Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2010

Photo courtesy of TRAVEL CHANNEL

For most of us, getting paid to travel the world is a pipe dream. For Samantha Brown, host of the Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown’s Asia, it’s a reality. Celebrating her tenth anniversary on the program, Brown recently made her first trip to Japan—an odyssey she’d dreamed of ever since writing an essay on the country back in the second grade.

“I’ve always been fascinated by Japan,” she says while sitting down for a chat at a Tokyo hotel during a short break in her hectic schedule. The New York resident admits she was captivated by a land so far away from her own, one where society is based on the time-honored traditions of discipline and patience, “unlike in America, where everything has to happen now.”

As the host of a travel show, Brown is often just thrown right into the mix of everyday life in foreign countries. Such an experience would prove daunting for many people, but it’s exactly the kind of situation she relishes.

“What I love about travel is when you’re in utter chaos,” she says. “A lot of people think Japan can be a hard place to visit because of the language barrier, but honestly, it’s been surprisingly easier than I thought. The people are really lovely here… and, they’ve got warm toilet seats!”

During her visit, Brown made a trip to Kyoto, where she tried her hand at making tamago-yaki at Nishiki Market, drinking sake at a local bar, and shopping for a secondhand kimono. She even learned a thing or two about traditional hospitality from a real-life geisha. Then her producers thought it would be fun if she dressed up in full regalia and went out on the street to see if people would mistake her for a real geisha and take her photo. They did, she says.

And what about trying to navigate through a country where you don’t speak the language? No problem.

“Even though you don’t know all the words, people here see you’re trying: Ohayo gozaimasu, arigato gozaimasu… anything with gozaimasu and I’ve been OK.”

In fact, Brown says she misses the challenge of communicating in a foreign tongue now that so many people all over the world speak English. So how does one stay off the beaten path in this day and age?

“Never forget you have your own instincts,” she advises. “When you arrive at a new destination, go out for a walk in the morning. Stop by a local café and hang out with the regulars. When I first started my job, I was excited to see the big-ticket items, like the Coliseum in Rome or the Vatican.

But after a while, I started to miss something.”

The time she spends with locals has other benefits as well. “When you start traveling extensively, it can get pretty lonely. To combat that feeling, I just started walking. I would walk to a park or a neighborhood to see where people work. I found that I was really good with people, even though we didn’t share the language. The same things I had in common with Americans, I actually had with other people, whether I was in France or Amsterdam.”

Brown says the most rewarding part of her job is the opportunity to spend time as part of someone else’s life.

“I love the everyday experience. Sure, the Great Wall of China is a must-see, but I’m just as interested in the guy roasting peanuts on the side of the street.”

Speaking of which, Brown admits to a fondness for peanuts—so much so that she always takes a jar of peanut butter along with her. Call it her “American duty” to educate the world about such a delectable food.

“I mean, it goes with anything: bananas, crackers, even just your finger,” she says. She recalls that when doing a show in Greece, she made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for her crew, who had never heard of such a thing before.

“Travel isn’t just about checking things off your list; it’s about making connections with people,” she points out.

For more info, see www.travelchannel.com.