Friday, July 20, 2018

TGIF Feature: 'Bucket List Family' unpacks its bags in Hawaii

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The Bucket List Family are, from left, Manilla, Jessica, Garret, baby Cali and Dorothy.

AFTER VISITING more than 60 countries in less than three years, the Bucket List Family is finally unpacking their bags -- at least for a little while.


The Filipino American family is settling down and buying their first house according to People magazine.

We first met Garrett and Jessica Gee three years ago. He had developed an app that he sold to Snapchat for $54 million. The young couple started wondering what they wanted to do in the next chapter of their life.

They started a bucket list and soon realized that it involved a lot of traveling to places they wanted to see and cultures they wanted to experience.


As they explained on their website, "we still have so much to learn about life and happiness before we can set up our future life and home."  


So the Utah-based family sold all their belongings and embarked on 3-year journey with their two small children. Since then, they've added another child to their family. They welcomed baby Cali on Feb. 11.

Believe it or not, they're living this enviable life without dipping into that huge sum of cash from the app sale, which they deposited in the bank; they're doing it by monetizing their blog and social media platforms, all under the name The Bucket List family. Even Baby Cali has 194,000 followers on Instagram. 

Some of their adventures include diving with sperm whales in Dominica, taking yoga classes in Bali, grocery shopping in Paris, flying kites in Thailand and sleeping in an Irish castle, according to People. 


As they travel, they spread love through little acts of philanthropy. "Charity and humanitarian work is a big part of our travels. Each new place we visit we do our best to connect with a non-profit, a charitable service project, or sometimes just a local family that we may be able to serve and help" they said.  For example, their anonymous donations paid for a family's trip to Disneyland, someone's surgery and a student's college fees. In India, they joined a campaign to raise $500,000 for a girl's school to help stop human trafficking.

“We want to pay it forward,” said Garrett, who in the future looks forward to scaling the family’s benevolence to larger, more impactful projects.


The Gee's new home is an 80-year old fixer-upper located on beach on the island of Hawaii. Once again, the Gee's have found a way to pay for their home and renovation. The whole home makeover will be the subject of Home Love Network series called Traveling Home. Each room is inspired by their travels.



“I’d been dreading the day when we’d finally settle down,” Garrett tells People, “but I’m surprised at how excited I am now to have a place to call home. We always wanted something humble and cozy instead of something big and fancy, and we were thrilled to find this old home that needed our love and care.”

But just because they bought their first home, don't expect the vagabonds to become homebodies.

“We already have seven more countries booked between August and the end of the year,” Garrett Gee, 30, tells People. “And just because we finally have a house where we can purchase things and store things, doesn’t mean that we’ll stop living the stress-free beauty of a minimalistic lifestyle. My goal is to find a happy balance between time at home and continuing our adventures around the world.”
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