What 35,000 Hours of Travel Taught Samantha Brown About the World—and Herself

Brown’s path to travel television began in an unlikely place: musical theater. After years of waiting tables and honing her skills in comedy and improv, she was offered a hosting role. It wasn’t love at first flight.

“I honestly didn’t think I was that good at what I was doing,” she admitted.

It wasn’t until filming in Latin America—where there were fewer must-see monuments and more everyday moments—that her approach shifted. Without the pressure to tick off sites, she focused on conversations and community.

“I loved just being in the moment, being with people as they were that day,” she says.

It was then she realized the heart of travel was less about landmarks and more about shared humanity.

Nowhere is that spirit more alive for Brown than in airports. Far from a necessary evil, she sees them as a “fascinating intersection of humanity,” where strangers from every walk of life converge briefly before scattering to different corners of the globe. She advises travelers to treat their arrival terminal as reconnaissance for their departure: find the good food, scope out security, and take note of play areas or quiet corners. Her number one hack, though, is deceptively simple—

“Base your getting to the airport on the boarding time of the flight, not the departure time,” says Brown.

It’s one of many tactics she uses to reduce stress and shift focus toward enjoyment.

Despite her decades of experience, Brown remains acutely aware of how intimidating travel can feel, especially for those going it alone. She’s a vocal advocate for solo journeys, particularly for women who feel held back by fears around safety or social norms.

“The world is a much nicer place to solo travelers because you don’t have that partner in crime. People open up to you more,” she says.

Brown stresses the importance of starting slow—day trips, domestic cities, or group tours that allow for some independence. The goal, she explains, isn’t to conquer solo travel but to build confidence through it.

That same sense of grounded exploration informs her current work highlighting lesser-visited regions of the United States. Brown and her team have been filming along Route 66, from Illinois through the Texas panhandle, uncovering layers of American history often overlooked by coastal narratives. In one episode, she interviews a 90-year-old barbed wire museum curator in Texas who reflects on the tool’s use in both war and immigration policy. These conversations, Brown says, are reminders that real depth often exists off the beaten path.

Travel, to her, is both a mirror and a challenge.

“Even if it’s a bad experience, you just think, okay, how do I do that better next time?” says Brown.

In a world where many people feel increasingly disconnected or overstimulated, she believes travel offers something essential. “We have to understand that when we’re home, we’re surrounded by what we know—and what we know is a comfort. But it also creates walls,” she says.

Those walls come down the moment you get lost in a city, strike up a conversation in a new language, or miss your train but discover a great café instead. That’s the kind of experience Samantha Brown chases—not for the perfect photo, but for the person you become in the process.