Traveling to 100 Countries as a Family of 5 ft. the Bucket List Family

September 2, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

When Garrett and Jessica Gee sold everything they owned for $45,000 and set off on a six-month family adventure in 2015, they had no idea it would turn into a decade of full-time world travel with three young kids. Now approaching 100 countries, the Bucket List Family has built a global brand collaborating with National Geographic—but the core of their story is less about exotic destinations and more about the psychology of parenting with high expectations, intentional discomfort, and a refusal to let fear dictate their family's life.

The Origin Story: From Russia to the Road

The couple met while serving a two-year church mission in Vladivostok, Russia—an experience that fundamentally shaped their approach to parenting and travel. For Garrett, those six months of isolation while learning Russian from scratch were "the hardest thing by far I've ever experienced in my life." He went six months without being able to speak to anyone, surviving on "necessity and survival mode" until he became fully fluent. That intensity carried into everything he did afterward—college soccer, a successful app called Scan that sold to Snapchat, and eventually the Bucket List Family.

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What you'll learn

1 Timestamped Outline
2 (01:44) **Arrival After 36 Hours of Travel** - The Graw family arrives straight from a 17-hour flight, discussing how they handle extreme jet lag as a family
3 (06:08) **Survival Tips for Flying with a Crying Baby** - Practical advice for parents stuck on a nightmare flight with an inconsolable infant
4 (08:08) **Origin Story: Meeting in Russia** - How they met while serving LDS missions in Vladivostok, Russia
5 (10:08) **Life in Siberia: The Craziest Things They Saw** - Recounting the harsh realities of living in Eastern Russia
6 (14:51) **The Brutal Reality of Learning Russian** - How six months of isolation forced language fluency through survival mode
7 (19:15) **From Mission to Marriage to World Travel** - The transition from Garrett's entrepreneurial intensity to the family travel lifestyle

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

This episode has been sitting in the vault for two years, and we’re finally getting to share it with you.
We’re so grateful to The Bucket List Family for joining us and for allowing us to share this never-before-seen conversation while Abby is taking time to heal and enjoy maternity leave. We talk about raising fearless kids, traveling the world as a family, their unconventional parenting philosophy, close calls with crocodiles and great white sharks, and what they’ve learned from nearly a decade of adventure together.
We hope you enjoy this special episode as much as we loved recording it. ❤️
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