February, 2010 Archive
February 9, 2010, 6:32 PM |
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I remember getting the call from my executive producer at the Travel Channel that the network wanted to celebrate my ten years on the network. TEN YEARS?! I honestly hadn’t been counting or if I had it wasn’t that high. My own mind told me it was eight but sure enough when I did the math — ten.
And oh the places I’ve gone in those ten years, my eyes have seen things I never dreamed they would: The Acropolis, Machu Picchu, The Great Wall of China and my heart has opened to experiences I never thought I would have. Most of all my idea of what travel is and why it is important has changed completely. When I first began the European series I was focused on monuments, museums and beautiful things that showed a glorious past. But quite frankly that left me feeling pretty lonely. Although my shooting days were overwhelmed with the learning of another place (The Romans! The Greeks! The Hapsburgs!), something big was missing in my life. When the cameras stopped for the day I would just head out for a walk, what I was searching for exactly I didn’t know. I guess I wanted to find a small piece of the town, city or country I was in that I could call my own, a part of a place that I could feel intrinsically without the help of a history or travel guide to show me its importance.
And I found it.
On my walks I would naturally gravitate to neighborhoods that were far from the Champs-Elysees, or the Spanish Steps. These were the neighborhoods of just regular people and I would walk thru their parks with them as they came home from work, wander the aisles of grocery stores as they thought about preparing dinner and sit down to eat with them at their local cafés.
And I loved it.
Those walks recharged my batteries. I recognized my own life in theirs and yet also saw how it was a bit different. It may have been normal everyday life but it was in another place around the world and to me that made it extraordinary.
I also found something that I was finally good at. I was good at connecting with people, of recognizing their subtleties and appreciating them for it. I wanted to look for what made a place more human and therefore intimate, looking past a Classical, Baroque or Renaissance façade to find out what was happening now. How were the people today? Yes we all know that Michelangelo was a genius but what about that older gentleman over there roasting chestnuts by the Vatican? How long has he had his tiny cart on that corner? What do his hands look like? Has he ever seen the Pope?
For me it’s rarely the big ticket items of travel but the hidden jewels of humanity that plant tiny seeds which grow deep in my soul.
So I guess that would be my focus as I approach every place I am lucky enough to go to. I love being somewhere where I am the only person who looks like me in the room. I don’t speak the language and I barely understand what is going on but now it’s up to me to find out, it’s my job as a traveler to figure out how to connect with the people and discover their culture. I learn about them and I learn a lot about myself in the process.
I’ve also learned that travel is not a luxury but a necessity. We need to travel. We are all trying to figure out who we are in this life we’ve been given and nothing gives us that opportunity like travel. It doesn’t have to be big trips 5,000 miles away for months at a time. It really can just be a weekend trip, two hours from your hometown. Because no matter where or how far you go, travel marks a new beginning a chance to open our minds and see things in a different light.
As I write this I am 35,000 feet above the earth, I just passed the Arctic bay a few hours ago and the sky is slowly turning that orangey-pink you see in Impressionist paintings. I’m coming home from a trip to Thailand and Cambodia. It was an amazing adventure but after being gone for 25 days I am really ready to be home. I am so close that the plane and “New York” finally appear together on the flight map showing on the tiny screen in front of me. Soon I’ll see my husband of three years and my cat of 17. Soon my days of exploring 800 year old Cambodian temples and hanging out with Thai elephants will be replaced with sorting thru mail, picking up dry cleaning, meeting up with friends and lying on the couch watching reality television.
It’s my everyday life and it’s extraordinary.
Posted By: samantha brown
February 9, 2010, 5:32 PM |
Comments (4,545) |
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I remember getting the call from my executive producer at the Travel Channel that the network wanted to celebrate my ten years on the network. TEN YEARS?! I honestly hadn’t been counting or if I had it wasn’t that high. My own mind told me it was eight but sure enough when I did the math — ten.
And oh the places I’ve gone in those ten years, my eyes have seen things I never dreamed they would: The Acropolis, Machu Picchu, The Great Wall of China and my heart has opened to experiences I never thought I would have. Most of all my idea of what travel is and why it is important has changed completely. When I first began the European series I was focused on monuments, museums and beautiful things that showed a glorious past. But quite frankly that left me feeling pretty lonely. Although my shooting days were overwhelmed with the learning of another place (The Romans! The Greeks! The Hapsburgs!), something big was missing in my life. When the cameras stopped for the day I would just head out for a walk, what I was searching for exactly I didn’t know. I guess I wanted to find a small piece of the town, city or country I was in that I could call my own, a part of a place that I could feel intrinsically without the help of a history or travel guide to show me its importance.
And I found it.
On my walks I would naturally gravitate to neighborhoods that were far from the Champs-Elysees, or the Spanish Steps. These were the neighborhoods of just regular people and I would walk thru their parks with them as they came home from work, wander the aisles of grocery stores as they thought about preparing dinner and sit down to eat with them at their local cafés.
And I loved it.
Those walks recharged my batteries. I recognized my own life in theirs and yet also saw how it was a bit different. It may have been normal everyday life but it was in another place around the world and to me that made it extraordinary.
I also found something that I was finally good at. I was good at connecting with people, of recognizing their subtleties and appreciating them for it. I wanted to look for what made a place more human and therefore intimate, looking past a Classical, Baroque or Renaissance façade to find out what was happening now. How were the people today? Yes we all know that Michelangelo was a genius but what about that older gentleman over there roasting chestnuts by the Vatican? How long has he had his tiny cart on that corner? What do his hands look like? Has he ever seen the Pope?
For me it’s rarely the big ticket items of travel but the hidden jewels of humanity that plant tiny seeds which grow deep in my soul.
So I guess that would be my focus as I approach every place I am lucky enough to go to. I love being somewhere where I am the only person who looks like me in the room. I don’t speak the language and I barely understand what is going on but now it’s up to me to find out, it’s my job as a traveler to figure out how to connect with the people and discover their culture. I learn about them and I learn a lot about myself in the process.
I’ve also learned that travel is not a luxury but a necessity. We need to travel. We are all trying to figure out who we are in this life we’ve been given and nothing gives us that opportunity like travel. It doesn’t have to be big trips 5,000 miles away for months at a time. It really can just be a weekend trip, two hours from your hometown. Because no matter where or how far you go, travel marks a new beginning a chance to open our minds and see things in a different light.
As I write this I am 35,000 feet above the earth, I just passed the Arctic bay a few hours ago and the sky is slowly turning that orangey-pink you see in Impressionist paintings. I’m coming home from a trip to Thailand and Cambodia. It was an amazing adventure but after being gone for 25 days I am really ready to be home. I am so close that the plane and “New York” finally appear together on the flight map showing on the tiny screen in front of me. Soon I’ll see my husband of three years and my cat of 17. Soon my days of exploring 800 year old Cambodian temples and hanging out with Thai elephants will be replaced with sorting thru mail, picking up dry cleaning, meeting up with friends and lying on the couch watching reality television.
It’s my everyday life and it’s extraordinary.
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February 8, 2010, 9:52 PM |
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Flying into Vancouver takes your breath away. It is a utopia inspired view, a stunning mix of perfect pine tree islands, shimmering blue water and mountains whose peaks are so perfectly snow capped that it truly borders on fantasy. Why is it that I always get stuck in holding patterns in Jersey but never above something like this? 

The people of Vancouver are very friendly. It’s a genuine congeniality that you know comes from the heart and not because they have to be nice to you. I guess it’s the opposite of Paris. I had recently read an article that the Paris tourism board was spending millions on a campaign not to attract travelers as is usually the case but to convince their own Parisians to smile. Vancouver is a city often studied for its urban renewal, it should also be studied for its friendliness. On my day off I was taking the bus and missed my stop which took me over the bridge and into an area where there was no station or place to buy a return ticket, I also had no small change. I waited for the bus and when I told him that I missed my stop he said, “c’mon the ride’s on me.” (?!?!) That act of kindness sort of sums up the experience you have with Vancouverites.
When things go wrong they really go wrong. Even in Canada I am feeling the frustration of communications. I forgot my Verizon hotspot would be an added charge “abroad” and am now facing the possibility of my bill being in the thousands of dollars. I tried to access the hotel’s wireless at 15 dollars a day only to find the system could not detect my room which had me on the phone for nearly 1/2 an hour talking thru the problem with a gentleman in India. He fixed the problem and credited me two days of free wireless but then my computer acted up to the point where the screen and buttons would freeze. Making posting and responding to twitter a lengthy affair that surpassed an hour and ended with me slamming my laptop on the table. Cell phone costs … well I just have no idea. And by day four I bought a calling card since my skype would not be an option with my exorbitant Verizon and frozen hotel hotspot. The calling card is 5 dollars for 600 minutes — a virtual steal but when I go to check my messages — well I can’t. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
Tonight ends with us shooting the fireworks competition on English Bay. We were all very excited for this international competition but we had no idea that mother nature would put on a spectacle that man could never match. As the sun went down brilliant hues of color swept across the sky and saturated the earth with an orange as deep as children’s cough syrup and a saffron yellow so intense you felt like you could just open your mouth and drink it in. The lightning started and warmed up our voices with the oohs and aahs we had reserved for the fireworks display.
I will always be endeared to the city of Vancouver not solely because of its grand natural beauty but because of its devotion to swings. Whenever I walk thru a park that is devoid of a set of swings I grow slightly suspicious of the people who live there. No fun, I think — too serious. I have never grown too old to think that I don’t deserve a good swing and the sets found in Stanley Park were among the best I have ever enjoyed. Tall as a Giraffe — a serious swing that provides not just a quick back and forth but a full voyage of movement. When other adults see me they join me, too.
We are here for the upcoming Olympics of course and Winter Olympic athletes are hard to come by in July. But I get a twitter that speed skater Chris Needham tweeted that he saw me and my crew shooting at Granville Market. So I tweeted him and then he tweeted me and Voila! I got to train with the US Olympic Speed skating team!
The flight to Whistler was even more amazing than I could have imagined it to be. We flew low over Horseshoe Bay passed the Beverly Hill style homes. Then gained about 5,000 ft of elevation to get above the mt range that hid like hallowed Easter egg jewels of nature like volcanoes, buttes and age old glaciers that reminded me of Aztec homes carved out of blue ice.
I’m so excited to finally be going to Whistler. As a skier, Whistler is the talked about winter destination and everyone who ever goes there just gushes about it. It’s the summer which of course puts a slight damper on my ski plans but I love mountains in the warm weather months too. I’m always in a great mood when surrounded by mountains, my emotions can’t help but strive to reach the same height of those exalted peaks and so I always feel like I am walking on air. We don’t have a day off while in Whistler which is a big bummer but we do end up having an early shooting day so when we’re done by 5pm I race back to my room to head out for a beautiful smile inducing hike.
The next day we are shooting the Downhill Mountain biking segment. I really love being on a bike but am a little nervous about tackling the vertical ski trails. This is a serious sport here and there are just as many bikers in the summer as skiers in the winter. A serious sport calls for serious gear and I become even more nervous when I see the safety equipment I have to put on. I know I’m going to be wearing a helmet but a chestplate? Should I really be doing this? As we go down what is considered a beginner trail — Easy Does It, I think the name is — I can’t imagine going on the intermediate trails. This is hard! There’s also very little pedaling and all breaking so by the end of the ride my hands have seized up into two carpel tunnel nubs. I think I’ll stick to riding in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, where my rides usually end with less pain and an ice cream sandwich.
Posted By: samantha brown
February 8, 2010, 8:52 PM |
Comments (4,660) |
Permalink
Flying into Vancouver takes your breath away. It is a utopia inspired view, a stunning mix of perfect pine tree islands, shimmering blue water and mountains whose peaks are so perfectly snow capped that it truly borders on fantasy. Why is it that I always get stuck in holding patterns in Jersey but never above something like this? ?¢‚Ǩ¬®?¢‚Ǩ¬®The people of Vancouver are very friendly. It’s a genuine congeniality that you know comes from the heart and not because they have to be nice to you. I guess it’s the opposite of Paris. I had recently read an article that the Paris tourism board was spending millions on a campaign not to attract travelers as is usually the case but to convince their own Parisians to smile. Vancouver is a city often studied for its urban renewal, it should also be studied for its friendliness. On my day off I was taking the bus and missed my stop which took me over the bridge and into an area where there was no station or place to buy a return ticket, I also had no small change. I waited for the bus and when I told him that I missed my stop he said, “c’mon the ride’s on me.” (?!?!) That act of kindness sort of sums up the experience you have with Vancouverites.
When things go wrong they really go wrong. Even in Canada I am feeling the frustration of communications. I forgot my Verizon hotspot would be an added charge “abroad” and am now facing the possibility of my bill being in the thousands of dollars. I tried to access the hotel’s wireless at 15 dollars a day only to find the system could not detect my room which had me on the phone for nearly 1/2 an hour talking thru the problem with a gentleman in India. He fixed the problem and credited me two days of free wireless but then my computer acted up to the point where the screen and buttons would freeze. Making posting and responding to twitter a lengthy affair that surpassed an hour and ended with me slamming my laptop on the table. Cell phone costs … well I just have no idea. And by day four I bought a calling card since my skype would not be an option with my exorbitant Verizon and frozen hotel hotspot. The calling card is 5 dollars for 600 minutes — a virtual steal but when I go to check my messages — well I can’t. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
Tonight ends with us shooting the fireworks competition on English Bay. We were all very excited for this international competition but we had no idea that mother nature would put on a spectacle that man could never match. As the sun went down brilliant hues of color swept across the sky and saturated the earth with an orange as deep as children’s cough syrup and a saffron yellow so intense you felt like you could just open your mouth and drink it in. The lightning started and warmed up our voices with the oohs and aahs we had reserved for the fireworks display.
I will always be endeared to the city of Vancouver not solely because of its grand natural beauty but because of its devotion to swings. Whenever I walk thru a park that is devoid of a set of swings I grow slightly suspicious of the people who live there. No fun, I think — too serious. I have never grown too old to think that I don’t deserve a good swing and the sets found in Stanley Park were among the best I have ever enjoyed. Tall as a Giraffe — a serious swing that provides not just a quick back and forth but a full voyage of movement. When other adults see me they join me, too.
We are here for the upcoming Olympics of course and Winter Olympic athletes are hard to come by in July. But I get a twitter that speed skater Chris Needham tweeted that he saw me and my crew shooting at Granville Market. So I tweeted him and then he tweeted me and Voila! I got to train with the US Olympic Speed skating team!
The flight to Whistler was even more amazing than I could have imagined it to be. We flew low over Horseshoe Bay passed the Beverly Hill style homes. Then gained about 5,000 ft of elevation to get above the mt range that hid like hallowed Easter egg jewels of nature like volcanoes, buttes and age old glaciers that reminded me of Aztec homes carved out of blue ice.
I’m so excited to finally be going to Whistler. As a skier, Whistler is the talked about winter destination and everyone who ever goes there just gushes about it. It’s the summer which of course puts a slight damper on my ski plans but I love mountains in the warm weather months too. I’m always in a great mood when surrounded by mountains, my emotions can’t help but strive to reach the same height of those exalted peaks and so I always feel like I am walking on air. We don’t have a day off while in Whistler which is a big bummer but we do end up having an early shooting day so when we’re done by 5pm I race back to my room to head out for a beautiful smile inducing hike.
The next day we are shooting the Downhill Mountain biking segment. I really love being on a bike but am a little nervous about tackling the vertical ski trails. This is a serious sport here and there are just as many bikers in the summer as skiers in the winter. A serious sport calls for serious gear and I become even more nervous when I see the safety equipment I have to put on. I know I’m going to be wearing a helmet but a chestplate? Should I really be doing this? As we go down what is considered a beginner trail — Easy Does It, I think the name is — I can’t imagine going on the intermediate trails. This is hard! There’s also very little pedaling and all breaking so by the end of the ride my hands have seized up into two carpel tunnel nubs. I think I’ll stick to riding in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, where my rides usually end with less pain and an ice cream sandwich.
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