One of the questions I’m asked the most is “How exactly did you get this job anyway?”

Short answer: I auditioned.

Long answer: I grew up participating in theater and wound up graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in musical theater. As most acting hopefuls do, I moved to New York City and spent 8 years auditioning for roles while waiting countless tables. My big break came when I got a national commercial for a cable company in the role of Wendy Wire. A writer for that commercial was friends with a producer at the Travel Channel who just so happened to be creating a new show.

That show? “Great Vacation Homes.”

My very first job for “Great Vacation Homes” was in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico, and to this day, that destination has a special place in my heart. I was 29 and thrilled to be traveling around the United States and peaking into these extravagant homes. One in the Florida Keys even included a 25,000-gallon indoor swim tank! And while I thought it would be six months of filming and then back to a life of waitressing and auditioning, Travel Channel and PineRidge Film and Television thankfully had other plans.

While people enjoyed “Great Vacation Homes,” there was one big issue. They were all privately owned and not open to the public. So instead, we pivoted to places viewers could actually stay, and “Great Hotels” was born! For 3 seasons and 90 episodes, I visited the type of 5-star hotels and boutique resorts I’d never dreamed of staying in growing up. People started recognizing me on the street, and I became known as “That hotel girl.”

The series that really catapulted my career was “Passport to Europe.” For two years and 42 episodes, I traveled to 21 countries. It was during this show that I realized people were following what I did and where I went. At the time, it hadn’t even occurred to me that people would watch for travel advice. I just thought I was entertainment!

Shifting from Europe, I then spent a year traveling through Central and South America to film “Passport to Latin America.” It was here that my entire perspective on travel shifted. While in Europe, it was all about checking off a list and sticking to an itinerary. Travel was all about keeping you in the past. But Latin America was completely different. There’s no intense itinerary of must-sees, and as a result I could relax and spend more time in the culture as it was today. I’ve truly never been the same traveler since.

One of the things I wish you could all see is behind the camera and the camaraderie of my crew. We’re a team and a family and have always looked out for each other. Often we’d be away for 22 days at a time with 14 hours work days – rain or shine! As my camera man, Stan Murphy, would say, “This is a marathon, Samantha, not a race.”

After “Passport to Latin America,” I made many other shows and specials for the Travel Channel. When it came to an end after 15 years, I was sad, but I realized I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I no longer had just to be hired talent for a network… I could own my work. The only problem? I knew I wanted to travel and host, but I had no idea what that would look like. That was until I was a keynote speaker at an Oregon tourism event and met Kara Wilson. We hit it off the moment she took my twins on a joyride in her wheelchair, and I learned all about her life, including the bed and breakfast she runs from her family’s old ranch.

Meeting her is when a bulb went off – I wanted to create a show where people like me could know people like her exist. It would be a show not just focused on destinations but on the people who make those destinations worth visiting.

The question I get a lot these days is how has my job changed? For me it’s how travel has changed overall. I once thought travel was all about seeing things – the exclamation points of a trip. These days, I really love the commas of travel. The moments where you slow down, allow yourself to just wander, and chat with people you otherwise would never have a chance to meet.