible. The last time I was there, I had a three-hour layover, and I still had to run to make my plane.
What do you pack in your carry-on luggage?
I always pack Pinky Balls, these hard rubber pink balls. You get them in toy stores. When I get to my hotel room, I use them to massage down my back. If you lay on them, you can roll out all the kinks. You can roll them down your back, down your legs. You stand on them to work out your arches. They are how I work out all my sore muscles.
I like to travel with my own food because I’ll be tempted to get Burger King like everybody else. And I always have with me — even now on the train — a solid battery pack to recharge my phone. It’s the size of a brick, and I don’t care it’s heavy. I have enough juice to charge my phone three or four times.
What do you want people to take away from Places to Love?
For me, Places to Love shows the effort that it takes to create experiences that we as travelers get to show up and have. It’s a reminder that behind every meal and bar that you go to and dance at, the people have made that possible. When you understand their effort to create something special, that creates the soul of a place. That’s what you are tapping into as a traveler.
The greatest lesson that I hope people learn when they watch the show is to reach out to people, to make connections, to talk, because it’s something we’re losing in this world, being able to communicate with others. Travel is where we do that best. It’s where we are most open to experiences, different people and cultures.
Stay tuned for our 2024 Star Awards announcement on February 7, 2024.
