Jessica Gee, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BUCKET LIST FAMILY TRAVEL: Share the World with Your Kids on 50 Adventures of a Lifetime
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[0:09]I am an author, my latest is blank, pub date march first and novel.
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[0:32]Jessica Gee is the author of National Geographic Bucket List Family Travel.
[0:38]Share the world with your kids on 50 Adventures of a Lifetime.
[0:41]Jessica began the popular YouTube channel, The Bucket List Family, with her husband,
[0:46]after planning to travel the world for five months with their two young children.
[0:49]Eight years and another kid later, they visited more than 90 countries around the world
[0:53]have grown a following of nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers and 3 million Instagram followers,
[0:58]and continued to find ways big and small to add to their lifelong travel bucket list.
[1:02]The Bucket List family has been named Travel Influencer of the Year 2 years in a row,
[1:06]by the American Influencer Awards, and nominated for Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Award in 2023.
[1:13]After buying an 80-year bungalow in Hawaii, they have a permanent base for their three children
[1:17]for the first time in half a decade, but they continue to explore new destinations
[1:21]from Alaska to Bali as often as they can.
[1:24]For more information, go to the Bucket List family website.
[1:27]Welcome, Jessica. Thank you so much for coming on Moms. Don't have time to read bugs to
[1:31]discuss. Bucket List Family Travel. Share the world with your kids on 50 Adventures of a Lifetime.
[1:36]Congratulations. Thank you.
[1:40]I watched when you were like so emotional opening your bugs and on your birthday and I love that
[1:45]so much when you just see an author just like step into it. It's so exciting. So was it just
[1:51]amazing that moment? I was hoping that would be the moment it felt real. I feel like it still
[1:58]doesn't feel real, but it was a very special moment to have. I think as moms a lot of times you
[2:03]don't have something to show for all your hard work. So to have worked the last four years
[2:08]on something that I'm like, look, I did this. I was thrilled. Yeah, it is really nice.
[2:14]And to be like, yeah, kids look, I worked on something and like you can now hold it too.
[2:17]I know. And you're in it. I'm on bed and not dinner and it's not laundry and it's not, you know,
[2:23]some intangible in the house. So okay, so for those who are not, first of all, familiar with
[2:31]Bucket List Family Travel as the brand and the whole thing, talk a little bit about that and
[2:36]how the book became an outgrowth of your brand. Yeah, well, back in 2015, my husband and I
[2:44]we took off on some travels. It was at a point in our life where we get it. My husband had
[2:48]started a company. He started, he had an app and he sold it. So we came into some money. You know,
[2:52]we're, I don't know, I think we were 28 or something 29. And we didn't know what was next in life.
[2:56]So what we decided to hold off buying a house or settling down and do a little bit of traveling.
[3:02]And those were the famous last words. So four months of travel turned into three years full-time
[3:06]travel. Now we're almost eight years later and almost 200 countries with our three kids in tow.
[3:13]So we share everything on social media, Instagram and YouTube. And about four years ago in 2020,
[3:19]we got an email from National Geographic. And we had been approached a few times by publishers and
[3:26]which just wasn't very interested. And then when National Geographic came around and you know,
[3:30]pitched me on this idea of having a very visual book, I was sold immediately. And then you know,
[3:36]being tied to the National Geographic brand was an honor and a dream of mine.
[3:41]Wow. I love that story. In the book, you talk about the journey of, first of all,
[3:47]the sale of scan to Snapchat. And I worked at an internet company in 2001. Wait, no, 2000.
[3:56]It was called idea lab and they made all these different companies. And one of the ideas that the
[4:00]founder had was a company called scan where we would scan barcodes and all this stuff. And it was
[4:05]so early. And nobody was like, why would anyone look at the barcodes? And of course, it like
[4:09]came and went in like two minutes. And I remember telling people, I worked for scan. They're like,
[4:13]what? Why? So when I read this, and it's like, and then 10 years later, he made scan and sold
[4:18]it for millions of dollars to Snapchat. I'm like, oh my gosh. Seriously. How funny. That's
[4:25]interesting. Yeah, it was his name was Bill Gross, the founder of idea lab. But anyway,
[4:29]it wasn't my idea or anything funny. So anyway, so, and then he was so unhappy working,
[4:34]sort of in a nine to five job, this opportunity presented itself. And what I found really
[4:39]interesting is that from the outside of it, he had a plan that you were getting sponsors and
[4:44]you were going to work with brands. You're going to subsidize the travel. And there was a way to make
[4:50]this dream a reality and also like a brand and that he started Instagram and YouTube from the start.
[4:55]And it was very intentional. It's not like I started traveling and then we realized, hey, we have
[4:59]a concept. So tell me a little bit more about that and how using a sort of content from your life
[5:06]as can be this type of business and how you're like the poster child for that.
[5:10]Well, and in 2015, influencing wasn't quite a thing. It was just at the start of it. There
[5:18]were a bunch of mommy bloggers that was really big. So especially traveling and just wasn't a
[5:22]thing. Garrett was really forward thinking, I think, and we took off and we were leaving.
[5:28]We went to outro retailer, just a big trade show and Salt Lake City to be in Salt Lake City.
[5:34]And we went there and Garrett just hustled and he told everybody, what we were doing, we were taking
[5:38]off on these trips and he said, you know, if you want to give us some of your products, then we'll
[5:42]take content or take photos of it. And, you know, just give you the photos or we'll share it on
[5:46]our Instagram and cool places all over the world. And so that was the pitch initially. And then
[5:51]over time, it actually really evolved into what it is. For me, on the other side, I
[5:58]wasn't necessarily in it for a business. I was, I was just on a family vacation. So it took me
[6:02]a good time to come around. But my background is in marketing. I wanted to do advertising and
[6:08]product placement in movies. So that was always my dream job, you know, putting Reese's pieces in
[6:13]ET or putting the, you know, the bond car. I thought that would be like the coolest job. And now I
[6:17]just do product placement in my own life. So it was a good match when it came to Garrett's design
[6:22]scale. And he quickly picked up photography and videography. And then I had the business side of
[6:27]things and the marketing end. And it worked out really well. And honestly, I think so much of
[6:33]our timing was really, really, really great. I mean, there's so many other families now. And
[6:39]quickly after we left doing the exact same thing. But I do think our timing was quite impeccable.
[6:44]Amazing. What have you learned that like the average mom going on the average chip at home can
[6:51]take away and make her trips better? I think realizing, I think even just going on trips,
[6:59]I think a lot of times moms are myself included, you know, you don't want to go certain places
[7:04]because you're afraid of how your kids will behave. But at the end of the day, my kids going
[7:08]to throw a tantrum at the grocery store and they're going to throw it, you know, at the steps of
[7:14]the Eiffel Tower, you know, so kids or kids wherever they are. And that's what one of the things
[7:18]that I've learned. And so just the importance of getting out and seeing things, you know, it's
[7:23]okay to, you know, get rid of the comfort zones and the routines and to just try something new
[7:29]together and experiencing the world together has been such a blessing for us.
[7:34]Do you think it's also helping them develop the sense of empathy and place in the world and all
[7:40]of these like intangible 100% all of the things being more open minded and seeing how people
[7:46]live and not everybody's the same and everybody finds happiness in their own with. Anyway,
[7:50]there's so many, like you said, intangibles that that our kids have experienced that I'm so,
[7:54]so grateful for and so many great things can come from traveling and show the world and different
[8:01]cultures to your children. Do you ever feel like I just want to stay in bed like under the covers
[8:06]and just not go anywhere today? Maybe a little bit. When we go when we're at home, you know,
[8:12]we have a house in Hawaii now with our home bodies. Don't explore our islands. I mean, we do a
[8:17]little bit, but you know, I think probably people think that we're out doing these hikes and doing
[8:21]all these beach, you know, like when we're home, we're very much like, okay, we want to be home.
[8:25]But when we're out and about where we're cruising, love them. When you thought about putting
[8:31]the 50 destinations in this book, how did you narrow it down? We put out a world map. I had a gal
[8:37]help me. Her, we call her named Gina. We called her my book Dula. And she helped me lay everything
[8:42]out. And I had my few places. I had maybe 20, I had maybe 30 places that I was like for sure for sure
[8:49]and then the others were kind of filling in the gap with other, you know, just to make sure there
[8:52]was a really nice bread of places from all over the world South America, Africa, Australia, Europe.
[8:58]And were there any destinations where it looks good here, but really there were secret things
[9:03]going on that made it like a little less pleasant than then you might project or no.
[9:08]I think at least everything in the book that I shared genuinely are incredible places that I would
[9:13]highly recommend. There's other places that I might not return to, but you know, and also sometimes
[9:19]like it depends on the circumstances, you know, like I was pregnant for a good chunk of our travels.
[9:24]So like when I think back to some of those places, I get a little nauseous, but that's because
[9:28]but everything in the book, I genuinely highly recommend those destinations.
[9:34]How have your kids felt sort of being part of essentially like a movie of their lives,
[9:39]like a reality show of their lives as they've grown up like and now these gorgeous pictures of
[9:43]them in this book, for example, and just letting everybody get to know them. Have they
[9:48]realized yet that not everybody knows everybody else's kids the way that people know your kids?
[9:53]I don't really know any better. I remember years ago we were at just a hotel pool and my daughter
[10:00]Dorothy thought that everybody had videos of their lives and she kind of made this friend
[10:04]and she was like, you should watch my videos. Can I watch your videos? And she didn't realize
[10:08]that not everybody had a dad who documented their entire life. But they're starting to
[10:14]understand it a little bit more. You know, Manila, my middle child, he found out, you know,
[10:19]what a Google, sorry, what's it called? Like a YouTube play button. Like when you hit a million
[10:23]subscribers or something like that, you get some plaque, which we have and just put it away and
[10:29]some closet. And Manila was asking Garrett if we had one and Garrett was like, I don't
[10:35]know, buddy. And he was like, you'll get there someday dad. Like we've tried to keep them a little like,
[10:39]you know, under the blanket of how big we are and how much people actually might know who they
[10:46]are. I love that. You said in the end of the book that not that many people that you don't really
[10:51]have in bucket list anymore and that of course there are a couple of things you want to do and
[10:55]you always are open minded and all of that. Is that true? Like where, where do you still want
[11:00]to go? Like where do you want to go next? And, you know, can we really run out of places we want
[11:04]to go? I mean, there's really a yeah, I don't have a physical list anywhere, right? That's
[11:11]what I said in the book that I'm a fraud. There is like an ever-growing list, the more I travel
[11:15]Garrett and I've gotten really into wildlife. So a lot of our places now are we want to see the
[11:20]orangutangs in the wild. We want to see panda bears in the wild. We want to see a tiger in the wild
[11:24]Garrett wants to swim with the orcas in Norway. So a lot of our travels are kind of like taking
[11:28]off those things. You know, and I'm really interested in seeing a lot of festivals and cultures
[11:32]and going to holy in India and going to the running with the bulls, like just stuff like that that
[11:37]I think the list just kind of keeps going on and on and the more you travel and more you talk to
[11:41]people, the longer your bucket list gets. After being exposed to all these other countries,
[11:48]do you ever look at sort of the chaos here in the United States right now and say like, well,
[11:53]maybe we should move to XYZ place? Yeah. Yeah. That's happened a bunch. You know, when we first
[11:59]took off for our travels, I think we were just very naive Americans and not necessarily
[12:05]know that a bad way, not bad, but also not good. You know, you're taught at a young age,
[12:10]America's the best, you know, and everybody loves America. And then as soon as you go out of the
[12:15]country, you're like, oh, no, people don't necessarily want to be you or they, you know, our
[12:21]countries and shambles, which it is. So there have been a few times we actually applied for
[12:27]visa or New Zealand. They have a really cool program for entrepreneurs, investors, and business
[12:31]people. And you can apply and get a three year visa. And then in the end, you can get to the
[12:37]citizenship. So we applied. We got in. We were getting moved to New Zealand. And then I got pregnant
[12:41]with my third and I was like, New Zealand is just too far. It's just, I think God purposely put
[12:47]the most spectacular place on the planet, just a little bit too much out of reach. So not
[12:52]everybody will move there. But yeah, that's definitely come across our, our plates is the idea of
[12:56]maybe we go somewhere else. Do you do a lot of reading while you're traveling? I do a lot of audio
[13:01]books. Yeah. And what types of books are you drawing to? Um, it just depends. Sometimes I'm very
[13:06]much into the fiction and just want to have an escape. And then occasionally I'll listen to more
[13:14]like podcasts on like church topics and, you know, health topics and stuff like that. Amazing.
[13:20]Yeah, I guess it's not, it's not as easy to carry around all these books on your back.
[13:25]No, no, I wish. But now that I'm home, I'm starting to accumulate a whole lot more. So it's
[13:29]good to have a bookshelf now. That's amazing. How do you brands work with you? Like, how have you gone
[13:36]from walking around a store and like soliciting invitations to being like an official travel influencer?
[13:43]Like, how does that work? Do you get management? Or like, let's say somebody out there is like,
[13:47]I want to do this too. How does that, how does it work? Well, for us, I think Garrett and I have kind
[13:52]of always been until freaks. So we have done everything on our own for a while. Just recently
[13:57]a couple of years ago, we did hire a gal who helps manage and helps me go through contracts and
[14:01]negotiations and stuff. And it's just been a lifesaver. But in general, if you want to get started,
[14:06]you just start creating content. You start making things and start showing people what you can do.
[14:10]And then, you know, trying to grow your audience and naturally brands will start coming along.
[14:16]And you can, you know, early on that you'll do stuff for trade. You'll get some free swimsuits
[14:21]and then you post a picture. And then down the road, you know, and it's earlier nowadays,
[14:26]I think brands are a lot more respectful to people in their time and their talents. So people
[14:31]you can charge earlier on if you're a quality content creator. And now, yeah, we still have brands
[14:39]come along and reach out and want to work with us. And then other times, we reach out to them and
[14:43]things just happen naturally. And that's always my favorite. You know, we have a really great partner
[14:48]with me for my book tour called Just Ingredients. And they are at everything in everything health and
[14:53]very clean ingredients. And I had done this podcast about a month ago about my mental health. I shared
[14:59]about some of my anxiety and my own depression that I've been having. It's been some of the last
[15:02]few years and how this brand has helped me. And it wasn't like a sponsored thing at all. I was just
[15:06]like, I've loved this, this lady who teaches all of these incredible things about health. And then
[15:11]they reached out to me and we're thrilled that I love their products. And now it's like a super natural
[15:16]beautiful partnership that I have from my whole book tour that I'm like super excited to share about
[15:21]because I love it. So that's the best when that works out when you just start sharing products that
[15:25]you naturally love and use all the time. Amazing. Do you have any regrets from any of these
[15:31]tips you took? Something you wish you'd done or? Oh, that's a great question. I think any regrets
[15:36]would just be just trying not soaking it in enough. You know, now I'm looking back at how fast my
[15:42]kids grow and how sometimes I was, you know, probably just so worked up in logistics and details
[15:49]and planning and stressed out on travel days, you know, like if I could just go back and tell myself
[15:54]to breathe and enjoy every moment, I would. Me too. I mean, that's a good parenting advice,
[16:02]traveling or not, right? All the chaos. Having worked on this book, what advice do you have for
[16:08]aspiring authors? Oh, I think advice. For me, I think the thing that caught me most by surprise
[16:15]and maybe it's because I didn't necessarily go into this one today. I want to be a writer,
[16:19]but I was so impressed with how much I knew. I would sit down to write and it would just
[16:26]come out and I was so proud of myself. I was like, you know, I just see myself as such a normal
[16:31]mom. And then when I started writing all this, I was like, wow, I accumulated a ton of knowledge
[16:37]over the last eight years and I was just so happy how easy that was. So I think just being
[16:45]proud of yourself and what you know and what you can share and your ideas and your creativity,
[16:48]I was really stoked with how easy it actually was for me to write. I took my nine-year-old son
[16:56]loves travel already. He spends all this time on sites. He sends Google polls so that we can
[17:02]decide as a family where to go next and he planned our whole itinerary to Japan. And finally,
[17:07]I was like, you know what? Let's just do this. Let's just go and do his itinerary. And we did.
[17:12]and it was amazing. And he was like, beaming the entire time. Like, it was just so cool.
[17:18]That's amazing. And that's been on my radar the last couple of months. We're going to do that
[17:22]next. I'm going to have my oldest plan the trip and she will be for Elshulu. Great job, too. Did
[17:27]your son love planning it? He loves it. He loves it. Yes. And he's good at it, you know.
[17:34]Next stop, he really wants us to go to Australia and I would also like to go to Australia.
[17:39]He wants to go back to Japan. He loves Japan. But Australia is on both of our lists. But somehow,
[17:43]it's only him and me and the whole family. So I'm like, well, let's just somehow you and me.
[17:47]Good. I mean, sorry. Go to Australia. But after we went on the flight home, I realized I had learned
[17:54]so much that I never would have known. And like, we had taken a guide on one or two of the palaces or
[17:59]whatever. And I was like, I should just tell people all the things I've learned. And I spent half
[18:04]not half the flight, but hours on the flight homes are riding up. And now still, people are like,
[18:09]I printed out your whole thing and brought it with me to Japan. Thank you so much. And I'm like,
[18:14]this is so cool. How we all just, we can share this knowledge and like improve people's experiences.
[18:19]And that's just sort of what you've done and blown it out of the water. Well, and it's so fun.
[18:24]How much people genuinely love to talk about their travel, talk about their trips. You know,
[18:28]like, I'm, you know, we're in Nashville now and people are so thrilled and excited to give
[18:33]me their tips and tricks. So yeah, it's really nice when you can pull up itineraries or suggestions
[18:40]and get those from all over the world. I love that. Do you have more books coming? We do have more
[18:44]books coming. Yeah, we've got some books coming. I guess I can't even say. We haven't announced it yet,
[18:50]but yes, more books coming. Excellent. Anything else new in terms of big projects that are
[18:59]spinning off like a book or like any other creative thing or just other places you want to take
[19:04]your brand books. We're heading, we're heading for some books. So kids books and more adult
[19:10]books with National Geographic. So I'll let my husband my husband's project. So I'll let him share
[19:16]more on that. But yes, definitely another volume. We've talked about another volume with National
[19:19]Geographic and other two volumes for me. So we got some more traveling to do and some more itineraries
[19:24]nailed down. Amazing. Well, you can always call my son if you need advice. I've got to get you
[19:31]because we need to go back. That's that's funny. You say that your son loves it because my daughter
[19:35]it's her favorite country. We haven't been since she was like four, but she's dying to go back and
[19:39]it's it's faster for us to fly to Tokyo than it is for us to fly to my home in Denver. So yeah,
[19:44]we got to go back. I'll send it after this. You can see. Oh my gosh. Jessica, thank you so much. Thank
[19:53]you for your time. Thanks for taking your life and sharing it with so many other people to make
[19:57]their lives better. It's really generous.
[20:00]way to live. So thank you for that. Thank you. So likewise, it was really great to talk to you.
[20:05]You too. Have a great day. Have fun in Nashville. Bye bye.
[20:10]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[20:14]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zebi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read
[20:18]Books. Also sign up for my newsletter at zebiowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club
[20:23]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at
[20:28]Texture Sound for the Sound Editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing
[20:32]this fantastic intro and outro music.