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SINGAPORE : From the exotic cities of South America to the urbanite haunts of Europe and the beach escapes of the Caribbean, travel host Samantha Brown has done it all, and in style for the past ten years, it's no wonder many say she's got the best job in the world.
Dubbed the "travel goddess", Brown's journeys into the best loved and off-the-beaten track destinations, as well as her warmth and charm, have won her the hearts of viewers around the world.
"I am simply who I am and we just hope that attracts people to the show. My focus has always been to spend time in other people's lives and I feel people really respond to that," she said.
"Just to know that other people around the world are interested in how you travel is so flattering."
But the Dallas native who studied musical theatre did not set her sights on becoming a travel host. Like many struggling actors, she moved to New York to pursue a career in theatre and spent ten years waiting on tables before she landed an audition for a job as a travel host for the Travel Channel.
The 40-year-old, who is in Singapore to shoot a new series about Asia, has since hosted several series including "Girl Meets Hawaii", "Passport to Europe", "Passport to Latin America", and "Samantha Brown's Great Weekends".
Though she's chalked up an impressive resume, not to mention stamps on her passport, during her ten years as a travel host, she doesn't consider herself a travel expert.
"I never wanted to be a travel expert and I still do not consider myself a travel expert," she said.
"I am an everyday person and if I go to these amazing places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, places that are so exotic to so many people around the world, I just want people to know if I can do it, they can do it. They can have this experience that I am having too."
And to take that experience up a notch, Brown advises travellers to put down their maps for at least a day and do whatever drives you.
"Just wander and let your own sense of discovery guide you through whatever city or place you are at," she said. "Because so much about travel is that it is a new beginning and it is a new start no matter where you go in the world and we want to let ourselves really breathe in that experience."
But as fun as jet-setting and travelling for a living sounds, it isn't always a bed of roses - exhaustion is part of the job. Fortunately for Brown, she feeds off the energy of the people she meets, and for other times, there's caffeine.
"You just tap in to their energy and you become so interested in people that they help me through it a lot," she said.
These days, when she visits a new place, she doesn't see herself as a tourist but a traveller.
"The difference is the tourist spends time in the museum checking things off their list, and I slowly evolved more into loving the everyday of somebody else's life," she said.
"When someone who is Western comes to the East, it's a completely different experience so even what you have for breakfast and how people take their coffee become fascinating, and that's what I really enjoyed most, just getting to know everyday people in these extraordinary places."
So fascinated she was with Chengdu, China, and its teahouses where patrons can get their ears cleaned while sipping tea that she decided to give it a go.
"They have those long… skewers that you may put a satay on and they clean your ear and you have never stood so still in your life," she said, describing the experience.
"It's something I would do in the privacy of my own bathroom and they just do it out while they are drinking tea and there's hundreds of people around... but those are those great moments that you get to experience, something you would never do where you come from."
Catch Samantha Brown's new series "Samantha Brown's Great Weekends" when it debuts on Discovery Travel and Living (StarHub Channel 16) in Singapore on March 5.
- CNA/il
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