21 Samantha Brown Quotes That Will Inform Your Travel Near and Far
Samantha Brown gets paid to travel the world. She’s been to 62 countries for her job. Brown is a travel host, and when she was recruited by the Travel Channel in 1999, she wasn’t exactly sure what that job entailed. An international travel novice when she began her travel hosting career, Brown learned on the job. Twenty years later, she has major television acclaim and 250 cities under her belt.
Brown hosts “Places to Love” on PBS, which premiered in January 2017. Prior to her own show on PBS, she hosted The Travel Channel’s “Great Hotels,” “Girl Meets Hawaii,” and “Passport to Latin America,” among others.
What strikes me about Brown’s travel intuition is that she seems to sniff out the best of every destination she visits with ease. Brown’s itinerary will never be packed with the must-see sights, like the Louvre, Park Güell, or the London Eye. Instead, she wants to get to know the locals — what they eat, what they do on the weekend, and how they live.
Samantha Brown quotes about travel will give you a taste of that — and her quotes are packed with tips and hacks. For the traveler who loves to understand the very essence of each new city they visit, here are 21 Samantha Brown travel quotes to remember.
Samantha Brown Quotes about Travel
“I think you need to see a place for what it is, not what you project onto it. Let the place breathe a little, you may enjoy it more.”
“Travel can be anywhere, it’s not measured in miles.”
“But overall, I’m grateful that I get the opportunity to see first-hand that people, no matter the country, are generally kind and they don’t hate Americans. We’re going to be all right as a society.”
“When we meet people who are exceptional at what they do and learn how hard they’ve worked to get there, all we want to do is support that effort and make sure that it thrives.”
“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.”
“Simply knowing how to say ‘Hello,’ ‘Please,’ and ‘Thank You’ in somebody else's language goes a long long way.”
“Robert Frost was right. To take the ‘road less traveled by’ does make all the difference.”
“Once I got a surfing lesson from a Rabi who told me the strongest point of the wave is just when its about to crash, so it's best to dive under and wait for it to roll over than to keep getting beaten up. I thought that advice would work well in real life too.”
“One thing that we’re all guilty of is we never recognize our own state as an interesting place to go.”
Samantha Brown Travel Tips
“One of my tips for travel is that everyone talks about going off the beaten path, but you really don’t have to go off the beaten path—just kind of one block over.”
“I always travel with a teacup, like a porcelain teacup, because I travel so much, and I get really tired of unwrapping plastic off of paper cups in my hotel room. I just want to start my day real.”
“Do one thing at the same time, every day, such as going to the same, local coffee shop for breakfast, rather than hitting every single one. That’s when you become part of the local scene, and feel the ebb and flow of a place better. It can be a glass of chilled rosé at the outdoor cafe every afternoon. Whatever it is, you feel a part of the local experience, and also, it lets your brain rest. Get off the itinerary, and experience the pure joy of the experience.”
“I brown bag it even when I'm flying first-class. It's my last chance to eat something homemade.”
Samantha Brown Quotes About Specific Places
“New Zealand proved to be a phenomenal country filled with an everyday kindness.”
“Latin America really changed my perception of travel and how it’s the intimacy of it that makes it so powerful.”
“I’ve always wanted to see the Aurora Borealis. I’d like to go to Finland to do that and stay in one of those round glass yurts.”
“I love living in New York City. I feel like I can say with some authority that it is the best city in the world, and Brooklyn is a place that has total international exposure and yet it has this community, neighborhood feel to it so it’s really the best of both worlds.”
“I’d be visiting historic sites throughout Europe, but not really getting to know the people. It wasn’t until my first trip to Latin America that I discovered that traveling is more about being in the moment by being with people of different cultures.”
“The most beautiful men in the world are from Spain.”
“Latin America didn’t have all the pomp and circumstance of Europe. They didn’t have 10 museums. They didn’t have the block after block of gorgeous architecture. It just had people. And how they live now.”