travel channel

It's official: Samantha Brown has the best dream job this year, according to readers in my Best of 2010 poll. Maybe it's the fact that she gets to travel around the world or how she gets to understand and experience different cultures. Her life as a Travel Channel host seems to be never ending adventure from dressing up as a geisha to almost getting mauled by a panda!

Going to the four corners of the earth has made Sam quite the travel guru so be sure to check out her tips on fighting jet lag, de-stressing while traveling, and exploring places on your own.

Remember, if you want to join in the dream job fun, tell me what your ultimate ideal career is below, and I'll be sure to include it in my In Her Shoes series!

Source

All of us have a dream job we're secretly harboring. Readers recently shared their dream jobs, which inspired this new Savvy series: In Her Shoes.

Imagine being paid to travel the world. Sound too good to be true? Well, that's actually what Samantha Brown, a Travel Channel host with a genuine curiosity and zest for life, does for a living!

SavvySugar: What makes your job a dream job?

Samantha Brown: Of course, the obvious is traveling the world. But I think more so than visiting places like China, Argentina and Europe, I really love that I get to spend time in somebody else's life. I get to see life through the perspective of a different person in a different part of the world. It’s enlightening, it’s humbling. That’s something that this job has given me — that sense of humanist and humbleness that we all need and it’s a really a gift. I can’t overstate it enough. I have the best job in the world for reasons I think people don’t even see on camera.

SS: What's your typical day like?

SB: We meet the night before, when we all kind of gather in another part of the world, and we go over the next day. We’re given our schedule, and the schedule can be amazing things — actually I’ve kept all my schedules — like: Sam meeting with geisha girls to learn how to be a geisha; 1 o'clock, Sam takes sake at a famous sake bar; 12 o'clock, Sam meets with master sushi chef and learns how to make sushi. It's a fantasy, it really is. And then at the end of the day, I absolutely crash because there’s just so much and you’re taking in so much. We shoot about 12 hours a day so by the end of that day, it’s a bit [exhausting].

To hear about how Samantha almost got mauled by a panda and more, read after the jump!

• Be inspired by this lovely Valentine's Day dessert buffet. — Hostess With the Mostess
• The Travel Channel is launching another food competition show. — Eater
• Learn how to behave better when dining out. — Chow
• In March, Taco Bell will add shrimp tacos to its menu. — GrubGrade
• A visual breakdown of the best pizza in America. — Grub Street NY
• Tips for pairing beer and chocolate. — Serious Eats
• Looking for a fun gift? Here's 200 t-shirts perfect for food lovers. — Hide Your Arms

If you can't get enough of Anthony Bourdain, know that there'll soon be even more to love. The food industry's most opinionated figure is now getting his own cartoon series.

The six-part animated web series, titled Anthony Bourdain's Alternate Universe, will reveal Bourdain's "personal and unique view of the world that lives in his imagination." It's arrived out of thin air, even beating Gordon Ramsay's animated show to the punch. The first line in the trailer below? "If you've ever wondered what really goes on inside his head, you can stop."

Actually, I haven't. I already know the bad-boy chef's tiresome schtick, and it's not nearly as esoteric as everybody thinks it is. In some sort of . . . well, alternate universe, perhaps this cartoon would make more sense. Watch the trailer and share your thoughts after the break.