I cannot tell you how excited I was when I learned that Samantha Brown was the keynote speaker at the TBEX (Travel Bloggers’s Exchange) Conference I was signed up to attend in Huntsville, Alabama. I loved her “Passport to..” shows and all the other specials she recorded. I made notes when we watched the show, or saved the recordings on DVR until we could finally go to the places she described. She was living my dream life; what Oprah Winfrey described as “having the best job in the world”: she traveled for a living and adventured around the world.

It’s no secret that I idolized her. Also bought her line of luggage (in orange) and imagined living a life like hers.

Which she shared with 600 travel bloggers at the conference.

She described narrowly missing her TV audition because she was moments away from missing her flight. She stood on the tarmac, crying and imploring the pilot to let her on. If her background in musical theatre ever paid off, it was at that moment.

She got the job and entered millions of people’s living rooms through the Travel Channel. But the days were long. Travel is exhausting. And as much as she loved it, she is now happy to be producing her new travel show herself: Samantha Brown’s Places to Love, a 13-episode show that will air on PBS in January, 2018.

Places to Love will give her the freedom to explore less-trafficked cities in the world and discover what life is like there for the locals. She’ll try to understand what it’s like to belong to that place; what makes it special enough for people to choose to be there.

I can’t wait for her new show to air. The perky blonde television travel host is back, and she is traveling her way this time!

Any ideas on often-overlooked cities Samantha should consider?