Samantha Brown has been with the Travel Channel from the early days, a host since 1999. I know that her poise and fun on-camera style has inspired many to “just go”. I am no exception. Watching Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown fascinated me; this midwestern sounding woman is traveling all over the place and makes it look easy. She always carried the air of someone who wasn’t pretentious, privileged or arrogant. She was just a typical American tourist.
She inspired me to pursue a life away from my hometown; she inspired me to relax about being in the unfamiliar. We recently had a chance to hear her speak about her life as a TV host and her passion for travel. We are always trying to find fun things to do and when we caught a billboard for the Travel & Adventure Show it was a must.
After seeing that Sam Brown would be speaking there was not question when we were going. To meet an inspiration was amazing but what she had to say was even better. After all these years of being a TV host she is still approachable and sounds like she an old friend. The biggest concept she was trying to impress upon the audience was to travel your own way. There is a distinction between tourist and travelers but what does that matter as long as you are experiencing something.
Josh and I are travelers, we like to be a part of the places we visit, detest resorts and prefer to set a minimal itinerary. I am often a bit judgmental of tourist, how I feel they are doing it wrong. I know of some people who travel to another countries only to never leave a resort. I have a hard time understanding that but why should I care, it’s their holiday. It is about what you get out of it, not what others want.
Travel is also about more than just seeing the history of a place. I love going to museums but there is real value in being a part of the present. When we went to New Zealand we had the perfect mix. Visiting historic locations and museums while also being a part of local customs and eating local food. A highlight of our trip to Belize was having lunch from a street cart with the dive crew instead of going to a restaurant.
Brown did have one parting story that really struck me, once while in the middle a long string of filming (being gone for months like us), she was just craving a bit of home. I live out of a suitcase and have no home. There are times when this wears on Josh and I, that we have no place to call home. This is the hard part of traveling like we do, that lack a normalcy. There are times when we could drive into a city and see something spectacular but instead we just get takeout and do laundry. It is boring but at times more refreshing than a spa day. We travel our way.
Be a traveler or be a tourist but Just Go.
***This is part of a series of posts called “Travel Tuesday“, each covering topics unique to our lifestyle***
The Roving Van Gelders 
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