We caught up with Brown at a hotel on Tremont Street, on a break from her filming schedule.
Q. Did you always love to travel? Did you travel with your family as a kid?
A. I went with my family to Cape Cod and to Old Quebec. In college, I never thought I'd be able to travel. I didn't have the money to study abroad. My job is better than I can fantasize.
Q. Before getting this job, where was the most far-flung place you visited on your own?
A. Paris. In my early twenties I did a greatest-hits-of-Europe tour.
Q. Tell me more about "Passport to Great Weekends." How is it structured?
A. Each episode has a theme. We're not giving a tour of an entire city. For example, it's not all of Boston - it's a part of Boston. I love Kelly's in Revere Beach because everyone can go there. It's accessible. I want to show that travel isn't an elitist activity.
Q. Have you ever balked at a destination slated by the producers?
A. I'll go anywhere. For this weekend series, we looked at a map of the United States and picked the "greatest hits" cities like New York and Chicago. Then there's what I call "the B side" - lesser destinations like Brooklyn and Cody, Wyo.
Q. When the shoot is done, do you ever find the time, or the desire, to explore on your own? Like, have you ever seen an interesting street or a shop that's not on your agenda and said, "I have to go back there," and then you have?
A. That's very rare in this series, because we're concentrating on weekend getaways. In Europe and China, I had a day to explore on my own. I would wander a city, like Lyon, with a map tucked in my back pocket, though I wouldn't really look at it. I'd walk for five or six hours. I like to get to know a city on its own terms.
Q. So, serendipity is a factor in the way you travel?
