Garrett Gee didn’t originally plan on building a family-focused global hospitality brand or launching a $10 million animated series. At 21, he just wanted his iPhone app to work. In 2013, Gee, a college student, stood on the stage of Shark Tank pitching his QR code scanning app. Every investor said no.
Two months later, Snapchat acquired the app for $54 million.
Garrett and his wife Jessica could have retired then. Instead, they set the money aside, sold most of the things they owned, and put that $43,000 toward exploring the world.
“We made the very mindful decision to set the money aside and, famous last words, do a little bit of traveling,” Gee said on a recent episode of Matador Network’s Creator: The Podcast.
That little bit of traveling started 10 years ago with a young daughter and infant son. It’s still going, and Garrett and Jessica now also have a third child that has joined the adventure.
Since then, the Gees — known online as The Bucket List Family — have traveled to more than 100 countries with their three children, built a following of millions, and turned their trips and content into a media empire that includes luxury properties, a forthcoming cartoon, a children’s book with National Geographic, and a family-friendly safari lodge in Africa.
Building a brand with a backpack and a baby
The Gee’s philosophy on family travel is straightforward: “How much of your life are you going to stop living because you had kids?” Gee says on the podcast. “For my wife and I, the answer is zero. We’re living life full steam ahead and we’re bringing our kids along with us.”
To make that possible without dipping into the savings they promised themselves not to touch, they started a YouTube channel and Instagram. The word “influencer” hadn’t entered the lexicon yet, but they began cold-pitching brands in hopes of travel discounts or partnerships. It didn’t work at first.
Their first product gift came from a sandal company. Their first paid campaign ($600) came from Coca-Cola, which neither Garrett nor Jessica drink. (“We poured it out and filled the bottle with water,” he admits.)
But their timing coincided with the rise of the creator economy and their travel opportunities grew along with their following. Their perspective of championing family travel stands out even among the now-crowded travel creator landscape.
Parenting often requires trust — both in your child and your judgment. In Garrett Gee’s case, that trust was tested publicly after a video of him helping his young son jump off a cliff into Lake Powell sparked controversy online. The footage, intended to show a father encouraging his child to overcome fear, quickly became the center of a polarizing debate about risk, responsibility, and parenting in the age of social media.
For those unfamiliar with the Bucket List Family’s long history of adventure-led parenting, the video appears to have come off as alarming. Critics saw it as dangerous. But longtime followers recognized it as part of Garrett and Jessica’s ethos of raising kids who are courageous, resilient, brave, and open to experiences.
He acknowledged to PEOPLE that many of those who reacted negatively to the video may have grown up without similar opportunities to be safely pushed outside their comfort zones.
“We’re trying to teach our kid to be brave,” Gee says on the podcast. “We’re trying to teach them to be confident, and not just confident, but like truly like deep within their souls inner confidence.”
It’s not the only pushback they’ve gotten. Anyone who travels frequently with young kids is likely to face a common sentiment: Why travel with these young ones who won’t even remember everything? “It has an imprint on them and they remember more than you think,” Gee says. “They definitely benefit from it, right? It’s the ultimate education.”
Much of the Bucket List Family’s content centers on wildlife encounters: humpbacks in Tonga, sharks in the Bahamas, orcas in the Sea of Cortez.
“It’s a different kind of experience,” he says. “Kids notice small things. And wildlife notices them, too.”
The bucket list business
A decade into this experiment, the Bucket List Family is more than a YouTube channel. It’s now a multifaceted brand that includes publishing, animation, and a hospitality venture called The Bucket List Collection — a curated set of eco-conscious, experience-driven properties around the world.
In 2023, they acquired a private island in Tonga, where guests can swim with humpback whales. They also purchased a wilderness lodge in British Columbia, home to grizzlies and orcas. A new safari lodge built specifically for families with young children will break ground soon in South Africa.
“We’re not trying to compete with the Hyatts or the Marriotts of the world,” Gee says. “We’re going hard the other direction after the most meaningful, bucket-list experiences on the planet where all the money in the world wouldn’t be able to buy you what we’re able to provide.”
In October, the Bucket List Family released a children’s book with Disney and National Geographic titled The Bucket List Family and the Big Adventure. The story blends real moments with whimsical detail drawn from true experiences like seeing penguins in Antarctica, gorillas in Rwanda, and meerkats in Botswana.
If there’s one thing you can count on with the Bucket List Family, it’s that the adventure never ends.
